Jordan Peterson Thinks Atheism is Groundless

Let’s sort through some of his conservative confusions and sophistries about religion

Benjamin Cain
God’s Funeral
Published in
10 min readMay 27, 2024

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Photo by Gage Skidmore, on Flickr

Jordan Peterson sat down with the host of the podcast “Pints with Aquinas,” Matt Fradd, and Fradd asked him what the best argument is for atheism. Peterson thought for a moment and answered, “I don’t think there is a good argument for atheism” because atheism “is based on a fundamental misunderstanding about the nature of the world.”

A half an hour later in the nearly three-hour discussion, Fradd asks Peterson why he doesn’t answer the question whether he believes that God exists. Instead, Peterson says he ‘acts as if God exists. That’s the answer to that because “belief” — what are you talking about?’

Amusingly, Fradd presses him on this point, saying that “belief” means simply “think,” so the question is whether, even lowering the theistic bar, Peterson thinks it’s “probably true” that “there’s a creator and sustainer of the universe.”

Rather than answering that question, Peterson turns and shakes his head, grimacing as though he were being tortured. “Why is that so silly?” Fradd asks him, “especially if you’re still just growing in the faith…” Ten seconds of silence pass, with the agonized Peterson staring off to the side, before he mutters, “It’s…

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