{"id":25708,"date":"2026-06-22T18:28:16","date_gmt":"2026-06-23T00:28:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/resources2.soundstrue.com\/?post_type=transcript&p=25708"},"modified":"2026-06-22T18:28:16","modified_gmt":"2026-06-23T00:28:16","slug":"just-one-question-rainn-wilson-why-are-you-not-an-atheist","status":"publish","type":"transcript","link":"https:\/\/resources2.soundstrue.com\/transcript\/just-one-question-rainn-wilson-why-are-you-not-an-atheist\/","title":{"rendered":"Just One Question | Rainn Wilson: Why Are You Not an Atheist?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"image_print\"Print Transcript<\/span><\/a><\/div>

Chris:<\/b> Hello and welcome to <\/span>Just One Question<\/span><\/i>, from <\/span>Insights at the Edge<\/span><\/i>. I’m Chris Rock.<\/span><\/p>\n

Mallory:<\/b> And I’m Mallory Corbin. We’re producers at the Sounds True Podcast Network. We work with Tami on <\/span>Insights at the Edge<\/span><\/i> to bring you transformational ideas from wisdom teachers around the world.<\/span><\/p>\n

Chris:<\/b> And every week on this show, we pull out the most inspiring, most transformational ideas from those hundreds of conversations, and bring them to you in the form of one question and one answer.<\/span><\/p>\n

Mallory:<\/b> Thus the name. <\/span>Just One Question.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Chris:<\/b> We hope you enjoy.<\/span><\/p>\n

Mallory:<\/b> This week we’re featuring a segment from a personal favorite episode of mine. It’s with Rainn Wilson \u2014 Emmy-nominated actor, writer, and producer, famous for…?<\/span><\/p>\n

Chris:<\/b> Dwight Schrute from <\/span>The Office<\/span><\/i>. He’s an icon.<\/span><\/p>\n

Mallory:<\/b> I personally was more of a <\/span>Parks and Rec<\/span><\/i> girl, but…<\/span><\/p>\n

Chris:<\/b> Yeah, don’t listen, Rainn.<\/span><\/p>\n

Mallory:<\/b> In the last few years, Rainn has publicly delved into his spiritual side with his book <\/span>Soul Boom<\/span><\/i> and his podcast by the same name. This clip is taken from that conversation \u2014 <\/span>Soul Boom: Standing for a Spiritual Revolution<\/span><\/i> \u2014 and in it, Tami and Rainn explore a pretty vulnerable question: why are you not an atheist? Rainn’s answer is refreshingly honest and very poetic.<\/span><\/p>\n

Chris:<\/b> Nice.<\/span><\/p>\n

Mallory:<\/b> Stay with us for <\/span>Just One Question<\/span><\/i> with Rainn Wilson.<\/span><\/p>\n

Tami:<\/b> One of the most exciting segments in reading <\/span>Soul Boom<\/span><\/i> \u2014 and there were a lot of exciting segments \u2014 was when you wrote about why you’re not an atheist. This was exciting to me because I’ve had a lot of conversations where I’ve tried to explain my love of a creative force, how it appears inside me. And I often end up saying something like, “I don’t know \u2014 I’m in service to some evolutionary force. I can’t fully explain it, but that’s what feels most true to me.” And the looks I get are like, <\/span>what are you talking about?<\/span><\/i> So I’d like to know how you, when talking to very rational, skeptical people, are able to talk about your theism.<\/span><\/p>\n

Rainn Wilson:<\/b> Yeah, I’m a theist. Fellow theist \u2014 I love it. I’m an unabashed theist.<\/span><\/p>\n

I honor atheists, and I actually have a section honoring them in the book. They don’t accept anything as given until it’s proven in some way. They’re natural skeptics \u2014 and you can be a skeptic without being pessimistic. I admire that, because we’ve had centuries \u2014 eons, really \u2014 of people blindly following the faith of their parents in ways that led to a great deal of destruction and ignorance. So, God bless the atheists.<\/span><\/p>\n

Why do I believe in God? I tried being an atheist. I really did. And as hard as I tried, I just couldn’t reconcile the mystery of my consciousness riding around in this meat suit. My consciousness can imagine all kinds of things \u2014 I can make drawings, write poems, sing songs. We humans create operas, build beautiful things, cultivate gardens. We laugh and weep and hold babies in our arms. And I tried seeing all of that as simply atoms and molecules, forces of energy buffeting around. It just didn’t work for me. To quote Rabbi Jonathan Sacks: I just couldn’t believe that the universe was just <\/span>stuff<\/span><\/i>.<\/span><\/p>\n

