Posted on 12/11/2007 10:13:13 AM PST by Between the Lines
Scientist Richard Dawkins, an atheist known worldwide for arguing against the existence of God, has described himself as a "cultural Christian".
He told the BBC's Have Your Say that he did not want to "purge" the UK of its Christian heritage.
The comments came after Tory MP Mark Pritchard accused "politically correct" people of undermining Christmas.
Professor Dawkins, author of the God Delusion, added that he liked "singing Carols along with everybody else".
On Have Your Say, Mr Pritchard told Prof Dawkins there was an "increasing feeling" that "many of the main Christian festivals are being sidelined and marginalised, sometimes by stealth, sometimes openly".
This, he argued, would allow groups such as the British National Party, to utilise Christian imagery for their own ends.
'Singing carols'
Prof Dawkins, who has frequently spoken out against creationism and religious fundamentalism, replied: "I'm not one of those who wants to stop Christian traditions.
"This is historically a Christian country. I'm a cultural Christian in the same way many of my friends call themselves cultural Jews or cultural Muslims.
"So, yes, I like singing carols along with everybody else. I'm not one of those who wants to purge our society of our Christian history.
"If there's any threat these sorts of things, I think you will find it comes from rival religions and not from atheists."
'Historical signifiance'
Last week, Mr Pritchard called a parliamentary debate on "Christianophobia".
The MP for The Wrekin, Shropshire, complained that Christian heritage was being undermined by secular officials and public figures.
During that debate, community cohesion minister Parmjit Dhanda told MPs that Christianity had had a "significant impact" in securing people's rights and freedoms.
He added: "I fully recognise the full historical and cultural significance [of Christianity] in our country.
"We should all be aware of that and celebrate that."
And the head of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, Trevor Phillips, said schools were wrong if they thought celebrating Christmas excluded children who were not Christian.
He said: "Christmas and the celebration of Christmas in this country, though it is a religious festival, is one in which people who are of no religion - or other religions - can share."
Not sure if it is true, just an interesting theory.
Interesting twist on the “God doesn’t exist and I hate him” strand of athiest thinking. Here it is “God doesn’t exist but we should celebrate him in song.”
Cultural Christian - a broad term describing individuals who identify themselves as Christian, but who generally would not be described by other, more religious Christians, as active in their faith. These so-called cultural Christians put more emphasis on tradition and pragmatic matters than do their more religious brethren, whom they accuse of propagating a superficial type of Christianity based on outward signs of religious belief or fervor.
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27) Infiltrate the churches and replace revealed religion with "social" religion. Discredit the Bible and emphasize the need for intellectual maturity, which does not need a "religious crutch."
28) Eliminate prayer or any phase of religious expression in the schools on the grounds that it violates the principle of "separation of church and state."
Richard Dawkins—palaeocon!
If he comes over to this side of the pond, he'll find many atheists working hard to cleanse our country of its Christian roots.
I don’t think Dawkins is going to Church anytime soon, but what he’s telling atheists* to do is STFU, enjoy yourself and stop being a stick in the mud.
*we can also apply this to Jews, Muslims or anybody else who goes into hysterics when somebody wishes them a a greeting that isn’t appropriate for their religion.
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