Rhett and Link, popular YouTubers who left Christianity five years ago, gave an update last week about what life is like without faith. On their “Ear Biscuits” podcast and YouTube channel, which has 575,000 subscribers, the pair offered an annual recap with thoughts on spirituality, church life, morality, heaven and hell, and more.
Rhett McLaughlin, 47, and Link Neal, 46, met in first grade in 1984. Later they were roommates at North Carolina State University, where they attended Cru (formerly Campus Crusade for Christ). Both men worked briefly in engineering before joining the Cru staff, serving as missionaries, leading worship, and creating evangelism sketches.
In 2020, Rhett and Link both revealed they had deconstructed from their evangelical beliefs and were no longer Christians. The social media influencers were among several well-known leaders who walked away from Christianity around the same time.
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Rhett and Link Discuss Prayer
In what’s become an annual tradition, Rhett and Link addressed their deconstruction during a two-hour Feb. 17 podcast titled, “Link Actually Prayed.” The episode title came from Link’s admission that he talked to God for the first time in a while—something he mentioned on actor Rainn Wilson‘s “Soul Boom” podcast.
Link explained he was “super sad” about a situation, and prayer was “a bit of a whim, but my heart was in it.” Months later, he saw some “positive trajectory” occurring but didn’t necessarily credit prayer as the cause. “I do think it helped immediately in terms of being an exercise in empathy,” Link said about praying.
Link admitted he had always struggled with the concept of prayer, saying it’s “a lot of pressure” and “a little too much honor” because “God’s going to do what God’s going to do.” Rhett told Link it was “beautiful” he had prayed, saying it’s a powerful way of “connecting…with the recipient of the need.” Praying for someone is “a great way to focus and to love” someone, especially when you feel helpless, Rhett said.
But Rhett agreed about feeling conflicted on prayer. “It doesn’t make sense that God is waiting for me to get to this part of my checklist, so he’ll then be like, ‘Alright, now I can do this,’” he said. “It didn’t seem consistent…with what I understood about God.”
YouTubers Rhett and Link Deconstructed from Different Angles
The road to deconstruction varied for Rhett and Link, with Rhett taking a more intellectual approach and Link being more experiential. Rhett admitted he loves the academic angle of the debate because he’s always been “driven by the why” and by asking, “But is it true?”
During the podcast, the longtime friends took questions from callers who were also in the process of leaving their faith. When asked if he gets tired of talking about deconstruction, Rhett said he feels motivated to continue because “I truly do believe that it can be helpful for people.” But the influencer emphasized he doesn’t like being “fodder for content,” saying, “I feel like every time we talk about [deconstruction], we give people ammunition.”
