Alex O'Connor: re-enchanting... atheism

Belle and Justin talk to Alex about atheism, culture's tides and what it would take for him to believe.

Belle Tindall

Belle is the staff writer at Seen & Unseen and co-host of its Re-enchanting podcast.

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About this episode

Alex O'Connor is a well known atheist YouTube and podcast host with over 800,000 subscribers to his channel. Unlike many online new atheists he has sought to genuinely understand his Christian and religious counterparts. This included studying theology at Oxford University, helping to re-establish a Socratic debating society in the mould of the one created by CS Lewis, and counting many Christians as his friends and acquaintances. Belle and Justin talk to Alex about atheism, the changing tides of culture and what it would take for Alex to believe…

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Re-enchanting

5 February 2025

1 min read

Re-enchanting... Rupert Shortt on the death of Christianity

Belle and Justin talk with Rupert about why Europe’s historic faith remains critical to the survival of humane culture.

Nick Jones

Nick is the senior editor of Seen & Unseen.

A podcast guest sits at a table in front of a mic.

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Rupert Shortt is an author and research associate at the Von Hugel Institute, University Of Cambridge and a former Religion Editor for the Times Literary Supplement.

His latest book The Eclipse of Christianity… And Why It Matters has been praised by Tom Holland as ‘ A brilliant survey of Christianity’s decline in Britain- how it happened and why it matters, by one of our most learned and stimulating apologists’.

Belle and Justin talk with Rupert about why mainstream churches are in decline across the West and why Europe’s historic faith remains critical to the survival of humane culture.