One of the hangups I had to overcome was the cultural idea of God as male, patriarchal, fatherly. I was at an event the other night and someone joked about what if we all died and it turned out God really was a 70-year-old man with a blowing white beard sitting on a cloud saying, “Yep, that’s me.” You have to get around so many inherited ideas of what God is or could be.<\/span><\/p>\n

When I studied Native American traditions \u2014 and I spent a lot of time with a lot of different traditions \u2014 I heard about the Lakota Sioux concept of <\/span>Wakan Tanka<\/span><\/i>, which translates as “the Great Mystery.” This is a God not separate from nature but knowable through nature. As far as I understand \u2014 and I want to be humble here as someone who didn’t grow up in that tradition \u2014 <\/span>Wakan Tanka<\/span><\/i>, the great mystery in all things, beyond time and space, can be tasted in the wind, in the trees, through the seasons, through cold and heat, through water and fire and earth. And things started to shift for me. God doesn’t have to be a being, or a persona \u2014 what the theologian David Bentley Hart calls a demiurge, like a Marvel superhero shooting powers down at us humans.<\/span><\/p>\n

As an artist, as an actor, as a storyteller \u2014 I love the idea of a great mystery. I can believe in a great mystery. I don’t even know that I can believe in “God” per se, but I can believe in a great mystery, and that’s enough.<\/span><\/p>\n

Tami:<\/b> Devotion is a beautiful word. A devout person is someone who sincerely follows something \u2014 and whatever that root means, I am part of that. For me personally, I’m a member of the Bah\u00e1’\u00ed Faith, and I get great solace, wisdom, purpose, and meaning from my particular faith.<\/span><\/p>\n

Rainn Wilson:<\/b> I’m also a member of a faith \u2014 I’m a devoted Bah\u00e1’\u00ed. <\/span>Soul Boom<\/span><\/i> is not about the Bah\u00e1’\u00ed Faith and has no agenda to make people Bah\u00e1’\u00ed. It’s simply an exploration of deep, meaningful spiritual topics that anyone can tap into. You don’t have to be a member of any specific religion to access this incredible groundwater of wisdom that comes from spiritual traditions.<\/span><\/p>\n

When I say “devotions,” I mean: I pray to God, I pray to a higher power, and I am devout in my faith and a devotee of the founder of the Bah\u00e1’\u00ed Faith, Bah\u00e1’u’ll\u00e1h. But I love that word \u2014 devotion. It has to do with surrender, with opening your heart, asking to be shown the path. There’s a beauty and simplicity and humility in that act.<\/span><\/p>\n

Tami:<\/b> For a regular actor or artist in Hollywood, it’s incredibly difficult to come out of the closet as devout \u2014 as a theist \u2014 but especially for a comedy actor.<\/span><\/p>\n

Rainn Wilson:<\/b> The comedy world just does not know what to do with me. Being a member of any religion carries a lot of cultural baggage. On the political left, religions are often seen as responsible for the evils of the world. And religious belief tends to get correlated with a right-wing political agenda \u2014 which it certainly doesn’t have to be, especially if you look at the actual lives of Jesus, the Buddha, or Muhammad.<\/span><\/p>\n

I’ve lived my whole life afraid of what people think of me. I was a nerdy kid who wanted to fit in, always a people pleaser, always a clown. There’s an element of an actor who has this little voice in their heart saying, <\/span>please like me.<\/span><\/i> It’s taken a lot of contemplation, therapy, and surrender to find my authentic voice. And my authentic voice says: I believe in God. I am a spiritual being having a human experience \u2014 as Teilhard de Chardin famously said, my favorite quote of all time. And spiritual tools can transform us \u2014 not just personally, but collectively. We rarely talk about that part. This is my reality. I know this to be true. And I’m not going to hold my tongue any longer, because the stakes are too high.<\/span><\/p>\n

