Terry: So, you know, you satirize religious extremes so much in your show, that a lot of people assume that you’re not religious, but of course, you know, you’re Catholic, you go to church, you’re raising your children in the faith, what do you tell them about God, like what do you, when they, what do you tell them God is?
Stephen: Uh, hum…mmm. That’s interesting. I don’t know if any of them has asked me what God is. I’ve taught a couple of years of CCD, Sunday school for Catholics, and, umm, I think the answer that God is love is pretty good, for a child. Cause Children understand love. And, you know, I don’t want to get too much more complex than that, with a second grader.
Terry: Yeah, but then there’s like the plagues and stuff, heh, heh, heh, heh.
Stephen: Well, well, there is the plagues, there is the plagues and stuff. My son asked me one day, “Dad, what’s hell?” You know, and I at first I asked, “Why do you want to know?” Cause I wanted to know whether somebody condemned him to hell. And, he goes “I just heard the term,” and he wanted to know what hell was, and so I said, “Well, God is love, and hell is the absence of God’s love. And you know can you imagine how great it is to be loved, can you imagine how great it is to be loved fully, to be loved totally, to be loved, you know, beyond your ability to imagine, you know, and imagine if you knew that was a possibility, and then that was taken from you, and you know that you would never be loved. Well, that’s hell. To be alone, and know what you’ve lost.” And that’s the best I could do.
My comment: The question about God clearly gave Colbert pause. It took him a few seconds to respond. And I noticed it was the only time in the interview when he wasn't jovial about the subject matter the interviewer tossed his way. Not that he sobered up suddenly, but he didn't make a joke of it either. Another thing I noticed: my reaction. "This guy who's such a crazy man on Comedy Central teaches Sunday school!?" Also, his answer to his kid's question about hell is about as far from TV's secular culture AND from fundamentalism as you can get. He sounded like a good, loving father who's thought about the Christian faith (which I guess you'd have to if you're going to teach CCD). Finally, at then end, after his last statement, there was another pause, in which (I think) the interviewer may have been a little taken aback by such a profound and simple answer spoken so sincerely by this comedian. Was she a little surprised herself?