In the last few years, Brand has turned his attention to politics, activism and philosophy. In his latest podcast he invited McGrath to openly discuss religion, science and rationality of faith.
In the latest episode of the Under The Skin odcast titled Is there any point in God, they talk openly and calmly about many areas of belief, starting with Brand asking why, after being an Atheist, McGrath became a Christian.
Giving his case for Christianity, the theologian said: "Christianity has this idea that God enters into history, enters into our world, and if that's right (of course we have to discuss that), it's a game-changer because it means God came into this world and that actually makes him accessible".
Brand also asked about the seeming divide between science and religion, to which McGrath replied: "For me, science is great but it doesn't help us find that extra dimension - there's something special about human beings, we don't want to just know how things work but what they mean".
Brand went on to ask: "Aren't there too many examples of Christian theology becoming tyrannical, abusive and bigoted or would you say those things are a result of other human impulses and not Christian?".
McGrath replied: "Christianity, like every human institution, has messed up, but sometimes it does good stuff. But the truth is deeper than this...there's something about us, everything we touch as humans has the capacity to go very, very badly wrong and that's the real concern - if we are so great, why is the world such a mess?"