Jon Stewart is opening up about his struggles with belief in God, admitting during a recent Q&A segment that while he isn’t religious, he genuinely wishes he could be. The longtime host of “The Daily Show” shared candid reflections on doubt, Scripture, and the search for answers during an “After the Cut” special, posted on YouTube.

When an audience member asked whether faith had played a role in his life, Stewart didn’t hesitate. “No,” he replied, before unpacking the tension he feels between wanting to believe and struggling with the realities of life. “I wish. I wish I could get there, I can’t,” he said. Stewart, who was born into the Jewish faith, explained that he’s always been the type to question suffering and injustice. “I’ve always been this guy: ‘But if he’s all-powerful, why do children die?’ Like I’m that guy. It’s very f—ing annoying.”

The comedian was quick to clarify that he isn’t hostile toward religion. “Religion has given the world a tremendous amount of comfort in a world torn apart by… religion, mostly,” he joked. “But the important thing, I just, I’m not a believer.”

Stewart said his biggest struggle comes down to the details of religious claims. “I think that’s my biggest problem — it’s like, I know that there’s probably a gap between, like, we are here by divine intervention, or we’re just like bathroom mold that got luckier than other bathroom mold. Like, I’m sure there’s probably a middle ground there.”

When he asked the audience member whether she was born into her faith or had embraced it later, she shared that although she was born Jewish, she had to grow into her belief. Stewart called that “awesome” and admitted he envies people who find their footing spiritually. “I wish I could f—ing get… You know what it is for me, I think? It’s the specificity that f—s me up.”

He elaborated with humor, saying he could more easily accept a vague belief in a universal spirit than the detailed accounts of religious texts. “Because if you were to say to me, ‘There’s a spirit in the universe, and it carries a thing,’ but it’s more like, ‘And he was 33 years old and a carpenter,’ and I’m like, all right,” he joked, drawing laughter from the crowd.

While Stewart may not share the faith of many of his fans — or of his friend Stephen Colbert, whom he noted is a “faithful Catholic” — his honesty resonated with viewers. For Christians, his comments serve as a reminder that many people wrestle with doubt not out of hostility, but out of deep, unanswered questions. And often, those questions become the very places where faith conversations begin.