Richard Dawkins Calls Himself A "Cultural Christian"

Mo Rocca has appeared on a bunch of shows, including 'The Daily Show,' 'I Love the 80s,'...

Mo Rocca Feed

Richard Dawkins Calls Himself A "Cultural Christian"

Posted Dec 31st 2007 2:07PM by Dinesh D'Souza
Filed under: Christianity, History, Controversy, Atheism

Asked by a British member of Parliament if he is one of those atheists who wants to get rid of Christian symbols especially during the Christmas season, atheist Richard Dawkins replied that he is not. Dawkins said that he himself sings Christmas carols and that he considers himself a "cultural Christian." Just as many Jews regard themselves as Jewish, defend Jewish interests and cherish Jewish culture while not participating in Jewish religious rituals, Dawkins says that he respects the fact that the history and traditions of the West are shaped by Christianity. Dawkins says he's not one of those who wants to purge the West of its Christian traditions. The main threat to Christian symbols, Dawkins argues, does not come from atheists like him but rather from Muslims and members of other faiths.

Now this is quite remarkable. In The God Delusion, Dawkins portrayed the Christian God as a wicked, avaricious, capricious, genocidal maniac. Dawkins even blasted Jesus for such offenses as speaking harshly to his mother. Yet if the Jewish and Christian God was such a monster, what sense does it make for Dawkins to embrace the cultural influence of that deity? It would be like someone saying, "Hitler was a murderous maniac, but I am a cultural Nazi. No, I don't embrace the specifics of Nazi doctrine, but I appreciate what fascism has done to shape German culture. Let's give up the specifics of the Hitler program, but let's also keep Nazi culture along with the fuhrer's imagery on our coins and monuments."

Dawkins is not an unintelligent man, so what's going on here? One possibility is that Dawkins now recognizes that today's atheists who want to get rid of Christian symbols are just as intolerant as Christians who in the pst sought to deny atheists a voice in the public arena. So Dawkins' statement can be read as a critique of intolerance and political correctness.

A second possibility is that Dawkins now sees the Muslim threat to the West--and especially European culture--as more serious than the prospect of a second Christian Inquisition, so he has decided to ally with the Christians against the Islamic radicals. Other atheists like Sam Harris and Christopher Hitchens are now admitting that atheist attempts to equate Islamic extremism with Christianity are bogus. The real threat doesn't come from Presbyterianism or Anglicanism but from a radical Islam that wants to obliterate Western civilization.

I suspect that these two factors may have played a role, but the main reason for Dawkins' remarkable self-identification as a cultural Christian is that he has slowly come to realize that even the values that he cherishes--values such as individual dignity, science as an autonomous enterprise, the equal dignity of women, the abolition of slavery, and compassion as a social virtue--came into the West because of Christianity. I have been hammering this point in my debates with leading atheists, and it's possible that one of the Oxford historians came up to Dawkins and said, to his horror, "You know, Richard, that D'Souza chap has a point."

Okay, so let's give this biologist credit for learning a little history. Still, the deeper question remains. If the God of the Old and New Testaments is such a bad character, how come his cultural influence is so positive? Absent a good answer to this question, we must reconsider the premise: perhaps the God of the Old and New Testaments is not the evil figure portrayed in atheist propaganda. On the contrary, perhaps all our Western notions of good and bad derive from no source other than this Christian God. This certainly was Nietzsche's view, and he knew a lot more about the subject than Richard Dawkins. Wouldn't it be interesting if Dawkins continues his intellectual growth and reverses his old misunderstandings? Then he can reissue his book: Overcoming My Delusions: Confessions of a Cultural Christian.

