Actor Mel Gibson joined Joe Rogan on “The Joe Rogan Experience” where he touched on a myriad of topics, including filming his faith blockbuster “The Passion of the Christ,” his own personal faith, and Scripture. Gibson discussed the pushback he faced while making “Passion,” including his issues with getting someone to distribute the film due to its faith-based subject matter. “I think, if you ever hit on that subject matter, you’re going to get people going because, of course, it’s a big subject matter. The idea was that we’re all responsible for this, that His sacrifice was for all mankind, and that for all our ills and all the things in our fallen nature. It was a redemption, so, you know, and I believe that,” he said. Gibson famously filmed his own hands nailing Jesus, portrayed by Jim Caviezel, to the cross.

Gibson stated that Hollywood is particularly hostile towards Christianity because “for whatever reason that represents like white, male, colonialism, whatever it represents, it’s negative.” “Passion” drew in over $370 million on a $30 million budget, most self-funded by Gibson himself. For Gibson, however, the film was personal. “I was born into a Catholic family. I’m very Christian in my beliefs. I do actually believe this stuff to the full. He called the Gospel accounts “verifiable history” and praised the disciples, who lost their life for their faith. “Every single one of those guys died rather than deny their belief. Nobody dies for a lie,” he said. The actor also pushed back against the idea of evolution. “I don’t really go for it. Anything left to itself without some kind of intelligence behind it will devolve into chaos,” he said.

Rogan, a self-proclaimed agnostic who it the past had seemed more hostile toward Christianity, has been promoting more people with open Christian faiths. Recently, Rogan hosted apologist Wes Huff. Prior to appearing on Rogan, Huff had earned praise after taking on claims from self-proclaimed expert in ancient writings, Billy Carson. Huff, himself an expert in ancient writings, refuted many of Carson’s claims against Carson himself while appearing on the “Elevating Beyond” podcast. During the podcast with Rogan, Huff underlined the authenticity of the Scriptures, particularly how the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls helped to further verify the infallibility of the Scriptures. He also discussed similarities between the Gospel accounts. “Consider how difficult it would be for someone living outside of the locations and times that these events took place to get the right names with the right qualifiers,” he said. “We have four Biblical Gospels with four different authors, and yet each gets this test of naming frequency and attribution right every time.”