Conversations with Coleman Why Liberal Religion is Losing Ground
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Jan 26, 2026 David Wolpe, a conservative American rabbi and public intellectual, reflects on faith, reason, and modern belief. He debates the New Atheists, Jewish peoplehood versus religion, and how secular movements adopt religious structures. He examines campus activism, antisemitism’s conspiratorial pull, and why liberal religion is waning in contemporary culture.
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Faith Isn’t Binary
- The New Atheists rightly showed modernity challenges faith but overstated a binary between literal belief and disbelief.
- Many believers occupy a middle ground that accepts non-material realities without literal supernatural claims.
Judaism As Peoplehood
- Judaism resists the category “religion” because it combines faith, peoplehood, and culture.
- Many Jews remain attached to Jewish identity even without literal belief in God.
Desert Origins Shaped Legal Roles
- Islam and Judaism historically fused religious and civil law; Christianity developed amid Roman civil structures.
- That divergence helped Christianity produce separation of church and state.