Permalink
Email this
Linking Blogs
Comments [842]
Share this
- Add this post to...
- Netscape
- Digg
- Del.icio.us

Reader Comments ( Page 2 of 57)

Previous 15 Comments | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | Most Recent | Next 15 Comments

16. emelpe, that would be nice wouldn't it. As we all know DD is quite full of himself. I think he is highly intelligent, but as most christians he finds half truths to support his claims and ignores facts that punch holes through it. He acts as if every atheist thinks Dawkins is a god. We don't in fact as much as it pains me to say this, Dawkins is no smarter than DD

Greg at 3:49PM on Dec 31st 2007

17. "the values that he cherishes--values such as individual dignity, science as an autonomous enterprise, the equal dignity of women, the abolition of slavery, and compassion as a social virtue--came into the West because of Christianity."
---------------------------------------------------
This is absolute untrue rubbish as well as quite hypocritical.
Science as an autonomous enterprise? The Bible commands you to obediently believe what it states and threatens barbaric punishment for those who would dare question or attempt to disagree with what it states. The evolution vs. creationism dispute alone is a glaring example of that.

The equal dignity of women? I'm really surprised that you would use that as an example when it is clearly hypocritical. The Bible explicitly states that women are deceivers, should shut-up when in churches, should worship their husbands as though they are a god, and should be stoned to death if they are not virgins when married. Also, if a woman is raped and does not scream while during the violation then she is also to be stoned to death. Yes, "equal" in dignity indeed. But, men can be nonvirgins when married with zero penalty as well as suffer lessor punishments when committing rape.

The abolition of slavery? I suppose you may have overlooked of forgotten the passages in Exodus, you know the passages immediately following the issuing of the Ten Commandments, where "God" issues the rules and regulations regarding: the buying and selling of human beings for slavery, the selling of one's own daughter into slavery, the splitting up of slave families, and the barbaric rules of punishment of human slaves. There are more rules regarding slavery and treatment of slaves in the New Testament as well. The Bible clearly allows, endorses, expects Jews and Christians to own slaves.

Compassion as a social virtue? Evidence of compassion exists as far back as early man. Anthropologists have found evidence that early human tribes buried their dead tribal members. There was clearly compassion in ancient Mesopotamian, Sumerian, Egyptian, Greek, and Roman culures as well. Compassion is a HUMAN quality, not a CHRISTIAN quality. Are Hindu's in India killing wrecklessly killing each other all day? Are Buddhists killing and torturing each other? Are Jews doing the same? To even attempt to say that compassion was the sole invention of Christianity is one of the most profoundly ridiculous statements i've ever heard - and profoundly untrue. You are, in effect, saying that the four billion or so nonChristians in this world and all nonChristians that existed before were bereft of any compassion. I guess even you forgot about Ghandi - a man who was definitely not Christian, and according to the Bible is currently being continuously and mercilessly burned by fire and white-hot brimstone in Hell. The other four billion will be joining him for infinite flesh-burning pain in due time.

Some compassion. No thanks.

Frank at 3:49PM on Dec 31st 2007

18. Emily,
Great Blog, however remember you are preaching to the choir they always have and will continue to pick and choose the Bible verses they way they want in order to try and explain the how and whys of the way they look at life. They have a real hard time getting past the Old Testament, you know all the blood and gore, even better when they can use a person who in the Old Testament who did not listen to God and was done away with. They have a lot of problems believing in the Bible because it just doesn't fit their way of life. It is easier for them not to believe than to be wrong about what GOD has to say. Rita

Rita at 3:52PM on Dec 31st 2007

19. And emily, I think being against slavery is a common sense issue. I have read the bible cover to cover too many times (10 years of catholic school) and anyone who doesn't see the contradictions and bullshit in it is either dumb or just really wants to believe in a god.

Greg at 3:52PM on Dec 31st 2007

20. "There are no facts of evolution..."

Emily, I have one word for you:

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus

Okay, I'm not really sure how many words that is, but I do know that it represents a fact of evolution.

Paul at 3:52PM on Dec 31st 2007

21. Sucks to be you, Emily. Slavery is endorsed in the bible. It is a christian value, since christians used the bible to endorse slavery.

I know that makes you mad.

I know that hurts you.

Tough. Get over it.

Read your bible. Don't just skim over the jesus story and the exodus. Read the whole thing.

Also: don't try to threaten people with something bad happening to them after death. Such a tactic means that you concede that your argument is wrong, and the only way you can make people believe you is to scare them into believing.

