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(NewsNation) — Could the religious revival some say is taking place in the United States be reaching the upper echelons of podcasting and cultural trendsetting?
If Joe Rogan’s recent admission about his own faith is any indication, it may be.
The super successful podcaster and cultural critic, who has more than 20 million subscribers on YouTube and nearly 15 million followers on Spotify, said he enjoys church and sees the benefits of religion.
“It’s a bunch of people who are going to try to make their lives better,” Rogan told guests Konstantin Kisin, British political commentator and author of “An Immigrant’s Love Letter to the West,” and Francis Foster, co-hosts of the podcast “Triggernometry.”
Joe Rogan: Religion is not ‘nothing’
“They’re trying to be a better person, and they’re trying to — I mean, for me at least, the place that I go to — they, you know, they read and analyze passages in the Bible,” Rogan shared. “I’m really interested in what these people were trying to say. Because I don’t think it’s nothing.”
Rogan: Secular people dismiss Christianity as ‘foolish’
“There’s a lot of, like, atheists and secular people that just like to dismiss Christianity as being foolish. You know, ‘It’s just fairy tales.’ I hear that amongst, you know, self-professed intelligent people, like, ‘It’s a fairy tale,’” Rogan said.
“I don’t know if that’s true. I think there’s more to it. I think it’s history, but I think it’s a confusing history. It’s a confusing history because it was a long time ago,” Rogan said. “And it’s people telling things in an oral tradition, then writing things down in a language that you don’t understand in the context of a culture that you don’t understand. And I think there’s something to what they’re saying.”
Rogan praised Christianity and Jesus Christ.
“Christianity in particular is the most fascinating to me because there’s this one person that everybody agrees existed that somehow or another had the best plan for how human beings should interact with each other and behave and was the best example of it and even died in a nonviolent way like, didn’t even protest, died on the cross supposedly for our sins. Like it’s a fascinating story,” he said.
He also expressed respect for religion in general.
“When I watch super religious people that are praying five times a day, and I’m like, that is amazing. Like look how dedicated they are to that thing. Like there’s an attractiveness to that,” Rogan said in reference to Islam.
“If I was that dedicated to something, I’d probably be, like, way more stable in my life,” Rogan said.
“I’ve got a friend who’s a devout Muslim and he’s and he’s going through tough times at the moment, and I say to him like, ‘How do you get through this?’ And he’s like, ‘Bro, I’ve got my religion,” responded Francis Foster, co-host of “Triggernometry.” “‘I’ve got God and I know everything’s going to be okay.’ He’s a great guy. And he goes, ‘I pray five times a day. It really helps me.’ And it makes me realize and understand that what I’m going through is part of his plan.”
Rogan guest calls gesture at Catholic Mass ‘powerful’
Rogan wasn’t the only one opening up about faith during the podcast. His guest, Francis Foster, also expressed appreciation for the rituals carried out during the Catholic Mass.
“I was raised Catholic, as you know, they’d say, ‘Peace be upon you towards the end. Let’s show each other a sign of peace,’” Foster said, describing the rite of peace at Catholic Mass. “You don’t know this person. You may have never met them, but you shake hands with
the person behind, in front, and whatever else. What an incredibly profound gesture that is. Just to shake hands with someone. And all your anger and all your resentment and everything you feel, which is natural, and jealousy, and you go and but you make a literal physical connection with another human being. That is so powerful.”
Rogan appears to criticize pro-choice stance
“If you don’t have something to believe in … if you’re just relying on your whims and your, you know, whatever you think is the moral thing to do, you know, then you know what you get? You get those people that are unable to answer the question of whether or not you should protect an unborn fetus or whether or not they have human rights,” he said. “No, no, no. They don’t. … If you have religion, you go, ‘wow, that’s a good question. It’s a very good question.’”
Rogan praises ‘true’ Christians
“The true Christians that I’ve met – and I’ve met some legitimate, like very charitable, kind Christians,” he said. “They’re some of the happiest and kindest people I’ve ever met.”