Ross Douthat: “In the intelligentsia, it’s Catholicism or nothing”

New York Times columnist Ross Douthat believes encounters with the supernatural are a reason to believe in God.

His new book, Believe : Why Everyone Should Be Religious, is an appeal to sceptics to look to the heavens.

He is the leading Catholic voice in the American media, a Trump critic who railed against the liberal reforms of Pope Francis .

Ross Douthat is America 's premier conservative columnist who sees Trump as a force of history, an unstoppable wave we are destined to watch crash religion precedes politics.

He thinks liberalism lacks a metaphysics, an explanation for the universe which would breathe meaning into concepts such as free speech.

But he is grappling with his hope that Trump ’s chaos awakens America from its decadent slumber.