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I Tried Being an Atheist, It Didn’t Work – Rainn Wilson

Alex O'Connor | November 26, 2025



The full episode with Rainn Wilson is available now for Substack subscribers: https://www.alexoconnor.com/p/rainn-wilson-on-god-consciousness

To donate to my PayPal (thank you): http://www.paypal.me/cosmicskeptic

– VIDEO NOTES

Rainn Wilson is the actor and comedian best known for his role as Dwight Schrute on the The Office (US), for which he received three consecutive Emmy Award nominations for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series.

He is also the host of @SoulBoom, a podcast discussing spirituality, and authored a book of the same name exploring how we can use spiritual tools to help solve some of life’s problems.

– LINKS

Buy Soul Boom (affiliate link): https://amzn.to/4imTxLO

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The Within Reason Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/within-reason/id1458675168

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Business email: contact@alexoconnor.com

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Written by Alex O'Connor

Comments

This post currently has 46 comments.

  2. @tsunami6082

    November 26, 2025 at 7:31 pm

    The universe is implausible – a supernatural being that can create the universe is plausible. I don't have to 'try' understanding why that makes no sense.

  5. @ronbroberg3022

    November 26, 2025 at 7:31 pm

    What really is important to me is reflecting upon what my purpose is on earth. 

    I write this out of all due respect:

    We all have a choice in believing a fact or not.

    What evidence demonstrates there wasn't a divine creator in quantum mechanics or other physical laws or processes?

    Its the who not the how.

    Plato-"all design implies a designer."

    Professor Jastrow: Columbia and Dartmouth University, Director of NASA-"We now have astronomy evidence leading to a biblical view of an origin of the world."

    Smoot and Maher: 2006 Noble Prize Winner in Physics.  They studied the ripples of background radiation of the Big Bang Theory.  "It was like looking at God."

    Goldilocks Zone-amazing.  Not the how-who.

    Leaves on a tree admitting oxygen into the air.  Not the how-who.

    People can choose to not read the bible.  I believe there is a who.

    Romans 1:20 Since earliest times men have seen the earth and sky and all God made, and have known of His existence and great eternal power.  So they will have no excuse when they stand before God at Judgement Day.  (Written around AD 50).

    I Corinthians 1: 20-21 So what about these wise men, these scholars, these brilliant debaters of this world's greatest affairs?  God has made them all look foolish, and shown their wisdom to be useless nonsense.  For God in His wisdom saw to it that the world would never find God through human brilliance, and then He stepped in and saved all those who believed His message, which the world calls foolish.  (Written around AD 57).

    Christianity:  Jesus is the only one who claimed He was God out of all religions.

    There is historical evidence within the bible and outside of the Bible of Jesus being on earth and he died an excruciating death.  There is biblical historical evidence he rose from the dead.

    People can chose to see this as factual historical evidence or not.

    If I'm a Christian and Christianity is FALSE, what have I lost when I die?

    NOTHING

    If I'm an Atheist and Christianity is TRUE, what have I lost when I die?

    According to bible I have lost eternal heavenly life with Christ and instead live eternally separated from God in darkness and pain-literally weeping and gnashing of teeth.

  7. @pikupixel

    November 26, 2025 at 7:31 pm

    im a musician and dont have much connection to religion, so it does blow my mind when people cite art and beauty to evoke religion. i can get the desire, you have something ineffable you are trying to express, or maybe in a meta sense you are showing that people have always made art and always had ineffable things they wanted to express

    but like. having ineffable feelings isn't a religious thing man, it's a human thing. you're exploring feelings and emotions and the boundary of what you can describe with words, you dont have to call it god for it to be meaningful. i almost feel like you reduce it to a cliche if you do so

  8. @joshuacollins9346

    November 26, 2025 at 7:31 pm

    A secular society could preserve the appreciation for the beauty of a mountain without religion. Human sacrifice to appease the gods in reaction to something like a solar eclipse requires religion. If we're going to mention the beautiful blanket or pot with religious significance to a Native American tribe, it's fair to bring up the mass murder and child sacrifice as well.

  9. @paulgoodner5125

    November 26, 2025 at 7:31 pm

    Just because you become a Theist doesn't mean you are saved. What we believe in, and love and trust is the key. Christ is the actual person that needs to be identified and trusted as not only the God of love and salvation, but the source of creation and our redemption through his Gospel.

  15. @AzureViking

    November 26, 2025 at 7:31 pm

    So typical reasons for choosing religion then. He couldn't explain existence, so he needs a magic supernatural reason because if you don't understand something it must be magic. He also needed it as a crutch as many people do. No shade to people who need that crutch, but for many people religion is like a comforting safety blanket to help them cope with the difficulties of life. Its easier for some to just believe in a fantasy than face reality.

  20. @WildfireX

    November 26, 2025 at 7:31 pm

    So it's easier for you to believe in an "all powerful being" that controls everything & is all wise & benevolent yet loves to see babies dying everyday, than it is to believe in our best knowledge of the universe to date?

    Lol yeah I'm sure you definitely "tried" atheism …

  23. @rigamorti99

    November 26, 2025 at 7:31 pm

    You don't try to believe in something or not. You look at the evidence and you believe it or not. You can't just choose to believe something that you simply don't believe.

  25. @SleepinGriffin

    November 26, 2025 at 7:31 pm

    The true difference between a theist and atheist is the theist wants to believe in a god while the theist cannot find a reason to.

    Mr. Wilson comes off as someone who isn’t fully versed in what the theories of the big and evolution are yet he doesn’t necessarily dismiss them, he just doesn’t like how science doesn’t give it meaning. He wants meaning in what he is, why the experiences he’s had have been the way they are. He isn’t content with just saying it’s the luck of the draw either because it either terrifies him that something is luck or doesn’t satisfy his emotions.

