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Integral [+] Facticity

Last entry 2 November 2026

Podcast1 h 20 min

Ben Burgis on Michael Brooks, Why Hitchens Still Matters, & the Religious Left

Integral [+] Facticity, episode 4 of 21, with Ben Burgis

First published on Acast, 30 March 2022, with show notes on Medium. All 21 episodes

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Episode details
Date
Length
1 h 20 min
Type
PodcastIntegral [+] Facticity, episode 4 of 21
People
Organizations
Contents
  1. Overview
  2. Description
  3. Original episode
  4. References & Further Reading
Listen to episode 4, 1 h 20 min. The recording is served by Acast.

Overview

Ben Burgis examines the relationship between atheism, the religious left and contemporary socialist politics, drawing on his writing about Christopher Hitchens and his political development. The interview also documents Burgis’s collaboration and friendship with Michael Brooks, including their work on Against the Web and the cosmopolitan commitments associated with it.

Description

What can an atheist committed to the left find compelling about religion? Ben Burgis approaches that question through his own unlikely sympathy for the religious left. A philosopher, Jacobin columnist and Zero Books author familiar from The Michael Brooks Show, Ben retraces the path from community college to graduate studies, anti-Iraq War organizing, years in South Korea, and renewed political activity during the Sanders campaigns. Doug Lain's 2018 Jordan Peterson conference in Boise also enters the story as the occasion behind his first book, Give Them an Argument.

Drawing on my religious-studies background, I ask Ben about Christopher Hitchens, the new atheism and his view of faith in left-wing politics. The conversation returns to Michael Brooks: their friendship, their work on Against the Web, Brooks's admiration for Lula, and the cosmopolitanism that animated his politics.

Original episode

Title as published
Ben Burgis on Michael Brooks, Why Hitchens Still Matters, & the Religious Left
Published
Length
1 h 20 min
Guest
Ben Burgis
Series
Integral [+] Facticity, episode 4 of 21

References & Further Reading