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Is Richard Dawkins about to become a Christian?

Is Richard Dawkins about to become a Christian?

Last updated on: August 5, 2024 at 7:50 pm by Adrian Warnock

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Is Richard Dawkins about to become a Christian? 2024-08-05T19:50:42+01:00 Adrian Warnock

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Dawkins and a bus campaign

Richar Dawkins and Ariane Sherine launch the “There’s probably no God” bus campaign in 2009 Image: Wikimedia

Richard Dawkins has always been one of the most hostile atheists, often mocking Christians in particular. But over the last few years we are seeing a change in his attitude towards Christians. I get the sense that this began when his good friend Christopher Hitchens was sick with cancer and despite their differences over God, Frances Collins arranged for a DNA screening of his cancer, giving him longer to live. I noted that in 2022 when Dawkins met Collins on Unbelievable, they both approached each other with friendship and respect. In particular Dawkins thanks Colins for the altruism he offered towards someone who was his philosophical enemy.

Dawkins also showed his respect for Collins by acknowledging where he feels his arguments are strong. Even at one point admitting that if there was an argument that would be most likely to make him believe in God it is the fine tuning of the universe which Collins was explaining. Equally Collins admitted the strengths of some of Dawkin’s arguments even stating he plans to rewrite a portion of one of his books as a result.

Towards the end of the far reaching discussion the subject of altruism came up again. Can such acts of selflessness reallt be explained as a misfiring of evolutionary imperatives? They discussed the truly admirable nature of how some humans risk harm to themselves, for example by caring for vulnerable individuals with covid in an ITU setting, putting themselves at risk of death. Does morality have some kind of transcendent essential even spiritual content to it? One thing seems clear, Collins own friendship with Hitchens and attempts to help him seemed to have had the direct result that Dawkins came to that conversation in a different attitude than he might otherwise have done.

I have often said that it is our Christian love that wins people over more than our arguments. Surely love is what defines a Christian.

Interesting then that in July 2024 Richard Dawkins asked people on X to tell him where he got it wrong in his book The God Delusion. Some of the replies are less gracious than they should be but he is certainly not short of people giving him reasons to believe:

What do religious people think I got wrong in “The God Delusion” ?

— Richard Dawkins (@RichardDawkins) July 1, 2024

I discovered this tweet (are we meant to call them X’s now?) in an article from Christian Today. They shared a couple of examples of replies that people had given him, including this one:

“Another pointed out: “[You] spent the majority of the book making a moral case against religion; [but] you state in other works that there isn’t objective morality”

Interestingly, as Christian Today pointed out, Dawkins argues against religion on moral grounds with one breath then elsewhere say there is no such thing as good and evil:

“So, which is it? Is the God of the Bible not worth believing in because He’s evil, or is evil an illusion? Dawkins seems to have wanted to have his moral indignation and eat it too.”

The article also pointed out that Dawkins does seem to be on something of a journey over recent years with regard to Christianity. They cite an article from Breaking Point which explains how suddenly a few months ago Dawkins described himself as a cultural Christian, stating that:

“I call myself a cultural Christian. I’m not a believer, but there’s a distinction between being a believing Christian and being a cultural Christian. … I love hymns and Christmas carols, and I sort of feel at home in the Christian ethos. … We [in the U.K.] are a “Christian country” in that sense . . . If I had to choose between Christianity and Islam, I’d choose Christianity every single time. It seems to me to be a fundamentally decent religion in a way that I think Islam is not”

That article cited Tom Holland who explained that he was not as surprised as others others were that Dawkins seemed to be appreciating what Christianity has given the West:

“Because secularism & Dawkins’ own brand of evangelical atheism are both expressions of a specifically Christian culture – as Dawkins himself, sitting on the branch he’s been sawing through and gazing nervously at the ground far below, seems to have begun to realise”

Not really, because secularism & Dawkins’ own brand of evangelical atheism are both expressions of a specifically Christian culture – as Dawkins himself, sitting on the branch he’s been sawing through and gazing nervously at the ground far below, seems to have begun to realise. https://t.co/sMQqC8np17

— Tom Holland (@holland_tom) April 1, 2024

Breaking Point went on,

“Dawkins’ comments were a tacit admission that, for decades now, he has been wrong to claim that science and secularism are the source of all that’s good in Western culture. In fact, it is the worldview centered on a God who became man and died on a cross because He “so loved the world” that is the source of hospitals, churches, esteem for women and children, human rights, and even the music, art, and culture that Dawkins cherishes. For one of the world’s most outspoken God-haters to realize this is quite remarkable.

