Unbelievable?

In a ‘classic playback’ edition of the show, Justin re-airs the debate he hosted with agnostic Bible scholar Bart Ehrman opposite Christian Bible scholar Peter J Williams. They debate the reliability of the Gospels, textual criticism, and Bart’s claim that we can’t know what some of the original texts actually say. For Peter J Williams new book ‘Can We Trust the Gospels?’:  https://www.thegoodbook...

In his new book ‘A War Of Loves’, David Bennett tells his story of being an atheist gay activist who experienced a dramatic conversion to Christianity. David still identifies as gay but lives a celibate lifestyle, holding to traditional Christian sexual ethics. He engages with Justin Lee, author of ‘Torn: Rescuing the Gospel from the Gay vs Christian debate’, who affirms faithful same-sex relation...

Lord Richard Harries, former Bishop of Oxford is the author of ‘Haunted by Christ: Modern writers and the struggle for faith’ (SPCK). Philosopher Sir Anthony Kenny, former master of Balliol college Oxford, is the author of ‘Brief Encounters: Notes from a philosopher’s diary’ (SPCK) which recounts anecdotes from a life meeting significant personalities. They discuss their friendship, stories of sig...

As Remembrance services take place to mark the 100th anniversary of the end of WW1, Justin is joined by atheist guest Prof Michael Ruse and Christian guest Prof Nigel Biggar to discuss Darwinism, Christianity and just war theory. Michel Ruse is Professor of Philosophy of Science at Florida State University. Nigel Biggar is Regius Professor of Moral and Pastoral Theology at the University of Oxford...

Justin is joined for the 6th episode of The Big Conversation by moral philosopher and atheist Peter Singer, professor of bioethics at Princeton University, and Christian theologian Andy Bannister of Solas Centre for Public Christianity. They debate whether humans have intrinsic value and dignity as set out in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights 70 years ago. They debate Singer’s controversia...

Should Christians take part in Halloween festivities? And is it ok to watch grisly horror films? These are the two questions debates by Peter Laws and Michael Cummins ahead of Halloween. Peter Laws is a Baptist minister and lifelong fan of the horror genre, as he explains in his new book The Frighteners: Why We Love Monsters, Ghosts, Death & Gore. He believes that Christians don’t need to fear bei...

Austin Fischer is a church pastor who tells the story of his own struggle with doubt in the book ‘Faith In The Shadows: Finding Christ in the midst of doubt’ and how he has kept his faith. Ed Atkinson is a former Christian and co-host of the Doubts Aloud podcast. He talks about why he lost his faith and why he believes Christians should take doubt more seriously. For Austin Fischer:  https://www.i...

Michael Brown is a Messianic Jew and hosts The Line Of Fire radio show in the USA. He engages with liberal UK Reform rabbi Jonathan Romain on whether Jesus fulfilled the role of Messiah.   Michael and Jonathan end up disagreeing on much more than just Jesus as they debate the rabbi’s pluralist view of religion compared to Brown’s belief that Jesus is the only way to God.  For Michael Brown: https:...

In the 5th episode of The Big Conversation, Justin is joined by atheist guest Daniel Dennett and Christian guest Keith Ward. Daniel C Dennett is Professor of Philosophy at Tufts University, USA and a leading naturalist voice in the philosophy of mind. Keith Ward is a British philosopher and former Regius Professor of Divinity at Oxford University as well as being an ordained priest in the Church o...

In this podcast special edition of the show Justin broadcasts the 2008 public debate between Christopher Hitchens and his brother Peter Hitchens. Christopher Hitchens (1949-2011) was one of the four so-called ‘horsemen of the new atheism’, well known for his colourful anti-theistic polemical writing and speaking. In contrast his journalist brother Peter Hitchens is a Christian who converted from a...

Thousands of people recently attended four high-profile debates on religion and atheism between psychology professor Jordan Peterson and atheist writer Sam Harris. Why are Peterson and Harris so influential, especially among young men? Why is Peterson’s approach making waves in atheist circles? Does the atheist movement have an alt-right problem? These and more questions are debated by Humanist le...

Justin is joined by Christian apologist Sean McDowell and ‘Friendly Atheist’ blogger Hemant Mehta for a live audience edition of the show recorded at Westside A Jesus Church in Portland, Oregon. They discuss motivations, faith, science, evidence, atheism, life after death, morality and bigotry. Each guest sets out two ways in which they believe the other side frequently mischaracterises their worl...

