Religion has been on a decline in the West for the last fifty years, with recent numbers falling rapidly in the US. For decades the youngest generation was the least likely to believe in God. But in a 2020 YouGov survey Generation Z was shown to be 25% more likely to believe in God than millennials. Meanwhile the so-called New Theists argue for the adoption of Christian beliefs not on the grounds that they are true but they are the means to create a stable and successful culture. While secular critics argue the return of belief risks a new age of superstition, bigotry and intolerance.
Is the rise in new age and traditional religious belief in the young a dangerous return of unsupported fantasy? Should we double down on the need for rationalism and a careful scientific assessment of evidence? Or is it a welcome sign of a desire for an agreed moral framework in response to the chaos of a post-truth world?
Trail-blazing psychologist Paul Bloom, Mumford & Sons guitarist and Spectator columnist Winston Marshall, professor of ethics and theology Fellipe do Vale, and philosopher and former Green MEP Catherine Rowett, debate the new era of belief.