Still, there would be none of the fruits of Christianity without its roots, specifically the essential beliefs in God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth; Jesus Christ, His only begotten Son, our Lord; and the rest.”

Christian Today also pointed to an interview Dawkins did recently with a recently converted atheist. He asks:

“You go to church now, and you listen to the vicar, do you kind of notice what a load nonsense he talks?”

The new convert replies,

“What the vicar says no longer sounds nonsensical, it makes a great deal of sense. And not only does it make a great deal of sense, it’s also layered with the wisdom of millennia. Like you, I did mock faith in general, probably Christianity in particular but, I do not do that anymore.”

Fascinating exchange between Richard Dawkins and newly converted Christian, Ayaan Hirsi Ali.

“You go to church now, and you listen to the vicar, do you kind of notice what a load nonsense he talks?”

“What the vicar says no longer sounds nonsensical, it makes a great deal of… pic.twitter.com/cJiMsz54iv

— Lewis Brackpool (@Lewis_Brackpool) June 11, 2024

In the full interview it is clear that Dawkins was fascinated by his old friends new faith:

The Christian Today article concludes:

“Perhaps, God willing, Dawkins, is on the verge of a similar change. We can and should pray as much.”

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Dawkins vs Collins – amicable and engaging meeting of two great minds

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About Adrian Warnock

Adrian Warnock

Medical doctor · Published author · Patheos writer since 2003

I have always lived within sixty miles of London, UK where I studied, worked and worshipped for thirty years. I began writing for this Patheos blog in April 2003, making it one of the longest-running individual columns on the Christian Internet. My writing here, on Substack, and in my books is influenced by my medical training, eight years of working as a psychiatrist in the UK’s National Health Service (NHS), eighteen years working in medical research in the pharmaceutical industry, twenty-five years of serving as a pastoral leader in a growing multicultural church, and a difficult decade of lived experience with chronic illness, including blood cancer, and the unexpected losses, including early retirement, that resulted.

Together, these all shape a biopsychosocial-spiritual approach which I first wrote about on Patheos in 2013. This model offers us hope, compassion, and healing in all life’s challenges. This holistic approach is based on the idea that all truth is God’s truth.

At times, since my illness, my faith has been faint. I wondered if this was the end of my story. I was not strong enough to live for Jesus the way I wanted to. I could not change myself. And then hope reminded me: The resurrection of Jesus changes everything. Just not all at once. Healing takes time. Compassion and patience sustain us over a lifetime of change. I aim to approach suffering with hope and compassion, and address tough questions including:

What does Jesus’ resurrection mean for you?

Raised With Christ: How the Resurrection Changes Everything (Crossway, 2010; 2nd edition, Amazon, 2025)
Why is change so difficult? What causes the resistance?

The Traitor Within: Understanding and Healing Our Deceitful Hearts (Amazon, 2026)
Why is change so slow? How does grace lead us over a lifetime?

Amazing Grace: How Faith Grows in the Human Heart (Amazon, 2026)
How do you become a Christian? Can you know if you really are one?

Hope Reborn: How to Become a Christian and Live for Jesus Co-authored with Tope Koleoso (Christian Focus, 2014)

Qualifications

I qualified with an MB BS from the University of London (equivalent to an MD in the United States), hold postgraduate qualifications in psychiatry (MRCPsych) and pharmaceutical medicine (MFFM, DipPharmMed), and took theological training courses run by Newfrontiers.

Connect With me

Substack: adrianwarnock.substack.com (the best way to ask questions)
Twitter/X: @adrianwarnock
Facebook: Adrian Warnock
Email: [email protected] (I may not be able to respond to every message)

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Is Richard Dawkins about to become a Christian?

I have often said that it is our Christian love that wins people over more than our arguments. Surely love is what defines a Christian.

In the full interview it is clear that Dawkins was fascinated by his old friends new faith:

“Perhaps, God willing, Dawkins, is on the verge of a similar change. We can and should pray as much.”

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Adrian Warnock

What city did the Good Samaritan's story happen on the road to?