Can Christianity Save Democracy? Os Guinness v Jonathan Rauch hosted by Vince Vitale
Can Christianity save democracy? Vince Vitale hosts a frank, generous exchange between social critic Os Guinness and author Jonathan Rauch about faith’s civic foundations, liberalism, and power. This is one we’ve been looking forward to! Rauch, a scientific materialist, argues that democracy needs Christianity’s deepest teachings; Guinness locates America’s virtues in the Hebrew–Christian tradition.
Don’t miss the most moving moment: around the hour mark, Guinness turns to Rauch and apologises without caveat for the ways Christians have treated gay people like him. Rauch receives it with grace, and the room changes. It’s a rare, exemplary act of repentance that models the public virtue both men commend.
Is religion necessary for public virtue? What happens when politics replaces moral conviction? And how can Christians engage civically without being captured by partisan extremes? From the founding ideals of democracy to the spiritual crises of modern secularism, this discussion asks whether Christianity’s values of conscience, humility, and truth are exactly what our societies need most.
For Jonathan Rauch
Blue Sky: https://bsky.app/profile/jonrauch.bsky.social
Jonathan Rauch's Books
NEW Cross Purposes: https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300273540/cross-purposes/
and here: https://amzn.to/47laSQC
For Os Guinness:
https://osguinness.com/
Os Guinness' Books:
Guinness' America Agonistes: https://amzn.to/4hmnzzj
Our Civilizational Moment: https://amzn.to/4qlqHPV
SOCIAL LINKS
Twitter: https://twitter.com/unbelievablefe
Facebook: / https://facebook.com/premierunbelievable
Instagram: / https://instagram.com/premierunbelievable
Tik Tok: / https://tiktok.com/@premier.unbelievable
👉 Get bonus content, updates, fascinating articles, and early access to new episodes - absolutely free! Join now at www.premierunbelievable.com 🎉📢
• Subscribe to the Unbelievable? podcast: https://www.premier.plus/unbelievable
• Support us: https://www.premierunbelievable.com/geolink/donate
--------
1:22:35
--------
1:22:35
Classic: Can Atheism Deliver a Better World? Matt Dillahunty vs Glen Scrivener
In this classic Unbelievable? Big Conversation, atheist broadcaster Matt Dillahunty (The Atheist Experience) and Christian evangelist Glen Scrivener (Speak Life) clash over the foundations of morality. Is secular humanism enough, or does Christianity uniquely ground human dignity? They test claims about wellbeing, the is–ought gap, intrinsic vs extrinsic religiosity, “cancel culture,” and whether society’s benefits from religion are about truth or simply community. Expect sparky exchanges on the Bible and slavery, sacrifice and the cross, disability ethics (e.g. prenatal screening), and whether objective moral values exist without God. Matt argues for taking the best ideas—sans “baggage” while Glen contends the Christian story birthed our modern concern for the weak and marginalised.
💡 Love thoughtful dialogue between believers and sceptics? Join thousands of curious minds exploring life’s biggest questions with Premier Unbelievable?
❤️ Help us make more podcasts like this. Every gift keeps the conversation alive: premierunbelievable.com/donate.
🎥 Follow for daily clips and debate highlights:
Twitter | Instagram | TikTok | Facebook
--------
1:30:35
--------
1:30:35
Does Science Make God Unnecessary? Alex Carter vs Zachary Ardern hosted by Andy Kind
In today's Unbelievable? school debate, Zachary Ardern, a christian biologist, and Alex Carter, an atheist scientist, face off on whether scientific progress has made belief in God obsolete.
Hosted by Andy Kind, the discussion dives into the biggest questions of all:
Can science explain everything, or does it point beyond itself?Is faith irrational in the age of reason?What counts as evidence for God?Are morality and meaning possible without a creator?From the fine-tuning of the universe to the limits of human understanding, Zach and Alex debate whether God remains the best explanation, or whether naturalism is more than enough to disprove the existence of a God. What do you think? Filmed in collaboration with Aylesbury Vale Youth For Christ
Dr Zachary Ardern is an Evolutionary Biologist at a research institute in Cambridge.
