‘Believe’ offers a logical and compassionate case for religious belief

In October, New York Times pundit and author Ross Douthat penned an opinion column on the theme that religious belief among the disillusioned could be poised for a comeback.

The column was timely for two reasons: First, there has been a spate of new book releases on the question of faith’s rebound, and second, that Douthat himself is among the authors of these religion-themed books.

Douthat’s latest effort, “Believe: Why Everyone Should be Religious,” is set for release in February. In many ways, the new book is a natural outgrowth of Douthat’s emergence as a conservative-minded cultural critic whose work by his own admission is “to make religious belief intelligible to irreligious readers.”

An adult convert to Catholicism, Douthat is also author of “The Deep Places” (2021), a poignant memoir of the writer’s struggle with the lingering effects of Lyme disease. In that work, Douthat makes several references to the comfort and resilience he drew from his Catholic faith in returning to health and personal equilibrium.

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