The Atlantic – Family

What Atheism Could Not Explain

Christopher Beha, former atheist and Harper's editor, recounts in *Why I Am Not an Atheist* how falling in love with his future wife sparked a return to Catholicism. He argues that secular philosophies—from scientific reductionism to Nietzschean romanticism—cannot account for the transformative power of love. The book blends memoir with a critique of atheism’s explanatory limits, positioning love as a lived experience that points toward faith. Beha’s story joins a growing chorus of conversion narratives that foreground personal relationships over doctrinal arguments.