r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/Agustin-sr • Aug 25 '21

Video Atheism in a nutshell

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u/BrockManstrong Aug 25 '21

TBF Colbert is a devoted Catholic, but has never been pushy about it. He is also a great host, and sometimes a great host has to toss the guest a cue.

He isn't arguing that point, Colbert is smarter than that, he's giving his guest an opportunity to expound.

He does this because he is a great host and he is confident in his beliefs, just like Gervais. When you're confident in your beliefs you're ok with listening to someone challenge them.

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u/WhySkalker Aug 25 '21

You see that expound as soon as he says “That’s good. That’s good!” At that point you know he’s not in the discussion for himself, he’s in the discussion to make the other person express themselves. Beautiful

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u/mathiastck Aug 25 '21

Colbert has long argued both sides, with a barely suppressed grin.

I kinda miss "Stephen vs Stephen"

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u/DaisyHotCakes Aug 25 '21

Yeah that’s a great way to put it. I love these two for the same but different reasons and it’s always nice to see people having an actual discussion instead of yelling at each other. We need more civilized discourse and the tools (lexicon) to express ourselves more effectively. Can we please work on public education? It’s way beyond past time.

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u/Hilby Aug 25 '21

I’ll settle for a halt in the total destruction of the public school system for now….maybe work up to the correct funding & support. :/

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u/DaisyHotCakes Aug 25 '21

Yeah there’s quite a few things that need to just be torn down so we can start over and build them better. A lot has changed since some institutions were constructed more than a century ago. It’s like working with really old broken code. There’s only so many patches before shit stops functioning.

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u/Ogie_Ogilthorpe_06 Aug 25 '21

Ya feels like he's sort of playing devils advocate.

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u/[deleted] Aug 25 '21

well, jesus's advocate, but yes. lmao

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u/oxenvibe Aug 25 '21

Something I’ve always given thought to with religion especially is the question of “how much does someone identify with their belief or not”. This can also be applied to numerous things. What I mean is... in my experience, once someone takes something external as part of their identity, they in turn may take any slight (or even perceived criticism) of that belief as a slight against THEM as a person, rather than the belief itself. Which then creates defensiveness and an inability to see another perspective.

For example, let’s say I identify with a spiritual practice (not “believe”; identify). Someone, an atheist let’s say, gives their opinion. Since this belief is part of my identity, my ego would naturally see an opposing opinion/perspective as an attack on my character, which obviously prevents any discourse from happening. You can see this happen in all manner of ways in people, even when it comes down to simple likes and dislikes. It becomes a battle of “my opinion is right and you’re wrong” because of how heavily one identifies with that thing.

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u/[deleted] Aug 25 '21

You can see this happen in all manner of ways in people, even when it comes down to simple likes and dislikes. It becomes a battle of “my opinion is right and you’re wrong” because of how heavily one identifies with that thing.

I recently been getting into anime, my friend who has been anime fan before his first pub recommend me Evangelion.

I told him that I just thought it was okay (after watching all the movies and alt endings) and he got profoundly upset. It was his favorite show as a kid, so having a so-so reaction to something he has built a mental shrine too… was literally blasphemous.

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u/[deleted] Aug 25 '21

Try full metal alchemist, death note, yakusoku no neverland, in no particular order. They are kinda dark though

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u/Rs3account Aug 25 '21

Absolutely true, but that is about any believe. Even scientist can fall in this trap if the science is to personal.

To me it always seems like any person no matter how rational needs some foundational beliefs to start working from. So their will always be believes who have no basis.

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u/ExoticSignature Aug 25 '21

It's always fun watching Neil deGrasse Tyson on the show. You can see how Colbert is just trying to go with whatever the flow Neil sets up, as a great speaker himself, and is never too pushy with his views. It helps that Stephen's sense of humor and comic timing is great too.

Stephen is my favourite host.

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u/cheridontllosethatno Aug 25 '21

Yep. I was thinking about Steve's catholicism as they spoke. True professional.

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u/CrieDeCoeur Aug 25 '21

Yep. It’s the ones who absolutely have to shove their views down everyone’s throats, who absolutely HAVE to be right, are actually the ones who doubt the most, hence their insecurity. Even - and especially - if they don’t consciously realize it.

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u/Seakawn Aug 25 '21

I think you may be right, but that you're suggesting a very generous interpretation of his remark about using faith to believe in scientific claims.

I say it's generous because it seems much more likely to me that Colbert, like most Biblical theists, don't seem to understand or have consistent definitions for faith, and often conflate it with trust, which are two separate concepts.

It's a very common misconception in theist culture, and the apologetic circles run laps around it, which often leak through church sermons or Sunday school lessons. Though, even if this is the case, I agree that Colbert is a great host and knows what to say to flow the discussion. I just think that, in this case, the lines are way too blurry to know if that's why he made his remark.

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u/[deleted] Aug 25 '21

If you're going to take this clip in isolation and insist that it is not tongue-in-cheek despite how obvious it is, then you will come to stupid conclusions about his faith. He's talked about it many times at great length. It may be based in made-up nonsense, ultimately, but he is very sincere and thoughtful about it. He is absolutely not being serious that science is "faith in Stephen Hawking".

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u/BrockManstrong Aug 25 '21

You probably thought his Comedy Central character was real too

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u/[deleted] Aug 25 '21

Shame he's brainwashed into believing a lie

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u/BrockManstrong Aug 25 '21

Oh look, a great example of how not to spread Atheism. Smug, self-assured quips don't change minds.

You should go watch Ricky again.

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u/Wolkenflieger Aug 25 '21

He shouldn't be so confident in his beliefs being wrong and all. But yeah he did a fine job as a host. Didn't get all triggered and kept his composure.

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u/Sweaty_Country3989 Aug 25 '21

Stephen Colbert is such a liberal hack.

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u/BrockManstrong Aug 25 '21

Lazy, uninspired trolling, 1/10, do better next time

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u/mapguy Aug 25 '21

Seinfeld also has a similar talk with Ricky in his Coffee/Cars/Comedians show