A Letter to the Cultural Christian
It has been an interesting year for world renown biologist Richard Dawkins. Dawkins, a staunch defender of Atheism and author of books such as The God Delusion, made an interesting public statement recently in an interview: “I am a cultural Christian.” Woah, what?! Sound the alarm bells! The same man who has spent his entire professional career trashing God has now flipped the script? What happened? Well, that’s the really interesting part of this story—nothing happened at all.
What Dawkins revealed in his statement is one that many people regurgitate today when asked what they believe. “I’m a cultural Christian”, “I’m a spiritual person”, and many other statements like these are said often by people all across America. But let’s ask the hard question here: what does “cultural Christian” even mean? For Dawkins, it doesn’t require anything from him to be this cultural Christian. He’s still an atheist. He still despises faith. In fact, the only thing that Dawkins said that makes him a cultural Christian was that he likes the “things of Christianity.” He likes the hymns, he likes the community, he even likes the philosophical positions of hope that Christian apologists have presented. Dawkins wants the things of God, but he doesn’t want God. And unfortunately, that is where we find many in our culture today.
Understand this: there is no such thing as a cultural Christian. We either submit to Christ, or we are enslaved to our sin. Jesus is so clear on this topic. Consider his words in John 14:6 — “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” This statement is what led C.S. Lewis to declare that Jesus was either a liar, a lunatic, or the Lord. It is not enough to simply like the things of God. One can associate themselves with all kinds of Christian things, yet never be a true Christian–as Dawkins has proven with his own life. Christian is a term reserved for those who have trusted in Jesus as Lord and Savior. Christianity is not a preference, it is a life-altering commitment. It is not a cultural trend, it is an eternal relationship. Do not buy into cultural Christianity. Give your life to Christ. Live for him boldly.
Bro. Corey McKinney