Chris:<\/b> This has been <\/span>Just One Question<\/span><\/i>. You can listen to the full episode of <\/span>Insights at the Edge<\/span><\/i> that this conversation was taken from on your preferred podcast platform or at soundstrue.com. Thank you for joining us, and we’ll see you next week.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"template":"","meta":{"_expiration-date-status":"","_expiration-date":0,"_expiration-date-type":"","_expiration-date-categories":[],"_expiration-date-options":[]},"class_list":["post-25708","transcript","type-transcript","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\nJust One Question | Rainn Wilson: Why Are You Not an Atheist? | Sounds True<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Just One Question | Rainn Wilson: Why Are You Not an Atheist? | Sounds True\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Chris: Hello and welcome to Just One Question, from Insights at the Edge. I’m Chris Rock. Mallory: And I’m Mallory Corbin. We’re producers at the Sounds True Podcast Network. We work with Tami on Insights at the Edge to bring you transformational ideas from wisdom teachers around the world. Chris: And every week on […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/resources2.soundstrue.com\/transcript\/just-one-question-rainn-wilson-why-are-you-not-an-atheist\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Sounds True\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/resources2.soundstrue.com\/transcript\/just-one-question-rainn-wilson-why-are-you-not-an-atheist\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/resources2.soundstrue.com\/transcript\/just-one-question-rainn-wilson-why-are-you-not-an-atheist\/\",\"name\":\"Just One Question | Rainn Wilson: Why Are You Not an Atheist? | Sounds True\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/resources2.soundstrue.com\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-23T00:28:16+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/resources2.soundstrue.com\/transcript\/just-one-question-rainn-wilson-why-are-you-not-an-atheist\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/resources2.soundstrue.com\/transcript\/just-one-question-rainn-wilson-why-are-you-not-an-atheist\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/resources2.soundstrue.com\/transcript\/just-one-question-rainn-wilson-why-are-you-not-an-atheist\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/resources2.soundstrue.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Transcripts\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/resources2.soundstrue.com\/transcript\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Just One Question | Rainn Wilson: Why Are You Not an Atheist?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/resources2.soundstrue.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/resources2.soundstrue.com\/\",\"name\":\"Sounds True\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/resources2.soundstrue.com\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/resources2.soundstrue.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/resources2.soundstrue.com\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Sounds True\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/resources2.soundstrue.com\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/resources2.soundstrue.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/resources2.soundstrue.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/soundstrue-logo-footer-color.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/resources2.soundstrue.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/soundstrue-logo-footer-color.png\",\"width\":1035,\"height\":235,\"caption\":\"Sounds True\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/resources2.soundstrue.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Just One Question | Rainn Wilson: Why Are You Not an Atheist? | Sounds True","robots":{"index":"noindex","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Just One Question | Rainn Wilson: Why Are You Not an Atheist? | Sounds True","og_description":"Chris: Hello and welcome to Just One Question, from Insights at the Edge. I’m Chris Rock. Mallory: And I’m Mallory Corbin. We’re producers at the Sounds True Podcast Network. We work with Tami on Insights at the Edge to bring you transformational ideas from wisdom teachers around the world. Chris: And every week on […]","og_url":"https:\/\/resources2.soundstrue.com\/transcript\/just-one-question-rainn-wilson-why-are-you-not-an-atheist\/","og_site_name":"Sounds True","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/resources2.soundstrue.com\/transcript\/just-one-question-rainn-wilson-why-are-you-not-an-atheist\/","url":"https:\/\/resources2.soundstrue.com\/transcript\/just-one-question-rainn-wilson-why-are-you-not-an-atheist\/","name":"Just One Question | Rainn Wilson: Why Are You Not an Atheist? | Sounds True","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/resources2.soundstrue.com\/#website"},"datePublished":"2026-06-23T00:28:16+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/resources2.soundstrue.com\/transcript\/just-one-question-rainn-wilson-why-are-you-not-an-atheist\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/resources2.soundstrue.com\/transcript\/just-one-question-rainn-wilson-why-are-you-not-an-atheist\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/resources2.soundstrue.com\/transcript\/just-one-question-rainn-wilson-why-are-you-not-an-atheist\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/resources2.soundstrue.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Transcripts","item":"https:\/\/resources2.soundstrue.com\/transcript\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Just One Question | Rainn Wilson: Why Are You Not an Atheist?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/resources2.soundstrue.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/resources2.soundstrue.com\/","name":"Sounds True","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/resources2.soundstrue.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/resources2.soundstrue.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/resources2.soundstrue.com\/#organization","name":"Sounds True","url":"https:\/\/resources2.soundstrue.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/resources2.soundstrue.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/resources2.soundstrue.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/soundstrue-logo-footer-color.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/resources2.soundstrue.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/soundstrue-logo-footer-color.png","width":1035,"height":235,"caption":"Sounds True"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/resources2.soundstrue.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}}]}},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/resources2.soundstrue.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/transcript\/25708","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/resources2.soundstrue.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/transcript"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/resources2.soundstrue.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/transcript"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/resources2.soundstrue.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25708"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}