In the 4th episode of The Big Conversation, Justin is joined by Prof John Lennox and Prof Michael Ruse in front of a live audience in London. Christian guest John Lennox is professor of Mathematics at Oxford University and author of books including ‘Gunning for God: Why the new atheists are missing the target’. Atheist guest Michael Ruse is professor of Philosophy of Science at Florida State Unive...

Ed Husain was once a Muslim extremist. Today he is still a Muslim but says the Islam he once practised is a distorted version of the faith. In his new book The House of Islam: A Global History he argues that his religion needs to return to a once-golden age of pluralism, tolerance and diversity. Beth Grove of Pfander regularly engages in debate with Muslims. She disputes Ed’s view of a golden age...

Justin joins the debate fray himself this week as he tag teams with Christian apologist Randal Rauser to defend Unbelievable? the book against two atheist critics David Johnson and Andrew Knight. Since Justin’s book ‘Unbelievable? why, after ten years of talking with atheists I’m still a Christian’ was published, Andrew and David, along with other sceptical show listeners, have produced a response...

Keep kalam and carry on... In the second of two ‘deep dive’ shows into philosophical arguments for God, Justin is joined by atheist YouTuber Stephen Woodford (aka Rationality Rules) and Christian apologist Blake Giunta, creator of the Belief Map website. They debate the Kalam Cosmological Argument and whether, if the universe had a beginning, it points to a divine cause behind it. For a video of t...

In the first of two philosophical ‘deep dive’ shows debating famous ‘cosmological’ arguments for God, YouTube atheist Alex O Connor (aka Cosmic Skeptic) debates apologist Cameron Bertuzzi of Capturing Christianity. They discuss the argument from contingency and whether the existence of the universe is contingent on a necessary being - God. For a video of today’s show on the Cosmic Skeptic channel ...

Dr Denis Alexander is a notable British proponent of theistic evolution – the view that Christianity and Darwinian evolution are perfectly compatible. Many atheist biologists claim that evolution has disproved the idea of purpose in biology. Denis’ new book ‘Is There Purpose in Biology? The cost of existence and the God of love’ sets out how he believes Christians can still discern God’s purposes...

Krish Kandiah’s new book ‘Faitheism: Why Christians and Atheists have more in common than you think’, aims to elevate the conversation between both sides.  Krish is joined by Terry Sanderson of the National Secular Society as they discuss the good, bad and ugly of how Christians and atheist engage each other.  For Faitheism:  https://www.hodder.co.uk/books/detail.page?isbn=9781473648951 For the Na...

Renowned New Testament scholar NT (Tom) Wright returns to Unbelievable? to talk about his latest book Paul: A Biography (SPCK). Joining Wright is historical writer Tom Holland, author of popular books on the rise and fall of the Roman empire such as Rubicon and Dynasty, Tom Wright unpacks the life, character and untold story of Paul. Tom Holland explains why as an agnostic, he is nevertheless conv...

Aliyah Saleem was a Muslim at one time but is now an atheist. She tells her story and those of other former Muslims in ‘Leaving Faith Behind’. Abdu Murray, North America director of RZIM,  was a Muslim but converted to Christianity. He engages with Aliyah on why they both left Islam but came to different conclusions about faith. For Aliyah Saleem:  http://dltbooks.com/titles/2224-9780232533644-lea...

In the third Big Conversation episode, Justin is joined by illusionist Derren Brown and popstar-turned-media-priest Rev Richard Coles. In a wide-ranging conversation they tell their respective stories of moving away from and towards Christian faith. Drawing on his book Happy: Why more or less everything is absolutely fine, Derren makes the case for living a fulfilled life as an atheist in the abse...

In a podcast special Justin goes head to head with atheist podcast host David Smalley debating Justin’s arguments for Christianity in his book “Unbelievable? Why after, ten years of talking with atheists, I’m still a Christian”. They debate suffering, the moral argument and the evidence for the resurrection in a wide ranging discussion of over 2.5 hrs. For Dogma Debate: https://www.davidcsmalley.c...

In the second Big Conversation episode, Justin is joined by Harvard professor of psychology Steven Pinker and Nick Spencer of Christian think-tank Theos. They debate the future of humanity in relation to Pinker’s recent book ‘Enlightenment Now’, addressing his claim that science, reason and humanism are the drivers of progress in the world, rather than religion. Nick Spencer argues that science an...

Sir Colin Humphreys is a Cambridge scientist with an interest in Biblical studies. His book ‘The Miracles of Exodus: A Scientist's Discovery of the Extraordinary Natural Causes of the Biblical Stories’ makes the case that events like the parting of the Red Sea, the stopping of the Jordan river and the sun standing still in Joshua all have a basis in scientific facts and natural causes. The miracle...