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“I Was a Professional Christian” – Why Rhett McLaughlin Stopped Believing

Alex O'Connor | September 27, 2025



Watch the full episode now on Substack: https://www.alexoconnor.com/p/rhett-mclaughlin-explains-why-he

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– VIDEO NOTES

Rhett McLaughlin is a comedian best known for creating the internet’s most-watched daily talk show, ⁨@GoodMythicalMorning, alongside Link Neal. The pair also host a weekly podcast, @earbiscuits.

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Written by Alex O'Connor

Comments

This post currently has 34 comments.

  7. @BryanBattaglia-q1s

    September 27, 2025 at 1:04 pm

    people like purpose. they want to have bin created for a reason, its hard to believe all the scientifical and biological creations on this one planet just came down to luck and the perfect conditions to support life and have evolution.

    but you have to realize is earth being habitable and having life/evolution is as cray as there being "entities, gods, aliens, clock work elves" ?all sounds pretty insane when you consider how small the solar system is in comparison to the known universe. and the fact that how perfect the earth had to be. we are either the first or the lost unable to find other alien colonies

  9. @moogies3754

    September 27, 2025 at 1:04 pm

    This is so refreshing to see. I have nothing against religion, but blind faith is a bad thing. Most people never feel the need to question anything, just because someone told them something when they were 5 years old. Free thinking is less and less common these days.

  10. @CapitanGrover

    September 27, 2025 at 1:04 pm

    The thing that got me out of christianity was the idea of Evolution. I couldn't accept that humans and dinosaurs were at the same time. so I came to the idea that okay, the seven days are different for god then for us. it wasn't literally seven twenty four hours. Then I did more looking into Evolution, and I saw how elephants are actively evolving, how humans are evolving, how other animals and plants are evolving every day. sure we can't see it with plants, and humans. But Elephants, they're evolving to not have tusks anymore. Humans are de-evolving the Pug to a more healthy place for them.

  11. @jacey9267

    September 27, 2025 at 1:04 pm

    It's interesting growing up on the Internet and really looking up to guys like Rhett in a parasocial sense, while being taken to church by your family, and discovering that he would also undergo a similar restructuring of beliefs at roughly the same time I was. It's not that I rejected much about Jesus, it has so much more to do with what it means to be a "Christian" in our modern world, and seeing such a vast difference in the claimed morals of Christianity throughout the world, vs the corporatized propaganda we receive in its name. It just didn't add up how Christ mostly just empowered a sense of judgement in so many people. Probably something to do with the whole faith being tied to an unchangeable document from thousands of years ago. Like of course that'll cause people to hold onto ancient morality! Hold on too tight and it all crumples up like leaves!

  12. @dieselscience

    September 27, 2025 at 1:04 pm

    I'll save you some time. M-O-N-E-Y. They both did it all for the money. My neighbor's little brother went to high school with Rhett and Link and is still in touch from time to time. YES they proselytized then. They even started a Christian rock band. When their YT channel began to really gain traction they signed with a Hollywood production team that told them they had to forget about being Christian. You know the rest.

  14. @Ja56884

    September 27, 2025 at 1:04 pm

    It’s so funny though, from the outside. I’m trying to say it nicely but his beliefs and systems were just laughably ridiculous. And he’s talking about this so seriously. He should be grimacing and grinning at how silly it all was. It’s so embarrassing. It’s like hearing a baby talk about how he really thought there was a monster under the bed. But then realizing there isn’t like it’s some epiphany. I just feel bad for him. But I guess there are many suckers in the world.

  24. @sonorandrifter6390

    September 27, 2025 at 1:04 pm

    You’ve given up faith in God for faith in evolution. No one has proven anything to you about evolution because they can’t. Now all you’re doing is enjoying your 10 minutes of fame, which you always wanted, in trade for your soul. Heartbreaking.

  29. @michaelr8729

    September 27, 2025 at 1:04 pm

    Heartbreaking to hear how this man slowly lost his faith.

    Evolution is antithetical to the to the creation account in the Bible. Both cannot be true. I wonder which apologists came to his church and what their arguments against evolution were. I wonder if he challenged the explanations that scientists gave for things like the Red Shift, or if he took everything at face value and surrendered his faith when he realized he didn't have the answers to skeptics questions. I would love to know if he's seen Kent Hovinds 8 Part seminar.

    Pray for Rhett

    (And yea I know I have the counter culture opinion and this comment is gonna set a fire under butts)

  31. @andremoore810

    September 27, 2025 at 1:04 pm

    Hmmm, well here's something to ponder. While the VAST MAJORITY wonder and think about what the answers are, there are some who KNOW the answers. Do I have to convince you of a goddamn thing? Fuck NO! Can I give you some hints? Sure can! God and spirituality. NOT RELIGION, NOT JESUS, NOT SIN. Did I understand or accept that answer at first? Fuck NO! Was it always right, no matter what, even when I didn't believe? Every single fuckin time, never a miss, never a doubt. The beautiful thing about a free pass is you can take it, or leave it.

  33. @RyloKen8197

    September 27, 2025 at 1:04 pm

    Science and the Spiritual are only separate by the ways of our ignorance to the connection.
    Evolution doesn't disprove God even if there were a real example of evolution

    Atheism also requires faith/miracles
    Two particularly poignant being_
    That everything came from nothing
    That life came from none life

    Why would evolution disprove an all knowing being?
    That evolution isn't by design?
    A program with parameters that permits free agency and development but not without consequences or limitations (from within: God is outside of the construct being able to observe trajectory and curate destination/destiny)

    Or how about the abject evil going on to be evidence of the absence of God?
    Science has the answer that corroborates "for every action there's an equal and opposite reaction"

    Or that power of prayer is negligible?
    Placebo effect is scientific fact
    Not enough?
    Ever see the water experiment?
    Two glasses of water with paper taped to them one saying
    "I hate you"
    The other
    "I love you"
    The teacher told the students to focus on one glass or the other and think accordingly
    When the water was frozen the love was fractal and beautiful
    While the hate was globular and asymmetrical
    Intent matters
    Observation has physical effects
    ↑The quantum
    "When you stare into the abyss the abyss stares back at you"
    "What you measure you improve"
    With meaning a man can endure anything
    Absent of which destroys the foundation of endurance

    Ignorance isn't bliss
    It's suffering and not knowing why or how to improve the situation

    Our hearts are designed to worship and without God being that source of worship we fill it with something else that is always insufficient and leads to us suffering

    "I give to you every plant bearing seed"
    Did he say "except for cannabis! That's the devils!"
    We're designed with an entire regulatory system (endocannabinoid system) that has been vilified and neglected to the detriment of all
    Does that mean I'm saying "God says it's ok to get high!" NO he specifically said not to get drunk/intoxicated
    But does that mean we can't optimize our health?
    Would you condemn someone with severe pain to not take anything to relieve it?

Comments are closed.

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