Jordan Peterson has described belief in God in terms of conduct and commitment. In a 2018 interview on Firing Line, he said, “I act as if God exists.” In the introduction to a 2019 podcast lecture, he questioned whether anyone could fully live up to that claim. His 2024 book We Who Wrestle with God provides a different kind of evidence. It shows how he reads biblical stories. The interviews and the book answer different questions about his public treatment of religion. PBS interview and transcript · Peterson’s 2019 lecture description · Publisher’s excerpt
What Peterson means by acting as if God exists
In the PBS interview, Peterson distinguishes between a statement about what one believes and what becomes apparent in one’s behaviour. He invokes the biblical image of recognising people by their fruits to explain why he looks for commitment in action. The phrase about acting as if God exists answers the question in those terms. The host had asked about the claim that God exists. Peterson treated the practical meaning of belief as the part he could speak about with confidence. Firing Line, discussion of belief and action
His 2019 description of Who Dares Say He Believes in God? adds a qualification. He asks who could honestly claim to act with all the moral care that such a belief would demand. On that account, the phrase describes an aspiration and sets a demanding standard against which to consider one’s behaviour. The Jordan B. Peterson Podcast, June 2019
A psychological argument about what people value
In a 2018 discussion with Susan Blackmore, Peterson credited Carl Jung with an idea about the order of a person’s values. To act, Peterson argued, a person needs some way to rank competing priorities. Whatever occupies the highest place can serve the function of God for that person. This is a claim about what ultimately directs choices. It helps explain why Peterson uses religious language even when discussing people who describe themselves as atheists. Blackmore disputed his description of their actions as religious. Their disagreement shows how differently the participants were using the category of religion. The Big Conversation, audio transcript, pp. 36–37 and 45–46
How he reads the opening of Genesis
In the first chapter of We Who Wrestle with God, Peterson starts with the spirit moving over the waters in Genesis. He treats the waters as an image of unsettled possibilities and follows the narrative as God creates distinctions such as light and darkness. His reading connects the story to the experience of bringing order and form to what has yet to take shape. That example gives a reader something specific to examine when Peterson calls a biblical story psychologically significant. It is his interpretation of the narrative, in a book that takes the biblical depiction of God as its subject. Peterson, We Who Wrestle with God, opening chapter excerpt
Conclusion
Peterson’s public remarks present belief as a commitment that should be visible in conduct. His writing reads biblical narratives for what they say about the choices people make and the values they live by. Those sources support an account of his approach to belief and scripture. A claim about membership in a particular church would require a statement about that affiliation.
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