Classic: Faith & Doubt: A Former Atheist and Ex-Christian Face Off

Unbelievable?

Premier Unbelievable?

Christianity, Religion & Spirituality

4.6 • 2.3K Ratings

🗓️ 1 April 2025

⏱️ 66 minutes

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Summary

Can belief and unbelief follow the same path? In this Unbelievable? episode, Justin Brierley hosts a fascinating conversation from 2014 between Guillaume Bignon, an atheist-turned-Christian theologian, and Wade Padgett, a former devout Christian who became an atheist. 🔍 What’s Inside? 🔥 Guillaume’s journey from atheism to Christianity—an unexpected turn shaped by intellectual inquiry and life-changing events 🔥 Wade’s shift from Christianity to atheism, driven by existential philosophy and critical reflection on faith 🔥 The power of personal experience—do conversions and deconversions rely on reason or emotion? 🔥 The role of evidence—what counts as "good reasons" for belief or unbelief? 🔥 Are conversion stories valid arguments for faith? 📖 Timestamps: 00:00 Introduction 00:14 Guillaume Bignon’s Journey from Atheism to Christianity 04:10 Encountering Christianity & The Turning Point 06:16 Intellectual & Emotional Struggles 10:13 Challenges of a Newfound Faith 16:20 Wade Padgett’s Religious Upbringing 21:16 From Faith to Doubt: Wade’s Journey to Atheism 25:47 Comparing Conversion & Deconversion Stories 31:15 Questioning Arguments for Christianity 32:41 The Role of Personal Experiences in Belief & Deconversion 36:47 Properly Basic Beliefs & Knowledge 46:29 Cognitive Science & Belief Formation 52:10 Do Conversion Stories Prove Faith? 1:03:02 Final Reflections 🎙️ Subscribe & Share → Don’t miss more thought-provoking debates! 📌 Stay Connected & Join the Conversation 📍 Twitter (X):@UnbelievableFE 📍 Facebook:@PremierUnbelievable 📍 Instagram:@Premier.Unbelievable 📍 TikTok:@PremierUnbelievable 🚀 Are conversions and deconversions truly rational, or are they shaped by deeper motivations? Let us know in the comments!

Transcript

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0:00.0	The Liverpool Gospel Music Festival, indoors at Liverpool Olympia, made a fourth 2025.
0:07.2	Performances by the London Community Gospel Choir, Michelle John, Rebler, Shireen and the UK's most exciting artists.
0:15.0	Tickets start at just £15 each. Get yours a ticket quarter.
0:19.8	Good afternoon. Welcome along to Unbelievable. I'm Justin Briley. This is the show that brings Christians and non-Christians together here on Premier. And a really interesting discussion for you today on conversion and deconversion. Let me introduce you to today's guests. Guillaume Bignon is a French theologian, but he was an atheist until
0:38.9	a few years ago. A series of personal events led him on an intellectual journey to investigate
0:44.0	Christianity, and he did become a Christian. We'll be hearing his story today, and he'll be
0:49.1	interacting with Wade Padgett, who has a story himself of going in the opposite direction,
0:55.1	from Christian belief to atheism. Well, today they're going to be discussing their respective stories and what part
1:00.8	experience and evidence play in making someone decide for or against faith. Should be another
1:07.6	cracking edition of the program today. So a very warm welcome to you both gentlemen.
1:12.3	Great to have you here. We'll come to you in a moment's time to meet you properly.
1:16.5	Guillaume, Bignon. Am I pronouncing this correctly, Guillaume? Yeah, that's actually pretty
1:20.8	impressive. There you go. Those GCSE French lessons didn't go to waste, you see.
1:27.7	You're joining us via Skype today from New York, where you are currently resident.
1:33.3	But of course, your story starts in France, doesn't it, Guillaume?
1:37.2	That's very true.
1:38.2	I've been only here for the last few years, and I'm very much French.
1:41.8	As my accent will very easily betray, so I was born in France.
1:45.9	Well, you've got very good English, I must say, Guillaume, but tell us what happened to you,
1:51.1	because until several years ago, you were actually an atheist, weren't you? Do you want to tell us
1:56.9	what happened? Yes, so the conversion story has a lot of different points and it's very
2:02.4	hard to make it justice in a small condensed account, but I'll try very hard to make it brief and
	...

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