Colbert’s reasons for believing are actually quite logical. He loves the world and feels grateful toward it (these are the same premises he mentioned in the GQ article from a couple of weeks ago), and as a result he chooses to direct that gratitude toward an entity he calls God.

Stephen Colbert is talking about his faith again, this time with Father Thomas Rosica, the Vatican’s English language spokesman for the Holy See and CEO of Salt and Light Television. In the short clip below, taken from an interview that will air Sept. 13 on the show Witness, Colbert shows off some impressive philosophical chops by throwing out a casual mention of St. Anselm’s Ontological Argument, followed by a similarly casual description of said argument for God as “that than which nothing greater can be conceived.”

He then describes Anselm’s thinking as both flawlessly logical and “completely unsatisfying,” and of course he has a point, though not necessarily for the reasons he thinks. Anselm does fail to convince, but I don’t think logic is the reason for his failure. Colbert, however, does. Watch for yourself.

“Faith ultimately can’t be argued. Faith must be felt,” he argues.

Okay, that was a cheap shot, but it does get at the problem that arises with certain claims of feeling-based faith. Colbert’s reasons for believing are actually quite logical. He loves the world and feels grateful toward it (these are the same premises he mentioned in the GQ article from a couple of weeks ago), and as a result he chooses to direct that gratitude toward an entity he calls God. Judging by other interviews with Colbert, his faith extends beyond only this and actually takes on the contours of traditional Catholicism, but nevertheless here lies the foundation.

Experiential, yes. Illogical, no.

If he could be reached for comment, I suspect Anselm would say that he finds Colbert’s Gratitude Argument “completely unsatisfying,” but that does not make it illogical either.

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