This is the second instalment of a three-part episode. David Baddiel would love there to be a God. The comedian and bestselling author has spent a lot of time fantasising about how much better life would be if there actually were a supreme being – which for him would be some kind of Superhero Dad who chased off Death. Unfortunately for him, there isn’t. Or at least, that’s Baddiel’s view, and it’s the starting point of his new book The God Desire. In April 2023 Baddiel came to our stage at The Tabernacle in Notting Hill, London, to argue that it is the very intensity of his, and everyone else’s, desire for God to exist that proves God’s non-existence. Baddiel was joined on stage by comedian, actor and film-maker Richard Ayoade and theologian and broadcaster Ben Quash for a conversation that tackled this most ancient and fundamental of questions: is our need for there to be something greater than ourselves anything more than just that – a need?
We’d love to hear your feedback and what you think we should talk about next, who we should have on and what our future debates should be.
Send us an email or voice note with your thoughts to podcasts@intelligencesquared.com or Tweet us @intelligence2.
And if you’d like to support our mission to foster honest debate and compelling conversations, as well as ad-free podcasts, exclusive bonus content, early access and much more, become a supporter of Intelligence Squared.
Just visit intelligencesquared.com/membership to find out more.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Michael Lewis on The Rise and Fall of Sam Bankman-Fried, Part One
James Baldwin: A Man For Our Times with Eddie Glaude
Power Trip, Part Three: AI and Society
The Sceptic's Guide to Self Help
Simon Schama on Pandemics and the Health of Nations, Part Two
Simon Schama on Pandemics and the Health of Nations, Part One
A History of Women in 101 Objects
Power Trip, Part Two: AI and the Workforce
Fear: An Alternative History of the World
Wes Streeting on Navigating a Path from Poverty to Politics
Oil Today: Beyond Extraction
Power Trip: The Age of AI
Gillian Tett and Yanis Varoufakis: Can We Fix Capitalism?
Debate: We Should All Go Vegan, Part 2
Debate: We Should All Go Vegan, Part 1
The End of the Murdoch Empire
What Britain Gets Wrong About Race
Putin's Shrinking Circle: Russia after Prigozhin
Whose Word is 'Woke'?
The New Science Behind Tackling Depression
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free