College is a time for searching. For jobs, friends, meaning, and purpose. But when these searches fail us, or when we suffer from things outside our control, where does that leave us? Is there something more — something spiritual or transcendent— that can give us hope?
In today’s episode, you’ll hear from two journalists who have thought about these questions. The first is Ross Douthat, a New York Times Opinion columnist and author of the new book, Believe: Why Everyone Should Be Religious. He’s in dialogue with Frank Bruni, an opinion contributor at the New York Times and a professor of journalism and public policy at Duke. In this discussion, moderated by UNC historian Molly Worthen, Ross and Frank share their experiences with suffering, their perspectives on spirituality and religion, and their search for meaning throughout their lives.
This forum was held at UNC Chapel Hill in April 2025. Thank you to the student planning team for making this event possible.
One of my profound convictions is that people who are interested in religious matters and . . . the big questions should proceed on the assumption that the world is not a trick. God is not out to get you. The universe isn't out to fool you. It hasn't hidden the truth about existence.
It is important that you get to know yourself. And it is important you listen to yourself because that is how you will figure how to move through the world. But it's a really slippery slope and an easy way to end up self-obsessed, to end up deaf and blind to the people around you if you are engaged in a constant investigation of your own authenticity.
In every time and place, people ask big questions—and answers are available. They were available in the ancient world. They're available in the modern world. It doesn't mean you can get all the way to perfect certainty about reality, or figure out every truth through reason alone, but you can figure out some important truths. And, when you're doing that, and if that leads you into a religious quest, I think you are looking for a religion, a tradition, a church, a denomination that fits the complexity and diversity of the human species, that fits with the larger patterns of the universe, that seems big enough in certain ways.
College is a rehearsal for the rest of life — deeply learning what people mean to you, what they mean in life, and how important it is to surround yourself with a caring community to which you contribute and from which you draw.
Christianity lays a great stress on humility, suffering, and brokenness, and American culture lays a greater stress on Promethean ambition, self-discovery, and self-actualization. Those are in tension. I don't think there's a way to live in the world as an American and completely purge yourself of certain kinds of very American ambition. But, if you're an American and a Christian, you can try and make that ambition directed outward to try and escape from the trap of narcissism.
I've always seen my role to . . . assume good faith and start any disagreement with the strongest and best understanding of the other side's argument.
One thing I wish more people had said to me when I was in college and making decisions is, "Life is long, and nothing is irrevocable. You will have a chance—in some measure, in some form—to revisit those decisions."
Suffering does seem to bring many people closer to God, if he exists, right? The reality is that people who are in the deepest suffering are sometimes the least likely to say, "This suffering shows that the universe is meaningless and pointless."