    The thing is that nothing he’s said necessarily contradicts what science has proven. He may not like that science just says this is how it is, but there’s no reason to say that a god didn’t make the universe in the way scientists describe it. However, I don’t believe a god did that.

    This is all okay. I feel like this is the purest form of what religion is. It asks why we are here rather than trying to disprove the how of it. I see the majesty of our world in something akin to what Mr. Wilson sees but personally that doesn’t make me want to believe in a god. I’m just glad that he’s happy and he’s beliefs don’t cause harm to others.

  27. @Iowa_Whitetail

    November 26, 2025 at 7:31 pm

    Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. Proverbs 3:5-6
    No matter how smart HUMANS are… our intelligence will never match God’s- not even close. I truly believe the devil’s tactic is making us think we know more than God or can explain him away that he doesn’t exist. The most intelligent & intellectually gifted will have that empty place they can’t explain if they don’t have God.

  30. @Alienshade

    November 26, 2025 at 7:31 pm

    The concept of a god is really alien to me. Worse than Santa even. Because Santa is a fantasy being from books. God is apparently everything. But a thing like that is like "air" to me. It has no power or anything. It's not like you can detect a god and that is the same as nothing to me. But if I had a gun to my head and must believe in any god. Then I constructed a group of gods when I was a child. Death and life Tecno-zebra of technology, The minotaur of war, The son and the daughter of nature. But I don't need gods, I just made them up when I was bored. But my gods would be much more interesting to follow than any god I have heard about.

  32. @dreaminez472

    November 26, 2025 at 7:31 pm

    Rainn seems like a great guy, he made some insightful points here. I can't say I understanding the "trying to be an atheist" part though. Why try? Just be. We simply cannot know. I follow the Buddhist path as an atheist because it leads me to peace. My view of the universe is very Taoist, that is a great mystery that permeates everyone and everything. Not knowing is what makes it profound. When we put a label on it it's a slipperly slope to "God likes x and dislikes y because such and such a book says so." That's what leads to division and conflict.

    As far as Buddhist violence against Muslims and Christians in Sri Lanka goes, this is not in accord with what the Buddha taught. That said, Islam and Christianity wish to dominate the world and subsume all other cultures. It's an awful moral dilemma as the thought of the Dharma being lost is profoundly sad. If Christians and Muslims want to live in peace they need to respect other cultures and religions and stop thinking they're better than everyone else.

  33. @Plzgudmusic

    November 26, 2025 at 7:31 pm

    how rainn ends it, i thought the same thing about 1 minute before hearing him lol. i was thinking "we need a group of theists and atheists who just want to help progress humanity to being… better."

  34. @cbrsawyer

    November 26, 2025 at 7:31 pm

    Anytime someone says, “I tried being an atheist…” you can immediately dismiss whatever other nonsense is about to flow out of their talk hole.

    Atheism isn’t a belief system you can jump in and out of. True atheism is the conclusion you reach when you have chased down all the avenues of woo and realize they are all utter and complete bullshit. Atheism is the acceptance of the fact that there is no “magic” in the world.

  36. @NatOneGM

    November 26, 2025 at 7:31 pm

    I tried being a theist for all my childhood and teen years. I was raised in a non religious household (my family had no opinion on religion and didn't believe in God just because it was like that for generations), but I always thought there had to be more. There had to be meaning. Something needs to protect us, needs to punish the evil and reward the good. My childhood was pretty messed up. My brother r*ped me when I was 8, because I told him I felt more like a girl than a boy and he "showed me what boys and girls do with each other". I needed something I can hold onto during this time. But the older I got and the more I questioned things (Why did that happen to me? Did I do something wrong?) the more I came to the conclusion that a) God doesn't care or b) God doesn't exist. And from this I deconstructed my belief. Some may say I only lost belief because something bad happened to me, but that was just the first step. It took years for me to finally admit to myself that I can't believe anymore, because there was no proof, no matter how much I tried to find one.

  38. @NancySherer-t9v

    November 26, 2025 at 7:31 pm

    Life is a chemical reaction that has control over the rate of its reaction. Did the universe come from something supernatural or from something that we haven't defined yet?

  43. @LAUKXBass

    November 26, 2025 at 7:31 pm

    As someone who was lucky enough to grow up with parrents who let me find my own belief system I love listening to this. If all that happens when I die is the void, I won't exsist and that will be ok. I try to live to the best of my ability day by day to make it as impactful for those who will elxist after me. I personally Don't beiliev that's the case but it's ok if is, as I wont be arround to be sad about it. I'm more of a collective experience "God" thing guy myself. from a phylosofical point of view the Universe does not exist whithout something to observe it. there could be something waay beyond our understanding of what life or conciousness is out there, who knows. I'm ok with not knowing and i'm ok with being wrong. I still pray everyday and make sure I find appreciation in the love arround me.

  44. @victoriousf.i.g.3311

    November 26, 2025 at 7:31 pm

    I do enjoy how, as a society, we already have geographical background, cultural background, skin color, and economics to separate ourselves into little tribal camps but we just had to outdo ourselves and add "Which made-up man/men do you believe in" as a bonus subdivision.

  45. @ARKenMan

    November 26, 2025 at 7:31 pm

    I walk into a well-lit room and see a computer sitting on a desk with a monitor and the screen saver is running and showing all these cool pictures / video. I figure out how to turn it off. I figure out how to open the case and see all the components inside trying to discover the mystery of the computer.

    My conclusion on how it got there: It evolved that way over billions of years.

    Use same logic to determine the earth and all that's in it. Never question it. Obviously wasn't created.

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