Knight_of_BAAWA at 3:52PM on Dec 31st 2007

22. And Rita, "preaching to the choir" would mean that we all agree with Emily, once again you show your tremendous use of cliches. Also, if Heaven is full of self-righteous people who can't accept other people's views, please send me to Hell. Another thing I find comical is that christains defend the old testament as being archaic, that new testament is 2000 years old, is that not archaic as well??

Greg at 3:59PM on Dec 31st 2007

23. Emily; there is a whole section in Leviticus on how to properly treat your slaves.

Just FYI.

Ryan Anderson at 4:00PM on Dec 31st 2007

24. Well Greg, oh boy count me in. I am into the Bible everyday. When will you people understand that the Bible was written for everyone is live and love each other by. There are severals examples of Christian love in the New Testament. We are told by GOD to love and care for each other. What in the world is so wrong about that. Do you not care about your fellow man? Do you not care about the sick, the dying, the hungry, geez people read what Christ had to say about how we are to love one another, you keep playing right into Satan's hand everytime you blaspheme our LORD. We should be busy caring for one another and making sure that your neighbor has enough to eat and that the people that need help receive it. That is what JESUS is all about. I really can conceive the problem of what the LORD has asked as his creation to do. Rita

Rita at 4:02PM on Dec 31st 2007

25. Very interesting Dinesh, well written as always.

Marshall Wilkinson at 4:07PM on Dec 31st 2007

26. Ryan,
Like I said, you can't get out of the old history books, hint hint, Jesus died to take care of the law, now we live by GRACE. Just ask him and he will give you a full explanation on it. Oh, yea forgot you can't get past the OT. That was law, law now gone thanks to our Jewish friends who did not believe in the Messiah, so we were adopted into the family of GOD. Great news NT and you can read about it. Rita

Rita at 4:09PM on Dec 31st 2007

27. Rita, All those traits you listed are great. I love everyone (even ignorant people), I do to people as I would like them to do to me. That has nothing to do with being christian, it has to do with being a decent person. As Ryan pointed out there is a huge section in your good book about how to properly treat your slaves. How do account for that?? You can't pick and choose what is right and what is wrong.
Religion is used to scare people into behaving. I don't kill people because I am scared of going to hell, it is because my common sense gene tells me not to.
And your god made everyone right? Then why all the anger towards gays, atheists and anyone else who might not be exactly what you want. The greatest teacher of the last 100 years was Gandhi, do you pray for him?

Greg at 4:12PM on Dec 31st 2007

28. Rita; please read EVERYTHING Jesus supposedly had to say.

This is a good read. It includes the "Secret Gospel of Mark" where Jesus had an affair with a young man from Jericho.

http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Gospels-Annotated-Scholars-Version/dp/0944344496/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1199135478&sr=8-1

Ryan Anderson at 4:12PM on Dec 31st 2007

29. Atheists don't want to do away with christmas, christians did that long ago. Kids want SANTA to visit them, they don't give a shit about Jesus.

David at 4:20PM on Dec 31st 2007

30. Rita; I've read the OT and the NT several times. I've also read most of the non-cannonical books as weel.

So, do I take it from your comments that we agree the bible is just an "old history book"?

Happy New Year!

Ryan Anderson at 4:21PM on Dec 31st 2007

Previous 15 Comments | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | Most Recent | Next 15 Comments

Add your comments

Please keep your comments relevant to this blog entry. Email addresses are never displayed, but they are required to confirm your comments.

When you enter your name and email address, you'll be sent a link to confirm your comment, and a password. To leave another comment, just use that password.

To create a live link, simply type the URL (including http://) or email address and we will make it a live link for you. You can put up to 3 URLs in your comments. Line breaks and paragraphs are automatically converted — no need to use <p> or <br> tags.

Mo's Video

The Sound of a Smoke-Free Barack...
Almost two years ago we speculated on how Barack Obama's voice would change if he stopped smoking. ...

Coming Soon

Most Commented On

Coming Soon

Mo's Bio

Mo Rocca appears on a bunch of shows, including CBS News Sunday Morning (with the indescribably wonderful Charles Osgood), The Tonight Show on NBC, and NPR's Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! He's a sometime judge on Iron Chef and was featured on Telemundo's Amore Descarado. Last year he starred on Broadway in the 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. His expose "All the President's Pets" was published by Crown in 2004.