Welcome to Breakpoint, a daily look at an ever-changing culture through the lens of unchanging truth. For the Colson Center, I'm John Stone Street. Not that long ago, a collection of voices like Sam Harris, Richard Dawkins, Chris Hitchens, and Ian Hersey Ali were loudly proclaiming that God is a delusion and that religion is a poison.
However, in a recent essay for the Claremont Review of Books, Matthew Schmitz argued that the new atheism, which surged after 9-11 and decried religion as the source of conflict and cultural decline, has now largely run its course. In fact, in its place, he contends, There's a new theism. Schmitz highlighted two books from 2025 as evidence. Ross Douthett's Believe Why Everyone Should Be Religious argues that faith is plausible and personally necessary. And Jonathan Rausch's Cross Purposes, Christianity's Broken Bargain with Democracy, defends religion's social utility in sustaining liberal democracy.
To that list, one could add Charles Murray's Taking Religion Seriously, which makes a case for religion significance, and Rod Dreyer's Living in Wonder, which argues for the re-enchantment. Of secular society. Taken all together, what these works represent is an emerging theism, Schmitz thinks, which, though currently elite-driven, might have a broader cultural influence.
Now, the critical next question, of course, is: which God are we talking about in this new theism? Because dabbling with theism is certainly not the same as encountering Yahweh, the God. That actually exists. C.S. Lewis once described his shock in encountering a living God after first dabbling in some kind of vague spirituality.
Quote, but God Himself alive, pulling at the other end of the cord? That's quite another matter. There comes a moment when the children, who have been playing at burglars, hush suddenly. Was that a real footstep in the hall? Supposing we really found him.
We never meant it to come to that. We're still supposing he found us. End quote.
Well, true faith is not merely belief in a spiritual realm. Rather, it's built on three baseline eternal truths that ground the Christian worldview. First, that God exists. That assumption distinguishes theism from atheism, materialism, and agnosticism. Scripture, of course, begins with this assumption that in the beginning God and beyond scripture, a whole line of thinkers from Aquinas to Turitan to Shedd have all offered good reason to consider God's existence.
Secondly, God's eternal and personal. This assumption distinguishes Christianity from pantheism, the idea that everything is God, and polytheism, the idea that there are many gods. A God that is a force is to be used, not known. But if God is eternal and a person, then his will is ultimate. Third, God has chosen to reveal himself, ultimately, in Jesus Christ.
That assumption distinguishes Christianity from every other religion, but especially other theistic religions. As Jesus prayed in John seventeen, This is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. True theism cannot be reduced to a God of our making, or someone who relates to us on our terms. Rather, it begins with God as He is. Thankfully, God is knowable, but that's only because he chose to make himself known.
And it's to that revelation that we're primarily responsible. Deuteronomy 29 says, the secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us. And as the hymnist William Cooper wrote, God is his own interpreter. He will make it plain. Christianity also affirms that God reveals himself in his creation and through his word.
Paul wrote in Romans 1 that God's eternal power and divine nature are clearly perceived through creation from the beginning. Theologians call this general revelation. And according to Paul, it's robust and thorough.
However, the very same passage reveals the human tendency to suppress this knowledge and rebellion and wickedness. Thus God's full and final revelation, as the author of Hebrews wrote, Is Jesus Christ as Savior? We have to respond to this special revelation in order to be saved. Thus, Christians affirm that both God's created reality and his divine word impose themselves on us, and we are without excuse for ignoring his revelation.
Now, perhaps the most inspiring story of this new atheism that we're witnessing is of Ian Hirsi Ali, who came to a powerful belief in Jesus Christ after rejecting first Islam, a different theism, and then atheism.
Now, by her own admission, she is truly free in Jesus Christ. Her story is told in the film Truth Rising, with an even fuller account told in the new Truth Rising study. Learn more by going to truthrising.com/slash Colson. That's truthrising.com/slash Colson.
Now, there are good reasons to hope that a new theism is indeed emerging. And that there's a renewed openness to religion in American life. What that means is that there is an opportunity, a calling for those of us who do know God beyond just some vague spirituality or utilitarian appeal.
So we must use this moment to point others to Jesus Christ, the fullness of God and bodily form, the only one who will and can, as the Bible tells us, make all things new. for the Colson Center on John Stone Street with Breakpoint. Today's Breakpoint was co-authored with Andrew Carrico. If you're a fan of Breakpoint, please leave us a review where you download your podcast. And for a version of this commentary to share with others, go to breakpoint.org.
