And so another series of @theosthinktank.bsky.social's Reading our Times comes to an end, with a great interview with @philipgoff.bsky.social in which we simply ask does the universe have a purpose? After a series covering consciousness, quantum, time & God, what else? tinyurl.com/56t5uymc

Frame or picture? What we saw at Tommy Robinson’s Unite the Kingdom Carol Service: tinyurl.com/55e2mxpy

I spoke with Michael Little on his Ratio podcast recently on science, religion, Scopes, Dawkins, God, and other such divine matters: tinyurl.com/y6n7uzxu

I was sorry to hear about the death of John Carey, surely the most penetrating and readable literary critic of the last 50 years. He was a bit of a personal hero of mine & I was delighted to interview him years ago about literature, religion & much else: tinyurl.com/whhpr4xr

Hope can feel distant. Globally, we face conflict, displacement, climate chaos and retreating democracies. To mark 80 years of @christianaiduk.bsky.social, @nickebs.bsky.social and Bob Kikuyu ask whether there are deeper reasons to be hopeful. Follow along to find out more 🧵 bit.ly/48GAuYP

Nobody could accuse us of shying away from big questions @theosthinktank.bsky.social and especially on this week’s episode of Reading our Times. So, in conversation with philosopher Graham Harman, we have... what is the ultimate nature of reality? shorturl.at/6XuRr

Last week we tackled quantum, so this week - obviously - it's consciousness. Tune in to my fascinating @theosthinktank.bsky.social conversation with Susan Greenfield on brain, mind, consciousness & dogs: tinyurl.com/3xa22mme

You don’t understand Quantum Theory. I know. Nor do I. And you think you should, because it’s about to change our world. Indeed. You are in luck today… Lucid, clear, cogent, informed Paul Davies on Quantum 2.0: tinyurl.com/3xtrm35j

Michael Symmons Roberts is, imho, one of the very best poets writing today, so the chance to talk to him about time, peace, God, time, and the power of music was too good to miss. I hope you enjoy this conversation as much as I did: shorturl.at/W794k

I honestly don’t know who apart from my colleague @hannahmerich.bsky.social could have written our latest @theosthinktank.bsky.social report on RE beyond the classroom. It’s so wide ranging & perceptive. A really important piece of work. Do read, digest and share. tinyurl.com/bde877pe

What does “transcendence” mean? And how does it relate to "ordinary" human life? Join me in conversation with biographer and philosopher Clare Carlisle here: tinyurl.com/6vkjaztp

Many of the New Atheist arrows fired in the religion wars of 2000s and 2010s hit their target well and hard. The question is, was it the right target? This week, @nickebs.bsky.social speaks to Gilbert Markus about his book, 'God as nothing'. podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/r...

How can we talk about God, especially if God is "no thing", no part of creation. This is not a new problem. Indeed, it is one that the writers of the Bible and theologians have grappled with for centuries. As we do this week on Reading our Times: tinyurl.com/5ft2z555

I have written a piece on why we should be very proud to be British. www.theosthinktank.co.uk/comment/2025...

What role do genes play in life? Where, if anywhere, does agency reside? How, in effect, does life work? @nickebs.bsky.social speaks to @philipcball.bsky.social on the brand new series of #ReadingOurTimes 🎧 Tune in here: podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/r...

A new series of Reading our Times starts today, with an opening episode on How life works with the brilliant science writer @philipcball.bsky.social All my interviewees are perceptive - ofc - but this one was esp. so. The book really is illuminating. podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/h...

The new series of Reading our Times gets metaphysical, drops next week, with episodes on life, quantum, transcendence, reality, God, consciousness, music and time with (among others) Philip Ball, Paul Davies, Susan Greenfield and Michael Symmons Roberts: tinyurl.com/dmhm5ktz

Exciting news from @theosthinktank.bsky.social : www.theosthinktank.co.uk/research/202...

“a fresh and illuminating way of thinking about science and religion … [and] a very welcome addition to the science-and-religion literature” – Lovely review of our latest book on science and religion in @churchtimes.bsky.social : tinyurl.com/58ntes4e

"Flags absorb meaning from the people who do things with them." www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/202...

"The empire history wars that have flared up so viciously of late, are about the future as much as the past" 💬 In his latest longread, @nickebs.bsky.social takes a deep dive into imperial history and today’s "empire wars." 🔗 Read it here www.theosthinktank.co.uk/comment/2025...

“There was an intense apocalyptic smell in the air, and writer after writer claimed they were living at the end of history.” I have written a long read on empires and history ending, then and now. Enjoy. www.theosthinktank.co.uk/comment/2025...

