Why We Believe
This week in the Coracle we picnic with St Phillip Neri, gather joy through responsibility and review Northern Irish theologian and Oxford professor, Alister McGrath's new book.
Alister McGrath (2025) Why We Believe: Finding Meaning in Uncertain Times. Oneworld Publications. £16.70. 272pp. (ISBN-13978-0861549214)
Alister McGrath’s latest book joins (according to Wikipedia) his more than fifty previous books on Christianity. So what does Why We Believe: Finding Meaning in Uncertain Times add to this impressive back catalogue? More generally, what does it add to a market already overflowing with reflections on Christian apologetics, spirituality and on the (religious or non-religious) state that we’re in?
My blunt assessment of this is probably that it adds little. In terms of substantive content, it says little that hasn’t been said elsewhere. Where it might help is in its clarity and straightforwardness. If you are attracted by a ‘science has the answer to everything and religious people are idiots’ sort of viewpoint, then you might find something in here at least to prod you into some unease about your position.
McGrath focuses on the sort of New Atheist position advocated by the Four Horsemen (Daniel Dennett, Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens and Sam Harris). This is not a book which tackles the details of their arguments directly but instead focuses on their general view that we should only believe what is evidenced by the standards of empirical science. McGrath argues convincingly that restricting belief to such an evidential standard makes it unliveable and that any worthwhile life instead depends on other elements which go beyond scientific evidence. In essence, we are all believers, and the only question is whether our belief systems are life enhancing or not.
I think that, so far as this part of his case goes, he’s correct. A life lived by scientific evidence alone would be unliveable. Where I’m less certain is that he is attacking here a position that is held by anyone other than a few spluttering internet warriors. I’m not at all certain that New Atheism (if it ever really dug that deeply into most people’s psyches) is still around that much. To the extent therefore that some variety of New Atheism is the book’s target, it is now probably as past its usefulness as the movement itself. Where the main current of religious disbelief now exists (and probably to some extent always did) is in the ‘Nones’, essentially those who answer ‘none’ to questions in censuses and surveys which ask: ‘To what religion do you belong?’ And it is precisely because the Nones form an increasing element in a post-Christian Scotland and elsewhere that this book is inadequate as a response.
The last Scottish census in 2022 showed 51.1% of respondents claiming ‘no religion’ as opposed to 36.7% in 2011 [1]. As such, we are considerably ‘ahead’ of the figures that McGrath quotes for the UK as a whole (2021: 37% 2011: 25%) and the US (2017-2022 an average of 20-21%) [2]. While McGrath seems cautiously hopeful that these figures may represent a plateau, and despite there being some evidence for some growth in UK Church attendance particularly among males aged between 18-24 [3], it seems unlikely given previous trends that there is going to be a dramatic shift in the prevalence of Scottish Nones soon. If that’s right, then the biggest competitor to Christianity is not so much hardline New Atheism, but rather the more varied rejection of institutional religion by the Nones.
The Theos 2022 report, The Nones: Who are they and what do they believe? breaks the Nones down into roughly three equally numerous groups: Spiritual Nones, Campaigning Nones and Tolerant Nones [4]. Of these only the Campaigning Nones broadly fit the New Atheist paradigm:
· spiritually closed (only 20% hold any form of spiritual belief)
· individuals who believe science is the only reliable way to describe, explain and understand reality
· strongly atheistic (80% are atheists)
· extremely hostile to religion (78% believe it is comparable to smallpox, vs 29% of Nones overall)
· a group of individuals who see no value in religion or its place in society
Of the remaining 2/3 or so of the Nones, both Tolerant and Spiritual Nones have some openness to religion. The Spiritual are:
· individuals who see value in religion and its place in the modern world
· individuals who believe that science is only able to describe and explain part of reality
The Tolerant:
· believe that science cannot tell you how to live your life
· are more tolerant and accepting of religion than Campaigning Nones
· believe religion has some helpful things to say about ethics
So McGrath’s arguments are directed mainly at (assuming the Theos proportions apply to the Scottish census figures) the Campaigning Nones who possibly represent some 17% of the Scottish population. The remaining 34% of Tolerant and Spiritual Nones already agree on McGrath’s central argument which is that science is an inadequate guide to living well and that Christianity (and other traditional religions) have some value in teaching us how to flourish.
