Ross Douthat has spent his career making the case for God and against the meritocracy, to readers who mostly disagree with him. In this conversation with Harvard Dean David Deming, the New York Times columnist argues that belief in God is more reasonable now than it was a century ago, that consciousness may be the most supernatural thing we know, and that Harvard made him more ambitious and was not good for his soul. From there they go to meritocracy and magnanimity, admission by lottery, votes for parents, and what a 390-year-old university owes a country about to turn 250.
Ross Douthat is a columnist at The New York Times, host of the Times Opinion podcast Interesting Times, and the author of seven books, including Believe: Why Everyone Should Be Religious and Privilege: Harvard and the Education of the Ruling Class. He graduated from Harvard College in 2002.
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