If you're interested in the Future of the West cf this series of Reading our Times which explores its "contours" - choice, growth, democracy, sex, Christianity & with @samirpuri.bsky.social @lucyaash.bsky.social @richarddouglas.bsky.social Jonathan Sumption, Diarmaid Macculloch tinyurl.com/5677vdbf

"We're already well aware of the risks and challenges that we face in our own kind of own persons. Having a child means opening yourself up to that vulnerability in the life of another person." What are children for? tinyurl.com/37n7wrj7

Why are we having so few children? Ah, now there's a question. In conversation with Anastasia Berg on her @oneworldbooks.bsky.social book What are children for? tinyurl.com/37n7wrj7

"I'm not trying to say that choice is a bad thing at all. Choice is vital to our independence. That said, it isn't necessarily the solution to everything and some of our collective needs require us sometimes to decide that choice isn't our highest value." tinyurl.com/r323xt4b

"Our sense of ourselves as free, and what that means, has evolved over time. I think humans do seek freedom in some form, but what they mean by that can be very different in different times and places." Analysing freedom and choice on... tinyurl.com/r323xt4b

Choice, choice, choice. Everything is choice. These days, to deny someone freedom of choice is almost to deny them their humanity. Where did this come from? Me in conversation with Sophia Rosenfeld on The Age of Choice: tinyurl.com/r323xt4b

"There's a knowledge you derive from a test tube, when everything else is just wishy washy nonsense, on the one hand. But on the other there's a postmodernist approach… Western truth, white truth, male truth, my truth… this is a pretty slippery slope." tinyurl.com/y9kbcfrc

"For all the immense flaws of Western civilization, many of the goods that we take for granted - individualism, parliamentary democracy, belief in human equality, science itself - these derive from Christian culture." tinyurl.com/y9kbcfrc

It's one thing to say that Christianity has a richer account of the human person than secular alternatives. But that prompts an inevitable response from the sceptic who might say, “ultimately the comfort that it offers is spurious because atheism is true.” tinyurl.com/yw69cfnk

"He rang me up and said, 'Rupert I'm a lifelong agnostic. I can't speak to any of the philosophy or theology in your book. The point is that Richard is wrong about the science let alone the theology.'" I speak to Rupert Shortt on science, religion & Richard Dawkins tinyurl.com/yw69cfnk

If you are interested in what the discovery of alien life would mean for humanity - and how could you not be? - please join me tomorrow for an on-line talk with the Scientific and Medical Network. Details here: tinyurl.com/2tbd2dkc

This week on Reading our Times, in conversation with Rupert Shortt: Would it matter if Christianity were eclipsed? podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/w...

Lots of debate today from Chris Coghlan MP, Tim Stanley, @politicshome.bsky.social et al on the proper role of religious in the assisted dying debate. Here is the @Theosthinktank take on this tinyurl.com/bdhcpfjb

“Asking about the limits to growth is not just an interesting policy question. What we're doing here is not just questioning how we should navigate the policy minefield. We're fundamentally questioning who we are, what is our foundation of our existence.” tinyurl.com/2t8sk2tb

“You might see this as a single crisis, an environmental crisis, a physical crisis. Beyond that, it's also a political crisis… But fundamentally, I think it’s a philosophical or even a theological crisis... the fundamental cause of political inaction” : tinyurl.com/2t8sk2tb

"What environmentalism has done is it has contradicted an idea of progress, which is providing a secular understanding of meaning, of what it means to be human, without offering something to replace it." The Meaning of Growth @cusp.ac.uk @theosthinktank.bsky.social tinyurl.com/2t8sk2tb

The future is endless. Once you buy into that, the idea of progress, whereby humanity would, over time, through scientific learning, understand & master the universe, you have the idea of a future which is material, but which is attaining God like mastery. tinyurl.com/2t8sk2tb

In the latest episode of Reading our Times, I talk to Richard Douglas about his book on "The Meaning of Growth", and we explore how the environmental challenge "is really a treble crisis": physical, political and philosophical. tinyurl.com/2t8sk2tb

This is a great piece by @j-amesmarriott.bsky.social on the importance of reading. tinyurl.com/ms66muuu I confess I am far from unbiased on this topic. tinyurl.com/yrzm389t

"I wanted to understand why Patriarch Kirill seemed so craven, so blindly loyal to Putin, and why he was coming up with all this rhetoric that seemed so warmongering, so unlike anything you associate with the Christian faith." @lucyaash.bsky.social @theosthinktank.bsky.social tinyurl.com/jexnt8hk

"I do like your @theosthinktank.bsky.social reports," a MP said to me recently. "They LOOK so stylish." I couldn’t agree more (natch) but this is esp. so with our latest one on churches work with #Refugees , with stunning photography from John Boaz. tinyurl.com/yzsrepy5

He understood the church could bring a sense of dignity to these humiliated parts of Russian society but pretty soon there were icons appearing in the cockpits of bomber jets & every army division battalion would be named after a saint @lucyaash.bsky.social on Kirill tinyurl.com/jexnt8hk

"The Evangelicals were lecturing Russians about Christianity. Some of these people that came [in the 90s] from Europe and America didn't have the foggiest idea that Christianity had existed in Russia for 1000 years already." In conversation with @lucyaash.bsky.social tinyurl.com/jexnt8hk

A: If you want to do public debate, don’t quote religious stuff at me. Use public reasoning! B: OK, sure. I am against assisted dying because I fear what will happen to the vulnerable. A: You’re being dishonest! I know you real reason is religious! Read: tinyurl.com/bdhcpfjb

Why is the Orthodox church so supportive of Putin's war? This was a great conversation with @lucyaash.bsky.social about orthodoxy, Putin, Kirill, Ukraine, history and theology. tinyurl.com/jexnt8hk

"I do not see where the improvement is going to come from, because it seems to me that the problem lies in certain very basic characteristics of humanity which aren't going to change." Jonathan Sumption on future of democracy. Sobering. tinyurl.com/2utkwtfp

Holding an opposing view is not 'imposing' belief on the assisted dying debate... Unpacking the dishonesty objection to religious contributions in new @theosthinktank.bsky.social report: www.seenandunseen.com/preview-link...