Now, of course, having something directly to say to 17% of the Scottish population is not a negligible achievement. But there is little in McGrath’s current book to explain to the more open Nones why they should move beyond a vague sympathy for religion in general to a particular interest in Christianity and, more importantly, a possible institutional commitment to it.
Indeed, McGrath’s ambitions seem to undermine seeing Christianity as an Institution, instead pitching it as an exploratory wisdom tradition:
By using a series of different maps, each grounded in a different intellectual discipline, Midgley argues that we can gain a deeper understanding of ‘what the outside world is actually telling us. We need to avoid an imperialist map, which tries to colonise other disciplines, and instead find a way of bringing together the insights offered by multiple maps [5]
Regretfully putting aside any ecumenical spirit, it needs to be pointed out that McGrath (quite understandably for an admirer of C.S. Lewis) seems to be thinking throughout of ‘the basic idea of a consensual Christianity -what Lewis termed “mere Christianity”- which was denominationally open-ended’ [6]. Whatever else might be said, this approach does not easily apply to the Catholic Church which, while it is a wisdom tradition (and one rather deeper than most other versions of Christianity), is also the visible Body of Christ, subject to the divinely appointed teaching authority of Pope and Bishops. If McGrath is right that the Nones ‘have a problem with religious institutions’ [7], while it makes sense particularly for a Low Church Anglican to de-emphasise the institutional aspect of Christianity, from a Catholic perspective it only leaves a greater absence in this book.
To sum up, McGrath’s work does probably add something to the literature which might encourage someone to explore Christianity, just as it might also encourage someone to explore any of the other major world spiritualities such as Islam or Buddhism or Taoism and so on. It does little to prepare explorers for the exclusive truth and institutional claims that Catholicism will present them with and indeed may well make it harder for these explorers to treat such claims with anything other than suspicion. What it lacks in particular is much of a hint about why Christianity is more likely to be worth the explorer’s investment of time than other possibilities, and why remaining as an open minded and open hearted None is not going to be a more inviting prospect than taking a leap of faith into an apparently patriarchal, colonialist and closed minded cult such as Christianity in general and, a fortiori, the Catholic Church [8].
By Stephen Watt
References and notes:
[1] National Records of Scotland https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/latest-news/religion-and-ethnic-group-results-published/ (accessed 21 May 2025)
[2] McGrath, 2025, ch.6. (I am working from an unpaginated eBook edition, hence the reliance on chapter numbers.)
[3] ‘The Quiet Revival: Gen Z leads rise in church attendance’, https://www.biblesociety.org.uk/research/quiet-revival (accessed 21 May 2025)
[4] Hannah Waite, 2022. The Nones: Who are they and what do they believe? https://www.theosthinktank.co.uk/research/2022/10/31/the-nones-who-are-they-and-what-do-they-believe (accessed 21 May 2025) Most of the quotes are taken from the executive summary on pp.11-24.
[5] McGrath, 2025, ch.5
[6] McGrath, 2025, ch.5
[7] McGrath, 2025. ch.6
[8] Whilst I don’t have the space here to provide a reasoned response to such a challenge, let me at least testify. I have never found the Catholic Church to be anything other than a uniquely rich space within which to explore the sort of wisdom that McGrath is advocating. And to live one’s life wisely means, at some point, committing oneself to an institutional discipline rather than living with total openness.
In the Coracle this week
Beyond Happiness: New writer, Benjamin Woods, believes that we should embrace responsibilities in ways that bring joy and fulfilment.
A picnic with St Phillip Neri: We encounter the Apostle of Rome on his upcoming feast day.
Two of Scotland’s most important Saints have their feast days in June - St Columba and St Moluag.
Other things that might interest you
Eucharistic Revival Week: Fr James Cadman from the Borders joined St Mary’s Cathedral in Aberdeen and gave a number of talks. Go to their youtube page here.
Carfin National Pilgrimage: Pilgrims of Prayer in the jubilee year of 2025 on Sunday September 1st at 3pm. All welcome.