Is Individualism America’s Religion?

Interesting Times with Ross Douthat

New York Times Opinion

Journalism, New York Times, Ross Douthat, News, Society & Culture

4.0 • 7.2K Ratings

🗓️ 13 August 2020

⏱️ 53 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Five months after the editorial board’s science writer Jeneen Interlandi warned the hosts of “The Argument” that they should get comfortable in quarantine, she makes her return to the podcast to talk what comes next. Ross and Frank press Jeneen on herd immunity possibilities, how to fix the testing lags in the U.S., and the question on every parent and teacher’s mind: How can we open schools safely? Then, Opinion writer Elizabeth Bruenig joins Frank and Ross for a debate on the moral obligations of the Roman Catholic Church in 2020. If the Movement for Black Lives is promulgating Catholic beliefs, why won’t the church say Black lives Matter? And how will Joe Biden’s Catholicism play a role in the election? Finally, Elizabeth recommends a break from omniscience. For background reading on this episode, visit nytimes.com/theargument.

Transcript

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0:00.0	I'm Frank Bruney.
0:02.0	I'm Ross Douthett, and this is the argument.
0:07.0	Today, a conversation about where we stand with COVID-19.
0:11.0	Can the U.S. still contain its spread?
0:14.0	Or are we already defeated?
0:16.0	Then, nearly a fifth of all Americans identify as Catholic.
0:20.0	But can their church say, Black Lives Matter?
0:26.0	Frank, welcome back.
0:28.0	Hey, Ross.
0:29.0	So, I think our listeners may be especially glad to hear your voice
0:33.0	after last week's all conservative spectacular
0:36.0	in which I was the moderate, the moderate switch arguing with more pro-Trump conservatives.
0:42.0	Did you give it a listen?
0:44.0	I did, and all conservative spectacular was not the phrase that came immediately to mind.
0:51.0	It was an interesting experience, Ross.
0:53.0	That's all I can ask.
0:54.0	I wanted to be there.
0:56.0	I wish I could have inserted myself ever so briefly just to kind of ask your guests
1:01.0	who seem to think Trump had done a good job managing the pandemic,
1:05.0	what they make of our world-leading case counts and death totals,
1:10.0	and how they explain that.
1:11.0	But seriously, though, I agreed with many listeners who wrote in and said that
	...

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