Babylon Bee CEO Seth Dillon appeared on one of the world’s most popular podcasts, The Joe Rogan Experience, to talk censorship, humor, the transgender lobby, grooming behavior, Libs of TikTok, the purpose of satire, and a lengthy segment on abortion where a visibly irate Rogan pushes back on Dillon’s insistence that life begins at conception and that all abortion is murder.
Over a three-hour conversation, Dillon and Rogan appeared to have broad agreement on various topics, including most of the subjects above. When the conversation turns to Christian charity and abortion, things get heated. Rogan begins suggests that socially and economically speaking, there needs to be a more ‘level playing field.’
Rogan: “And I think if you wanted to really give people the best chance in life, don’t give them a f***** up childhood. Figure out a way to, somehow or another, revive communities and give them a sustainable future, where you don’t have a long history of gang violence and crime and drug sales and violence.
… And there’s some people that just got a s*** roll the dice. And a lot of conservative people don’t want to recognize that. They don’t want to talk about that. They always- there’s this narrative, this pull yourself up by your bootstraps. There’s people that don’t have f****** shoes….”
Dillon: But should that be done by the government or privately? I would think that, you know, with a lot of conservatives who are often criticized for that mentality, that ‘oh, yeah, we know that equality is just, you know, making sure everybody has the same opportunity. Nobody needs a leg up. These people should pull them up by their bootstraps.’ I do think that people, generally speaking, Christian conservatives are very compassionate and do a lot of charity work.Rogan: “Yes, they do, yes”
Dillon: A ton of charity work. And so they are willing to put their own time volunteering and donating money towards causes that help with those things. You know, you look at, like Crisis Pregnancy Centers, for example, which Elizabeth Warren wants to shut down for some reason. I mean, these are helping women in need, and she wants to shut them down. And these are people who are volunteering their time, their resources, their money, to help people who are in a tough spot. And it’s it’s completely charity, it’s kindness. It’s love and compassion.
But it’s always, you know, always painted with a brush of ‘Oh, yeah, you know, you’re on your own. We only care about children before they’re born, not after they’re born,’ you know.? But I do think I honestly, an argument can be made that conservative Christians are the most charitable people there are.”Rogan: They’re very charitable people.
As the conversation progresses to the subject of abortion, Rogan says he’s “pretty absolute” when it comes to a woman’s right to choose, using the case of a 14-year old who has been raped as someone who “should not have to f***** carry some rapist baby” and insists repeatedly that everyone has to agree on that. Thankfully, Dillon jumps in and pushes back on this notion and they have a real skirmish about it. While Dillon seemed to hesitate with laying it all out early on that all abortion is wrong, they ultimately get there.
Dillon: “I would say, I would lay it out like this, I would say: it is wrong to intentionally kill an innocent human life. Abortion intentionally kills an innocent human life. Therefore abortion is wrong. And I don’t think any of the, I don’t think any of the examples of like, oh, well how developed is it? You know, can it think, is it conscious, can it dream, can it feel pain-
Rogan: “So for you, it’s the moment of conception”
Dillon: “If it’s a human life, a distinct human life, then I think it’s wrong to to end its life.”
The discussion ultimately concludes with Rogan acknowledging:
Rogan: “…When you talk about like (aborting) someone who’s at six months or nine months; that gets crazy. That’s like, you’re literally killing a baby, you’re killing a baby that could exist outside the world if-“
Dillon: “What if rape produced it, and it’s eight months old in the womb?”
Rogan: “That’s a good question. That’s also what makes it a very, very messy conversation.”
