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Cartoonist Scott Adams announced his intention to convert to Christianity in January 2026. | Credit: Art of Charm, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Jan 6, 2026 / 17:38 pm (CNA).
Scott Adams, the 68-year-old cartoonist who created the decades-long “Dilbert” comic strip, announced he is converting to Christianity amid his deteriorating health caused by terminal cancer.
Adams, who was diagnosed with prostate cancer in May 2025, had previously been critical of organized religion and expressed skepticism about traditional faiths in blog posts and two fiction books titled “God’s Debris” and its sequel, “The Religion War.”
On the Jan. 1 episode of his podcast “Real Coffee with Scott Adams,” the cartoonist expressed a change of heart following numerous conversations with Christian friends.
“I’ve not been a believer, but I also have respect for any Christian who goes another way to try to convert me,” Adams said. “Because how would I believe [that] you believe your own religion if you’re not trying to convert me? So I have great respect for people who care enough that they want me to convert and then go out of their way to try to convince me.”
Adams then informed his viewers “it is my plan to convert,” adding: “I still have time, but my understanding is, you’re never too late.”
“And on top of that, any skepticism I have about reality would certainly be instantly answered if I wake up in heaven,” he said.
Speaking to “my Christian friends,” Adams said: “It’s coming, so you don’t need to talk me into it.”
Adams appeared to invoke “ Pascal’s Wager,” which is an argument about the risks and rewards of following Jesus Christ, which was articulated by the 17th-century French Catholic philosopher and mathematician Blaise Pascal.
The argument was not meant to be a “proof” for God or even an argument about whether God exists. Rather, Pascal argued that accepting God can lead one to eternal life if he exists and it carries little risk even if he did not exist, but rejecting God will lead to eternal consequences if he exists and does not yield significant benefits even if he did not exist.
As Adams summarized his view: “If it turns out that there’’s nothing there, I’ve lost nothing, but I’ve respected your wishes, and I like doing that. If it turns out there is something there and the Christian model is the closest to it, I win.”
Adams’ cancer has spread through his bones and he is paralyzed below his waist. He is also suffering from heart failure.
Father Thomas Petri, a Dominican theologian, said this announcement is “very good news” and that he will continue to pray for Adams.
Petri said he has seen some Christians online try to suggest the conversion is not genuine because “he seems to be doing it merely as a wager in case God exists.” Yet, Petri said, “I’m fine with that wager.”
“Few people come to God with a perfectly formed faith,” he said. “Yet, because we believe God is love, it’s hard to think that Scott Adams’ gesture would not be received and blessed by him.”
“Naturally, as we approach death we become more focused on ultimate things and questions,” Petri added. “Trusting in God opens us to the possibility that death is not an end but an avenue to something greater. I pray that even the most hardened sinners have some desire for God even in their last moments. I think that’s enough for God to work with.”
Jimmy Akin, a senior apologist at Catholic Answers who debated Adams on assisted suicide in 2015, said he is “very glad that [Adams] has decided to seek out God in this difficult time.”
“God has many ways of drawing people to himself,” Akin said.
“On the human level, we’re built to think about events and challenges that we will soon be facing, so as we see that death is drawing near, it’s only natural for people to begin thinking about what may come after death and to try to make plans for it,” he said. “This can create an openness to the idea of God and to Christianity, even if a person was not religious previously.”
In other cases, Akin said some people “have become hardened by years of living without God” but that “God can still reach out by his grace … and being the person to him.”
“As Jesus taught us, it is never too late in this life for a person to turn to God,” he said. “That’s one of the major points of the parable of the workers in the vineyard.”
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Vatican City, Jan 6, 2026 / 08:45 am Celebrating the Solemnity of the Epiphany in St. Peter’s Basilica on Tuesday, Pope Leo XIV said God’s saving presence is revealed not “in a prestigious location,” but […]
Pope Leo XIV closes the Holy Door of St. Peter’s Basilica, concluding the Jubilee of Hope, on January 6, 2026. / Screenshot: Vatican Media
Vatican City, Jan 6, 2026 / 07:00 am (CNA).
Pope Leo XIV on Sunday closed the Holy Door of St. Peter’s Basilica, bringing the ordinary Holy Year to an end — a time of grace that invited Catholics to conversion, reconciliation, and hope.
The pontiff processed toward the Holy Door as the antiphon O clavis David was sung. Reaching the threshold, he knelt before the door and remained for a few minutes in silent prayer. He then rose and, at 9:41 a.m., pushed shut the two large bronze doors — a gesture that visibly marked the end of the jubilee season.
“With thankful hearts we now prepare to close this Holy Door, crossed by a multitude of faithful, certain that the Good Shepherd always keeps the door of his heart open to welcome us whenever we feel weary and oppressed,” Leo XIV said in an address before the concluding gesture that ended the ecclesial event, ordinarily held every 25 years to offer the faithful the possibility of obtaining a plenary indulgence.
With these words, Leo XIV emphasized that even though the Jubilee has ended, God’s mercy remains ever open to believers.
Before closing the doors, the Holy Father pronounced in Latin the formula prescribed by the rite, following a practice established in 1975 and later simplified by St. John Paul II during the Jubilee of the Year 2000.
In keeping with the simplified celebration, the public rite did not include the portion involving the construction of a brick wall and was limited to the closing of the bronze doors. The masonry work itself will be carried out later, privately, about 10 days after this public rite.
The act will be overseen by the Office of Liturgical Celebrations of the Supreme Pontiff. The so-called sampietrini — personnel of the Fabric of St. Peter, including carpenters, cabinetmakers, and electricians who normally handle basilica maintenance — will build the brick wall inside the basilica to definitively seal the Holy Door.
During this private rite — without cameras or journalists — the traditional metal capsule (capsis) will be inserted into the wall. It will contain the official act of closure, coins minted during the jubilee year, and the keys of the Holy Door, as a material and symbolic testimony of the Holy Year that, as the pope noted, has ended on the calendar but not in the spiritual life of the Church.
Leo XIV then recited the prayer of thanksgiving for the ordinary Holy Year, proclaiming: “This Holy Door is closed, but the door of your mercy is not closed.”
The formula concluded with an invocation that the “treasures” of divine grace would remain open “so that, at the end of our earthly pilgrimage, we may confidently knock at the door of your house and enjoy the fruits of the tree of life.”
The Jubilee of Hope was instituted on Dec. 24, 2024, by Pope Francis but, after his death in April, was concluded by his successor, Leo XIV — a situation not seen since the year 1700. The last ordinary Jubilee (celebrated every 25 years) took place in 2000.
Jubilees may also be celebrated at “extraordinary” moments, such as the Jubilee of Mercy celebrated by Francis in 2015, or the one to be convoked in 2033 to commemorate the two millennia of the death and resurrection of Jesus.
After closing the Holy Door, Leo XIV presided over Mass for the solemnity of the Epiphany of the Lord inside St. Peter’s Basilica, bringing the day’s liturgical celebration to its conclusion.
This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.
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