In the wake of news reports about Bible prices soaring and people heading back to church, popular podcaster Joe Rogan recently shared the news that he enjoys attending church and even is contemplating the truth of the Gospel and Jesus himself. 

Speaking to two comedians who host a podcast of their own, Triggernometry, Rogan, after finishing a cigar with Francis Foster and Konstantin Kisin while talking about a full gamut of other topics, delved into religion in the last 15 minutes of his show. The religious nature of the commentary stemmed from a conversation on education and how good home schooling might be, given the current times. 

Kisin pointed out that "I just don't want some 25-year-old with blue hair teaching my son that communism is brilliant."

"Exactly," Rogan responded. "And the weird one is that people have no desire to have children of their own, but they want to indoctrinate [other] people's kids into their way of thinking. It's like a part of why they teach."

Foster chimed in, saying: "The great thing about an ideology is it gives you certainty. The terrible thing about an ideology is ... it gives you certainty."

"That is so true. And it's also the appealing thing about it," the host of the Joe Rogan Experience said, adding:

"I've always been attracted to the idea that these people really believe. Like, it's fascinating when I watch super-religious people pray like five times a day. That is amazing. Look how dedicated they are to that thing. If I was that dedicated to something, I would be more stable in my life. Because you're locked in and everybody believes. And you see people talking about their religion with utmost certainty. Wish I was that certain. Those guys are so certain, they're willing to die."

Foster said it also gives people "a lot of inner peace." Kisin admitted that he's actually started to go to church, and he loves it, leading Rogan to reveal: "I do too. It's a bunch of people that are going to make their lives better. They’re trying to be a better person."

Rogan continued, "And they are trying to, for me at least, at the church where I go, they read and analyze passages from the Bible. I'm really interested in what these people are trying to say. Because I don't think it's nothing. There's a lot of atheists and secular people that like to dismiss Christianity as being foolish. A lot of self-proclaimed smart people say it's fairy tales; it's a fairy tale. 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 because it was a long time ago. And it's people telling things in an oral tradition in a language you don't understand. I think there is something to what they are saying. I think there is a reason they all have a flood myth. And that jives with what geologists are saying."

He then went on to discuss some of the physical evidence that researchers have found. "They find these ancient scrolls. That's what's interesting to me."

"Christianity in particular is the most fascinating to me," Rogan admitted, "because there is this one person that everybody agrees existed that somehow 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 [willingness], didn't even protest, died on the cross for our sins. It's a fascinating story. What does it represent, though? That's the real thing. What was that? Who was Jesus Christ if it was a human being? What was that? That's wild."

Kisin stepped in to talk about how the stories of Jesus teach about selflessness and sacrifice, and Rogan rebutted with: "But it's a historical human being too, though. It's a historical, documented human being. That's where it gets weird. There's a universal depiction that doesn't seem to vary much."

"The lessons that you learn going to church are incredibly profound. I was raised Catholic," Foster said, adding that, at Mass, everyone "shows each other a sign of peace. And you literally shake hands with the person next to you. What an incredibly profound gesture that is, just to shake hands with someone ... you make a literal physical connection with another human being. That is so powerful."

"And if you don't have something to believe in," Rogan said, wrapping up the conversation, "if there's not a thing that you follow, that you believe is making you a better person, make a better version of yourself. If you're just relying on your whims ... whatever you think the moral thing to do ... you know what you got? You get those people that are unable to answer the question of whether or not you should protect an unborn fetus, whether they have rights. You just say No; that's what you get when you have no religion. If you have religion, you say that's a very good question."

It's always wonderful to hear people contemplate the truth of Christ and what happens when truth is abandoned or not even pursued. May those who listen to this conversation be moved to consider a real relationship of Jesus, which, as Catholics, we experience so profoundly in the Eucharistic sacrifice, present every day to us at daily Mass. Let's hope Rogan continues to ponder these questions with his guests and listeners, in order to find real peace — peace beyond all understanding, in the Real Presence of Christ.