Podcaster Joe Rogan, who has 19.8 million subscribers on YouTube, recently voiced skepticism about the Big Bang theory and expressed a belief that the idea of the Resurrection is more plausible than the notion that the universe created itself.
During a conversation with comedy podcast host Cody Tucker that aired last Wednesday, Rogan also stated that he’s “sticking with Jesus” concerning miraculous claims.
“It’s funny, because people will be incredulous about the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, but yet, they’re convinced that the entire universe was smaller than a head of a pin and that for no reason that anyone has adequately explained to me, instantaneously became everything? OK,” said Rogan, who describes himself as agnostic but was raised Catholic.
Discussing the universe's potential size, which he noted could be finite, Rogan proposed that humans might project their biological limitations onto creation while trying to understand it. “Wouldn’t it be crazy if there wasn’t something at one point in time?” he asked. “That seems even crazier than there has always been something. … There couldn’t be nothing, and then all of a sudden, everything.”
When Tucker suggested the universe needed an external force to set it in motion, Rogan referenced the late ethnobotanist Terence McKenna, who posited that even the Big Bang theory and the materialist worldview require a leap of faith.
“Modern science is based on the principle: ‘Give us one free miracle and we’ll explain the rest.’ The one free miracle is the appearance of all the mass and energy in the universe and all the laws that govern it in a single instant from nothing,” McKenna reportedly remarked, according to biologist Rupert Sheldrake’s 2009 book “Morphic Resonance: The Nature of Formative Causation.”
“That’s McKenna’s great line … the difference between science and religion is that science only asks you to believe in one miracle — the Big Bang,” Rogan said. “I’m sticking with Jesus on that one," he added. “Jesus makes more sense. People have come back to life.”
Rogan has increasingly engaged with guests on his podcast in discussions about religion and particularly about Jesus Christ. During an interview with Kid Rock last year, Rogan mentioned, “I think the concept of Jesus is absolutely amazing, and if Jesus came here and wanted to visit me, I would be psyched.”
In a conversation with NFL star Aaron Rodgers in 2024, Rogan reflected on the world's broken nature and the need for Christ's return. “It’s a f----d up world we live in,” he stated. “We need Jesus. For real, like if you came back now, like Jesus, if you're thinking about coming back, right now, now's a good time. Now's a good time. We're kind of f----d.”
