Stephen Colbert prompts accusations of heresy over afterlife view: 'We become Febreze'

By Jon Brown, Christian Post Reporter Friday, May 22, 2026

Former late-night talk show host Stephen Colbert prompted backlash this week for expressing a view of the afterlife that some critics described as Gnostic or otherwise antithetical to his professed Roman Catholicism.

Speaking with comedian and fellow Catholic Jim Gaffigan on Wednesday during one of the final episodes of his 11-year-old "Late Show," Colbert was asked what he believes happens when people die.

Stephen Colbert, a professed Catholic, says he believes that when we die, "there is some continuance of some kind. But it’s like a dispersion of the self into some other greater being. And I don’t have any other feelings beyond that.”

This sounds more like the Gnostic concept of… pic.twitter.com/I4GNPGDftv

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"I think of, almost like, it's more like a feeling, and the feeling is that when we die, I think there is some continuance of some kind. But it's like a dispersion of the self into some other greater being. And I don't have any other feelings beyond that," Colbert replied.

"What you're saying is: we become Febreze," Gaffigan cut in, referring to the air freshener.

"Yes, right. That's exactly right," Colbert said as the audience laughed.

During an extended version of the exchange that aired on Colbert's YouTube channel, Colbert joked that the question regarding life after death was fielded to him by another Catholic, adding that he is unsure what they are both supposed to believe on the topic.

Noting they held audience with Pope Francis together with other comedy stars in 2024, Colbert said to Gaffigan, "Remind me, what are we supposed to say as Catholics?" Gaffigan quipped that he expects to go to Purgatory — "that middle place" — because "I got some work to do."

"I think there's a lot of cultural, like, this is what's supposed to happen. I'm not sure what the actual dogma says, like, physically supposed to happen," Colbert said.

The remark from Colbert, who won an award for servant leadership from a prominent Episcopalian seminary earlier this year, prompted widespread accusations of heresy on social media.

Christian author and broadcaster Eric Metaxas wrote that Colbert "admits he does not believe the Christian doctrine concerning life after death. He always put himself forward as a Christian, but this is a Buddhist view."

"It also smacks of the Hindu idea that individuals merge into the absolute. If I understand it correctly, which I probably don't," author David Limbaugh wrote in response to Metaxas.

"This is the Gnostic concept of the Pleroma and/or Hermetic at-One-ment, yes," wrote conservative political commentator James Lindsay, referencing the Gnostic teaching that divine sparks from the spiritual realm became trapped in the physical body and must return to the spiritual through secret knowledge.

Christopher J. Scalia, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and son of the late Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonin Scalia, noted that Father James Martin, a liberal Jesuit, once lauded Colbert as "one of the most effective evangelizers for the Catholic faith around."

"Stephen Colbert got his degree in theology by listening to Pete Buttigieg," said Catholic author E. Michael Jones.

The question Gaffigan asked came from a questionnaire Colbert has asked many celebrities over the 11 years of his talk show, which ended Thursday.

Last July, Colbert announced that CBS was canceling "The Late Show" and would be taking it off the air this May after being on the air for 33 years. The announcement came days after Colbert publicly criticized his network's parent company, Paramount Global, for settling with President Donald Trump for $16 million over a lawsuit claiming CBS News deceptively edited an interview with Vice President Kamala Harris during the 2024 presidential campaign.

Colbert, whose tenure on "The Late Show" was continuously marked by political satire opposing Trump and promoting Democrats, condemned the settlement as "a big fat bribe" that Paramount paid because it was seeking approval from the U.S. Federal Communications Commission for an $8.4 billion merger with Skydance Media.

The CEOs of CBS and Paramount issued a joint statement at the time claiming the cancellation was "purely a financial decision against a challenging backdrop in late night."