There's this sudden new interest in faith. Completely unexpected because everyone assumed young people,

especially young men, who are the demographic that seems most likely to be re-engaging with faith.

Everyone assumed they were gone forever from the pews of church, and yet...

There's this really paradoxical quality of the internet, and it really is a two-edged sword.

I think it's making things worse and it's

also making things more religious again. What do you think? I entirely agree. This incredibly

materialistic, tech-driven culture that tends to exacerbate all our worst aspects as humans,

that you suddenly get this crunch point that I think we've hit. There's pure motives and very mixed motives

when it comes to why people want to see Christianity back.

My sense is, I speak here as a Christian,

there is a god, and the gates of hell will not prevail over the church.

But what that looks like in the messy tangle of human history, we will probably only really be able to tell.

Hello and welcome to Socrates in the city. I'm Mary Harrington, an author and journalist.

And it's a privilege to be joined today by Justin Briarley, an author, a podcaster and a writer.

And somebody who has been hugely interesting to me as a documenter for a number of years of the surprising rebirth of belief in God.

Justin has been the host of a number of podcasts over the years debating

with people who are not believers or people who might be believers

or people who feel uncertain about their faith.

Justin has, and Justin has noticed something changing.

Now, my first encounter with the phenomenon that you document

in such meticulous and interesting detail was actually from a balcony at an ideas event

last year in New York City.

...