Faith and Politics, with Ross Douthat

“A certain degree of faith in Providence and a certain degree of confidence in America … May that combination not be overwhelmed by some disaster.” (New York Times columnist Ross Douthat, offering a blessing for election season)

Contemporary political debate and commentary operates from deeply moral sources. People tend to vote their conscience. Our values and ideals, our sense of right and wrong, and our beliefs about what contributes or detracts from the common good often inform our politics.

And across the political spectrum, Americans of all stripes exercise their citizenship and public engagement through a religious faith that grounds it all. So, what better space to explore this conjunction of faith, morality, and political life than The New York Times Opinion section?

Today on the show, Ross Douthat joins Mark Labberton to discuss how his faith and theological commitments ground his moral and political perspectives. Douthat joined The New York Times as an Opinion columnist in 2009, and regularly appears on the weekly Opinion podcast, “Matter of Opinion.” He’s also a film critic for National Review and was previously senior editor at The Atlantic.

In this episode, they discuss the spiritual and political background of Douthat’s youth and how Roman Catholic Christianity grounded his religious and political views; the challenges for how the Catholic Church and its moral teachings can adapt to contemporary culture; how faith and morality can speak to our dynamic political moment during the 2024 election season; and finally Ross’s hope and faith in divine providence met with confidence in America’s resilience and capacity for good.

About Ross Douthat

Ross Douthat joined The New York Times as an Opinion columnist in 2009, and regularly appears on the weekly Opinion podcast, “Matter of Opinion.” He’s also a film critic for National Review. Previously, he was a senior editor at The Atlantic. He is the author of several books, including The Deep Places: A Memoir of Illness and Discovery (2021), The Decadent Society (2020), To Change the Church: Pope Francis and the Future of Catholicism (2018), Bad Religion: How We Became a Nation of Heretics (2012); Privilege: Harvard and the Education of the Ruling Class (2005), and, with Reihan Salam, Grand New Party: How Republicans Can Win the Working Class and Save the American Dream (2008). His newest book, Believe: Why Everyone Should Be Religious, will be published in early 2025.

Show Notes

Ross Douthat’s spiritual background as Episcopalian, Pentecostal-Evangelical, and eventually Roman Catholic

Our “spiritually haunted environment”

How Catholicism has changed from Pope John Paul II to Pope Francis

Adapting moral teachings to contemporary challenges

“Many, many of the problems in our culture and the reasons for people's unhappiness are related to issues of sex and relationships.”

“Jesus says incredibly stringent and strenuous things in the Gospels about sex.”

“I think if the church stops having some sort of countercultural message on those issues, then it won't actually be speaking to the big challenges and derangements of our time.”

“All of the developed world is heading over this demographic cliff…”

People aren’t getting married anymore. They aren’t forming relationships anymore.”

Pope Francis, pastoral sensitivity, and making moral concessions to contemporary culture

Pope Francis squelching the Latin mass

Commenting on the dynamics and craziness of our political moment

“Over the course of my career, I have tried to spend a lot of time with the idea that Catholicism in particular, and I think Christianity in general, should stand a little bit outside of partisan categories.”

How the Republican Party can address the needs of the working class

Ross Douthat’s views during the Trump Era

Providence and appealing to God’s control

"Man proposes, and God disposes.”

“The world has grown weirder in general, in the last decade, than it was when I was in my twenties.”

Providence and freedom

Ross’s thesis in The Decadent Society: “The Western world and really the whole planet was sort of stuck stagnant. We'd achieved this incredible level of wealth and technological power, we'd filled the earth and subdued it to some degree, but we were suffering from uncertainty, malaise, and ennui because we didn't know what to do next.”

Space travel and Elon Musk

Looking for help from some other power: God, Aliens, or A.I.

The unique perspective Ross Douthat brings to The New York Times

“As the world has grown weirder, I've felt a little more comfortable being weird myself, and that so far hasn't gotten me fired.”

“You know, not to brag, but yeah, I'm probably the weirdest columnist at a major American newspaper.”

Offering a blessing for the nation’s experience between now and election day

“Life in the United States is an underrated good. Americans have become very pessimistic, very unhappy with each other, sometimes unhappy with themselves … And I think actually, beneath that difficult surface, America has a lot of real strengths and real resilience and American culture is better positioned, I think, than a lot of cultures around the world to navigate the next 50 to 100 years of human history. So I think that should give people some confidence.”

“A certain degree of faith in Providence and a certain degree of confidence in America.”

Production Credits

Conversing is produced and distributed in partnership with Comment Magazine and Fuller Seminary.