The Surprising Rebirth of Belief in God (Tyndale Elevate) by Justin Brierley
Justin Brierley’s new book is a strange thing indeed. The ex-host of the hugely popular Christian radio show Unbelievable? is on a mission to convince us that belief in God (within any religion, though he admits his interest is Christianity) is on the rise. The problem is, he doesn’t offer any evidence that this is true. Why? Because the very opposite is happening.
In every meaningful sense, the data tells us that the world is becoming less and less religious. Even as some countries become more faithful, they are outnumbered by those that are losing their religion. Just before Christmas 2022, the Pew Research Center reported that in Europe and the US, people are becoming far less religious, especially if they are young. But Brierley doesn’t want to look the numbers in the eye. He doesn’t even think that a fall in church attendance and a rise in the number of people describing their religion as “none” are enough to contradict the title of his book.
In some ways, this isn’t surprising: the book is published by an imprint of Tyndale House, which specialises in helping readers “discover the life-giving truths of God’s Word”. So we might expect some level of wishful thinking. But the book might also tell us something about the state of the discourse within the Christian community. The reaction seems to have been extremely positive so far.
The Surprising Rebirth of Belief in God begins by pronouncing the death of New Atheism, with various parochial disputes listed as the causes. These pale in comparison with schisms within Christianity, of course – gay marriage; female priests; rampant sexual abuse in the Roman Catholic Church. Yet apparently Brierley doesn’t see the irony in a sentence like: “The question of which particular values we should celebrate and support was the issue that came to tear apart the New Atheist world, as proved by the rancorous infighting of its factions over feminism, race, gender, and LGBT issues.”
Indeed, an alarming lack of self-awareness pervades the book. To bolster his thesis that “attitudes towards Christianity among serious thinkers in many fields seem to be changing”, Brierley – a Christian himself – relies on a strange cast of characters. The psychologist Jordan Peterson is repeatedly cited as the main driver of this change. He also notes the influence of Douglas Murray, a divisive polemicist, and Russell Brand, who is currently facing sexual assault allegations (which Brand denies). None of these men actually believe in the Christian God – a fact that Brierley repeatedly acknowledges in the book. All three have had nice things to say about Christianity, but this hardly makes them ideal models of inspiration.
Peterson has made himself popular, especially among disaffected young men, by espousing an old-fashioned, disciplined philosophy that borrows from Christianity but is largely characterised by its opposition to “woke” politics. His popularity with the average 20-year-old man surely relies in part on him not explicitly saying that religion is the solution. Brierley’s honesty should be commended but the only thing he proves is the very opposite of his thesis. When he proudly quotes Russell Brand lamenting the worship of the self, it is almost beyond parody.
Admitting that it is best to start by wanting Christianity to be true, Brierley embarks on a quest to prove that the world is best explained through deism and the Bible. In doing so he makes various errors familiar to anyone acquainted with Christian apologism: citing Christian anti-slavery efforts as though they trumped the biblical licences for slavery, for example. Every objection an atheist might have is breezily solved by an assurance that proves nothing at all. God could have ended slavery earlier, for example, but he didn’t want to rush it.
In truth, the book reads as though it were written exclusively for people already convinced of the Christian story. Despite the ongoing, life-ruining abuses by Christian and other religious institutions, Brierley only fleetingly alludes to the failings of the Church – and argues that we can only say they’re failings “on the basis of Christian values and virtue”. His time might have been better spent reflecting on how significant these abuses were in precipitating the unmistakeable fall in faith in recent years. On the divisive subject of equal marriage, he has nothing to say at all.
In his work so far, this book included, Brierley has been animated by a desire for people to become not just religious but Christian. Here he is desperate to piggy-back on the success of the Petersons and the Brands of this world in order to make Christianity appear exciting and new, perhaps mainly to a younger generation. But The Surprising Rebirth of Belief in God is unlikely to persuade anyone who isn’t already on the brink of a conversion, and is likely to irritate non-believers who happen to pick up a copy.
Brierley is clearly one of Christianity’s most appealing apologists. Though the world is certainly not becoming more faithful, this won’t slow the progress of his tireless campaign.
This article is from New Humanist's spring 2024 issue. Subscribe now.
