‘Cultural Christian’ Richard Dawkins is ‘Horrified’ at Islam’s Popularity

In a recent interview on LBC, Richard Dawkins, one of the most well-known atheists in the English-speaking world, declared himself a ‘cultural Christian’ who is ‘at home in the Christian ethos’.

For those familiar with his anti-religious proselytising this may come as a surprise. However, the idea that Dawkins is a closet Christian is not new. This view was popularised by Mencius Moldbug’s How Dawkins Got Pwned back in 2007. In it, Moldbug argues that Dawkins is not just an atheist but a ‘Christian atheist’, or ‘nontheistic Christian’. Quoting from the first chapter of Dawkins’ The God Delusion, in which Dawkins describes himself as a ‘deeply religious non-believer’, Moldbug argues that Dawkins’ belief system exhibits many similarities with Christianity: ‘For example, it appears that Professor Dawkins believes in the fair distribution of goods, the futility of violence, the universal brotherhood of man, and the reification of community’.

But while he did refer to himself as a ‘deeply religious non-believer’, his recent claim to being…