Dr Alex Carter is the Academic Director for Philosophy and Interdisciplinary Studies at the University of Cambridge, Institute of Continuing Education.
SOCIAL LINKS
Twitter: https://twitter.com/unbelievablefe
Facebook: / https://facebook.com/premierunbelievable
Instagram: / https://instagram.com/premierunbelievable
Tik Tok: / https://tiktok.com/@premier.unbelievable
👉 Get bonus content, updates, fascinating articles, and early access to new episodes—absolutely free! Join now at www.premierunbelievable.com 🎉📢
• Subscribe to the Unbelievable? podcast: https://www.premier.plus/unbelievable
• More shows, free eBook & newsletter: https://premierunbelievable.com
• For live events: http://www.unbelievable.live
• For online learning: https://www.premierunbelievable.com/training
• Support us: https://www.premierunbelievable.com/geolink/donate
--------
49:47
--------
49:47
Classic: Tom Holland vs AC Grayling: Did Christianity Shape Western Values?
Tom Holland and philosopher A.C. Grayling differ deliciously in this classic Big Conversation part of Premier's Unbelievable? Podcast. Where does the West’s moral compass really come from? Drawing on Holland’s bestselling Dominion and Grayling’s secular humanism, they spar over the roots of dignity, equality and rights. Was the cross a moral revolution that overturned Rome’s hierarchy reshaping attitudes to slavery, sex, and the status of victims? Or do our ethics flow chiefly from classical philosophy, the Renaissance and Enlightenment? Expect lively exchanges on Paul, Stoicism, preserving ancient texts, the abolition of slavery, and whether humanism is a “godless Protestantism”. A riveting clash of history and philosophy and what it means for faith, reason, science, law, culture and public life today and beyond.
For AC Grayling’s ‘The History of Philosophy’ https://www.amazon.co.uk/History-Philosophy-C-Grayling/dp/0241304539
For Tom Holland’s ‘Dominion’ https://www.amazon.com/Dominion-Christian-Revolution-Remade-World/dp/0465093507
--------
1:22:36
--------
1:22:36
Has Science Just Proved God? Michel-Yves Bolloré v Niayesh Asfshordi hosted by John Nelson
A bestselling French engineer argues that modern cosmology points to a Creator — but a leading physicist says science explains it all without God. Unbelievable? podcast John Nelson hosts cosmologist Dr Niayesh Afshordi and entrepreneur-author and engineer Michel-Yves Bolloré for a lively clash on cosmic origins. Afshordi outlines ideas that our universe may have emerged from a black hole and surveys competing models of the Big Bang. Bolloré, co-author of God: The Science, The Evidence, argues that twentieth-century discoveries—from thermodynamics and entropy to expansion and fine-tuning—stack up as evidence for a Creator. They test “beginning versus eternity,” debate whether fine-tuning signals design or selection effects, and ask what constitutes prediction, falsifiability, and proof. Is the “God hypothesis” scientific, metaphysical, or both? Can science ever answer “why there is something rather than nothing”? Thoughtful, spirited, and friendly, this episode brings faith and physics into constructive dialogue.
👉 Get bonus content, updates, fascinating articles, and early access to new episodes - absolutely free! Join now at www.premierunbelievable.com 🎉📢
• Subscribe to the Unbelievable? podcast: https://www.premier.plus/unbelievable
• More shows, free eBook & newsletter: https://premierunbelievable.com
• For live events: http://www.unbelievable.live
• For online learning: https://www.premierunbelievable.com/training
SOCIAL LINKS
Twitter: https://twitter.com/unbelievablefe
Facebook: / https://facebook.com/premierunbelievable
Instagram: / https://instagram.com/premierunbelievable
Tik Tok: / https://tiktok.com/@premier.unbelievable
Netherlands