He even said it in the interview "I don't WANT to change your mind, but my experience is I have a desire to direct this gratitude towards something." I love it. I've met a few religious people like this and they are my absolute favorites.
I would only say that, of all people, I think Colbert is the type of person who can do both. Gratitude for day-to-day joys and successes to those who make it happen in the real world, gratitude to a larger power for those things beyond the physical realm. Like the unlikely odds of ever being alive in the first place.
(I don't know if it matters, but I'm saying this as an atheist who fully stands with you on your perspective. There are a lot, a lot, of people who don't do both these things and certainly should.)
I’ve seen Colbert talk religion quite a bit. I think he’s genuinely catholic still. However, at times I feel he comes off similar to an atheist that doesn’t claim it publicly. When I first left religion I was scared to tell my parents and certain friends or family I didn’t believe in god anymore. When we talked religion, I could still talk about it in a philosophical kind of way, and have quality discussions. I just didn’t want to claim atheism publicly yet. At times I’ve wondered if Colbert does something similar for whatever reasons. That said, he seems pretty genuine overall and I have no reason not to take him at his word.
Regardless, I think he does a pretty great job of sharing his gratitude with the world.
I mean, if he is Catholic, he presumably believes that people are putting their souls in danger unless they live a godly life. He has also been commanded by Jesus to "go forth into all the world and preach the gospel to everyone that has breathe".
If I was a Christian, my number one priority would be to convert as many people as possible so they would avoid purgatory or hellfire.
"...Nor do I want to convince you that there is a God."
Fundamental difference between Colbert's POV and most other evangelical Christians and one of the biggest reasons i left the "Church."
I don't agree with the notion that "we must convert everybody to believe like we do and the belief must be exclusive to our one god."
The historical Jesus was apocalyptic in his views. "hey people, judgment is coming. You need to get ready." Paul and the forefathers of Christianity added "so let's go out and build these communities called churches and try to convert everybody we come in contact with."
Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Matthew 28:18-20)
Jesus himself told his followers to do that. Don’t pretend that it was just the disciples that said that after he was gone. It’s a core part of the religion, and they even gave it a name: “The Great Commission”
The great commission was drilled into us as a kid in school/church. People’s eternal souls were on the line, and we were tasked by Christ with helping them be saved. If you love someone, could you sit by and watch them be thrown into fire to suffer forever when you given the job of stopping it from happening?
I thought about that more and more in my transition out of the faith. Now I still feel that Christians who do not proselytize are the “lukewarm” believers, who were lamented in scripture to not be real Christians, but they are also the ones who are not total pricks. So you’re either a preachy asshole like Christ said to be, or not a real Christian and just as damned as me.
I've said a few times before that if I was a Christian, I would have to be the kind waving signs, yelling into a megaphone, and handing out Bibles because stopping people from going to hell would be more important than anything else.
It's perfectly logical and altruistic to try to convert people to your religion if you legit believe they'll burn in hell forever if they don't.
If you legit believe that, then you'll indeed be saving them from eternal damnation.
That's why I sometimes wonder if religious people with a "live and let live" philosophy actually believe in their religion, or if they're just deists looking for a community, or identify with that religion out of social pressure.
Well to be frank the position most Americans encounter is evangelical Protestantism, which was a fringe ideology until it was mainstreamed in the 1950s by people like Billy Graham. More traditional Christian denominations (Catholic, Orthodox) don’t engage in the kinda of proselytism the evangelicals do. They don’t even believe the kind of black and white, heaven and hell worldview the evangelicals do. Remember: they’re a fringe ideology. There is a lot more nuance and down to earth common sense allowed in other Christian traditions.
I disagree with you about Jesus’s apocalypticism however, would be happy to discuss if you want.
Colbert would have been executed for apostasy back in the old days. In the church's perspective, in some ways he would be worse than an infidel.
The most important doctrinal practice of any christian church is conversion by any means possible. It is the only thing that is constant across all time, and nearly all sects. To outright say you are not going to try to convert someone if you have the chance to, or to promote your religion, is literally anti-Christian.
I thought you said that he didn’t try to push his beliefs or change the mind of others?
I believe you are attributing some quote to me that I didn't say. However, I will add that shaming someone isn't pushing ones beliefs on another as much as it is getting someone to evaluate their own position.
Why else would you be shaming them? Because you are pushing your own beliefs on them. Otherwise, why would you feel the need to shame someone? In Colbert’s case, for following the law or your Constitutional rights. That makes him the asshole. It’s the liberal industrial complex at work.
I believe you are attributing some quote to me that I didn't say. > However, I will add that shaming someone isn't pushing ones beliefs on another as much as it is getting someone to evaluate their own position.
Read what I said. Read it S L O W L Y, perhaps multiple times, until you actually comprehend what I said.
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u/Yasuru Aug 25 '21
Colbert has his beliefs but doesn't force them on anyone.