Introduction

2min Snip

00:00

Play full episode

Summary

Transcript

Episode notes

In this chapter, they announce an upcoming live conversation in New York City with Bloomberg columnist Matt Levine. They also introduce Ross Douthat as the youngest person ever to have been an op-ed columnist for the New York Times and mention his upcoming book on Pope Francis and Catholicism.

Last year, Tyler asked his readers “What Is the Strongest Argument for the Existence of God?” and followed up a few days later with a post outlining why he doesn’t believe in God. New York Times columnist Ross Douthat accepted the implicit challenge, responding to the second post in dialogic form and arguing that theism warrants further consideration.

This in-person dialogue starts along similar lines, covering Douthat’s views on religion and theology, but then moves on to more earth-bound concerns, such as his stance on cats, The Wire vs The Sopranos, why Watership Down is the best modern novel for understanding politics, eating tofu before it was cool, journalism as a trade, why he’s open to weird ideas, the importance of Sam’s Club Republicans, the specter of a Buterlian Jihad, and more.

Read a full transcript enhanced with helpful links.

Recorded January 11th, 2018 Other ways to connect

Follow us on Twitter and Instagram
Follow Tyler on Twitter
Follow Ross on Twitter
Email us: cowenconvos@mercatus.gmu.edu
Subscribe at our newsletter page to have the latest Conversations with Tyler news sent straight to your inbox.