Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Pagan
Religion News
Richard Dawkins Calls Himself a Cultural Christian

Richard Dawkins Calls Himself a Cultural Christian

Last updated on: April 7, 2024 at 3:00 am by John Beckett

0 Comments

Richard Dawkins Calls Himself a Cultural Christian 2024-04-05T18:55:53-06:00 John Beckett

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

What must it be like to embrace people who think you’re a fool, just because they hate the same people you hate?

No, I’m not talking about Evangelical Trump voters. I’m talking about legendary New Atheist Richard Dawkins, who’s calling himself a “cultural Christian.” Here’s a quote from a recent interview:

I love hymns and Christmas carols and I sort of feel at home in the Christian ethos, and I feel that we [Britain] are a Christian country in that sense … I call myself a cultural Christian and I think it would be truly dreadful if we substituted any alternative religion.

What’s behind this sudden love for Christianity?

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.

Dawkins is also anti-trans. In 2021 the American Humanist Association withdrew their Humanist of the Year award for “making statements that use the guise of scientific discourse to demean marginalized groups … His latest statement implies that the identities of transgender individuals are fraudulent, while also simultaneously attacking Black identity as one that can be assumed when convenient.”

I’ve read two of Dawkins’ books. His 2009 The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution is excellent. His 2006 The God Delusion is not. Dawkins defines “God” and “religion” very narrowly, using definitions taken straight from conservative monotheists. I don’t like fundamentalism either, but religion – whether Christian or Pagan or anything else – is a lot more than which set of supernatural propositions you affirm and which ones you reject.

But Richard Dawkins seems to have finally found a use for Christianity: attacking Muslims and trans people.

Richard Dawkins is a very intelligent person. But intelligence doesn’t always lead to wisdom.

Conservative Christians aren’t buying it

The kind of Christians who support Dawkins’ preferred culture aren’t exactly welcoming him.

Carmel Richardson, writing for The American Conservative, says Richard Dawkins’s ‘Cultural Christianity’ Is Thin Gruel. She says “having actively persecuted the church, Dawkins finds he is sad to see it go. We cannot pretend this is anyone’s fault but his own, and that of his compatriots who have crusaded against religion as the root of all social ills.”

Russell Moore is the editor of Christianity Today and was run out of the Southern Baptist Convention for opposing Donald Trump. He wrote New Atheism Finally Learns How to Destroy Christianity, saying “the urge to make religion the way to prove one’s cultural identity against ‘outsiders’ will always find an eager audience” and “if the gospel isn’t real, the gospel doesn’t work. Genuine paganism will win out over pretend Christianity every time.”

A quick Google search turns up many such criticisms. I can’t find a single Christian site welcoming Dawkins, or even reacting positively.

Culture is part of religion

The concept that religion is all about what you believe is a modern, Western, Protestant idea. For most people in most places throughout most of history, religion was and is about what you do, who you are, and whose you are. Religion is about identity and relationships.

I grew up in a white Southern fundamentalist church. I know why they support Trump even though he’s about as un-Christian as you can get. He’s an authoritarian leader and they think the world should be run by strong men – and he promised to hurt the people they don’t like. The elements of shared culture are more important to them than their very different theology and worship.

Richard Dawkins doesn’t like seeing public celebrations of Ramadan. The mere existence of trans people offends his short-sighted ideas about biological determinism. He has some nostalgic memories of his Anglican childhood. He’s never going to change his mind about the existence of the Christian God, but he’s willing to identify as a Christian to try to turn the clock back to the 1950s.

It’s not going to work.

Religion is driven by those who believe

And by “believe” I don’t mean those who affirm a religion’s supernatural propositions. I mean those who “believe in” the religion in the sense that they believe its sacred stories and traditions are important enough to work to maintain.

These are the people who tell the stories and lead the rituals. Those who practice the traditions day in and day out. Those who tend the shrines, maintain the altars, and clean the meetinghouses. Those who do what they do not for fear of hell or hope of heaven, but because it’s part of who they are and they can’t not do it.

Culture is a big part of their religion, but they aren’t cultural Christians (or Pagans or Buddhists or anything else). Religion isn’t something they think about when they see it on public display – or when they get angry because a competing religion is on public display. It’s something they think and live and breathe all the time.

Some of them are theistic and even mystical. Some are too busy here and now to worry about things nobody can prove or disprove. Either way, when they say they’ll light a candle for you, it’s not just “thoughts and prayers.”

These people are a small part of any religion, Christian or otherwise. But they’re the ones who keep the church going throughout the year so the cultural Christians have a place to go on Christmas and Easter – or just a place to have their wedding and their funeral.

Some believe harmful things

Not everyone who keeps their religion moving means well.

Dawkins is not wrong to fear the kind of Islam we see in Iran and Afghanistan, though he fails to recognize that most Muslims don’t want to live like that either. In this country, we have Christian Nationalists trying to undo the social progress of the past century. These people are zealous about their religion and about using the power of government to force everyone to live by their rules.

They’re determined and they’re persistent. They worked for 50 years to overturn Roe v. Wade, and now that they succeeded they’re not stopping there. They want a nationwide abortion ban, and then they’re coming after same sex marriage and birth control. Some would be content to force LGBTQ people back in the closet, while others want to undo Lawrence v. Texas and criminalize same sex relations.

They can’t be bargained with. They can only be defeated at the ballot box, election after election after election, until the mainstream culture changes for good.

What this means for Pagans

So what does all this mean for us as Pagans… besides shaking our heads at the irony of Richard Dawkins calling himself a Christian? I see four things.

Don’t try to ally yourself with people who think you’re evil. You can work with anybody who isn’t trying to harm you and yours if you need to, but don’t invest yourself in those who don’t accept you for who and what you are.

The pull of nostalgia is strong. It’s OK to appreciate good things about your past, but make sure your life keeps moving forward, not backward.

Don’t fear change. It’s coming whether you like it or not.

The Pagan movement needs more believers. Again, that’s not people who affirm supernatural propositions, it’s people who believe in Pagan concepts and traditions and practices deeply enough to make them an essential part of their lives.

Richard Dawkins’ book The Greatest Show on Earth is my go-to recommendation for anyone who has serious doubts about the reality of evolution. But his writings on religion are shallow and weak, and his identification as a “cultural Christian” flows out of that weakness. If he’s happy with that, I’m happy for him – Paganism is not a proselytizing religion.

But the rest of us can do better.

Religion News

Theology

atheism

cultural Christian

cultural Christianity

Pagan

Paganism

Richard Dawkins

Previous Post

April 3, 2024

The Solar Eclipse: Magic and Danger or Wonder and Awe?

Next Post

April 28, 2024 A Pagan Meditates in a Baroque Church

Recent Comments

0 | Leave a Comment

"A great post! Point 3 has always held interest for me, as it makes a ..."

FCVan

Why Halloween Is So Popular – ..."

"Absolutely marvelous John!"

Panmankey

The Pillar of the Boatmen: the ..."

"Glad you got to see it. Hail Cernunnos!"

MadGastronomer

The Pillar of the Boatmen: the ..."

"Concern about the attitude of Islam toward Pagans is not limited to the Trump Administration. ..."

Maureen Richmond

The Fear of Witchcraft

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Books Community CUUPS Druidry Foundations and Context Gods and Goddesses Magic Myth Nature Ritual Spiritual Practice Theology Travel Uncategorized Videos

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What river did Jesus get baptized in?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Euphrates Tigris Jordan Nile