Famous Atheist author Richard Dawkins has described himself as a “cultural Christian” while lamenting the waning of cultural influence of Christianity in Europe, amid the surging of Islam.
Speaking with British journalist Rachel Johnson, Dawkins noted that the United Kingdom is “fundamentally a Christian country,” and he still personally values the Christian ethos despite not believing the religion from which it emerged.
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“I call myself a cultural Christian,” said the evolutionary biologist and author of The God Delusion. “I’m not a believer, but there’s a distinction between being a believing Christian and being a cultural Christian. And so, I love hymns and Christmas carols, and I sort of feel at home in the Christian ethos. I feel that we are a Christian country in that sense,” The Christian Post reports.
While claiming he is “happy” the number of practicing Christians in the U.K. is plummeting, Dawkins also acknowledged that Islam appears to be gathering strength in Europe as Christianity recedes. He noted he was “slightly horrified” that Ramadan lights adorned London’s Oxford Street during Easter.
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“If I had to choose between Christianity and Islam, I choose Christianity every single time,” he said. “I mean, it seems to me to be a fundamentally decent religion in a way that, I think, Islam is not.”
Dawkins argued that Islam is less compatible with British values than Christianity, particularly regarding the treatment of women and homosexuals.
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“I’m not talking about individual Muslims, who, of course, are quite different,” Dawkins said. “But the doctrines of Islam — the Hadith and the Koran — is fundamentally hostile to women, hostile to gays. And I find that I like to live in a culturally Christian country, although I do not believe a single word of the Christian faith.”
