{"id":66411,"date":"2026-04-06T16:43:28","date_gmt":"2026-04-06T16:43:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/?post_type=sermon-illustrations&p=66411"},"modified":"2026-04-06T16:43:29","modified_gmt":"2026-04-06T16:43:29","slug":"when-a-secular-culture-starts-leaning-toward-god-again","status":"publish","type":"sermon-illustrations","link":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/when-a-secular-culture-starts-leaning-toward-god-again\/","title":{"rendered":"When a Secular Culture Starts Leaning Toward God Again"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In central London in 2009, red buses had a bold message stretched across their sides: \u201cThere\u2019s probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life.\u201d It was the high tide of New Atheism\u2014Richard Dawkins filling stadiums, and the cultural mood tilting hard against faith. Belief in God felt not only outdated but unfashionable. But something unexpected happened.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a small radio studio near Westminster Abbey, a young broadcaster named Justin Brierley started inviting atheists and Christians to have honest conversations. No shouting. No mocking. Just listening, questioning, and seeking understanding. At the time, critics warned him:
\u201cYou\u2019re giving atheism a platform! Christians will lose their faith!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Atheists started listening, and some\u2014even very public ones\u2014began to reconsider. Scroll through YouTube comments today under Brierley\u2019s debates with people like Richard Dawkins, and you\u2019ll see an astonishing pattern. Atheists writing things like: \u201cI don\u2019t believe in God, but this conversation made me think.\u201d \u201cThis is the first Christian space where I\u2019ve felt respected.\u201d \u201cI\u2019m an atheist\u2026 but I\u2019m curious again.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One journalist calls it a \u201csoftening.\u201d A growing number of public intellectuals have begun speaking publicly about Christianity as morally beautiful, culturally essential, and spiritually compelling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brierley calls it a \u201csurprising rebirth of belief in God.\u201d Many people\u2014especially young men\u2014are quietly asking again: \u201cWhat if there is more?\u201d Sometimes God moves by opening cracks in even the most confident doubt.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"template":"","tax_ctp_audience":[],"tax_ctp_authors":[],"tax_ctp_categories":[165],"tax_ctp_format":[171],"tax_ctp_illustration_types":[],"tax_ctp_multimedia":[],"tax_ctp_point_editor":[],"tax_publications":[140],"tax_ctp_tags":[3424,3450,3827,3897,4749,4900,4906,5202],"tax_ctp_topics":[],"class_list":["post-66411","sermon-illustrations","type-sermon-illustrations","status-publish","hentry","tax_publications-ct-pastors","tax_ctp_tags-apologetics","tax_ctp_tags-atheism","tax_ctp_tags-doubt","tax_ctp_tags-evangelism","tax_ctp_tags-pursuing-sinners","tax_ctp_tags-secularism","tax_ctp_tags-seekers","tax_ctp_tags-unbelief"],"acf":{"scripture_references":null},"yoast_head":"\nWhen a Secular Culture Starts Leaning Toward God Again - CT Pastors<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/when-a-secular-culture-starts-leaning-toward-god-again\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"When a Secular Culture Starts Leaning Toward God Again - CT Pastors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In central London in 2009, red buses had a bold message stretched across their sides: \u201cThere\u2019s probably no God. 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