Richard Dawkins has always been one of the most hostile atheists, often mocking Christians in particular. But over the last few years we are seeing a change in his attitude towards Christians. I get the sense that this began when his good friend Christopher Hitchens was sick with cancer and despite their differences over God, Frances Collins arranged for a DNA screening of his cancer, giving him longer to live. I noted that in 2022 when Dawkins met Collins on Unbelievable, they both approached each other with friendship and respect. In particular Dawkins thanks Colins for the altruism he offered towards someone who was his philosophical enemy.
Dawkins also showed his respect for Collins by acknowledging where he feels his arguments are strong. Even at one point admitting that if there was an argument that would be most likely to make him believe in God it is the fine tuning of the universe which Collins was explaining. Equally Collins admitted the strengths of some of Dawkin’s arguments even stating he plans to rewrite a portion of one of his books as a result.
Towards the end of the far reaching discussion the subject of altruism came up again. Can such acts of selflessness reallt be explained as a misfiring of evolutionary imperatives? They discussed the truly admirable nature of how some humans risk harm to themselves, for example by caring for vulnerable individuals with covid in an ITU setting, putting themselves at risk of death. Does morality have some kind of transcendent essential even spiritual content to it? One thing seems clear, Collins own friendship with Hitchens and attempts to help him seemed to have had the direct result that Dawkins came to that conversation in a different attitude than he might otherwise have done.
I have often said that it is our Christian love that wins people over more than our arguments. Surely love is what defines a Christian.
Interesting then that in July 2024 Richard Dawkins asked people on X to tell him where he got it wrong in his book The God Delusion. Some of the replies are less gracious than they should be but he is certainly not short of people giving him reasons to believe:
What do religious people think I got wrong in “The God Delusion” ?
— Richard Dawkins (@RichardDawkins) July 1, 2024
I discovered this tweet (are we meant to call them X’s now?) in an article from Christian Today. They shared a couple of examples of replies that people had given him, including this one:
“Another pointed out: “[You] spent the majority of the book making a moral case against religion; [but] you state in other works that there isn’t objective morality”
Interestingly, as Christian Today pointed out, Dawkins argues against religion on moral grounds with one breath then elsewhere say there is no such thing as good and evil:
“So, which is it? Is the God of the Bible not worth believing in because He’s evil, or is evil an illusion? Dawkins seems to have wanted to have his moral indignation and eat it too.”
The article also pointed out that Dawkins does seem to be on something of a journey over recent years with regard to Christianity. They cite an article from Breaking Point which explains how suddenly a few months ago Dawkins described himself as a cultural Christian, stating that:
“I call myself a cultural Christian. I’m not a believer, but there’s a distinction between being a believing Christian and being a cultural Christian. … I love hymns and Christmas carols, and I sort of feel at home in the Christian ethos. … We [in the U.K.] are a “Christian country” in that sense . . . If I had to choose between Christianity and Islam, I’d choose Christianity every single time. It seems to me to be a fundamentally decent religion in a way that I think Islam is not”
That article cited Tom Holland who explained that he was not as surprised as others others were that Dawkins seemed to be appreciating what Christianity has given the West:
“Because secularism & Dawkins’ own brand of evangelical atheism are both expressions of a specifically Christian culture – as Dawkins himself, sitting on the branch he’s been sawing through and gazing nervously at the ground far below, seems to have begun to realise”
Not really, because secularism & Dawkins’ own brand of evangelical atheism are both expressions of a specifically Christian culture – as Dawkins himself, sitting on the branch he’s been sawing through and gazing nervously at the ground far below, seems to have begun to realise. https://t.co/sMQqC8np17
— Tom Holland (@holland_tom) April 1, 2024
Breaking Point went on,
“Dawkins’ comments were a tacit admission that, for decades now, he has been wrong to claim that science and secularism are the source of all that’s good in Western culture. In fact, it is the worldview centered on a God who became man and died on a cross because He “so loved the world” that is the source of hospitals, churches, esteem for women and children, human rights, and even the music, art, and culture that Dawkins cherishes. For one of the world’s most outspoken God-haters to realize this is quite remarkable.
Still, there would be none of the fruits of Christianity without its roots, specifically the essential beliefs in God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth; Jesus Christ, His only begotten Son, our Lord; and the rest.”
Christian Today also pointed to an interview Dawkins did recently with a recently converted atheist. He asks:
“You go to church now, and you listen to the vicar, do you kind of notice what a load nonsense he talks?”
The new convert replies,
“What the vicar says no longer sounds nonsensical, it makes a great deal of sense. And not only does it make a great deal of sense, it’s also layered with the wisdom of millennia. Like you, I did mock faith in general, probably Christianity in particular but, I do not do that anymore.”
Fascinating exchange between Richard Dawkins and newly converted Christian, Ayaan Hirsi Ali.
“You go to church now, and you listen to the vicar, do you kind of notice what a load nonsense he talks?”
“What the vicar says no longer sounds nonsensical, it makes a great deal of… pic.twitter.com/cJiMsz54iv
— Lewis Brackpool (@Lewis_Brackpool) June 11, 2024
In the full interview it is clear that Dawkins was fascinated by his old friends new faith:
The Christian Today article concludes:
“Perhaps, God willing, Dawkins, is on the verge of a similar change. We can and should pray as much.”
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Dawkins vs Collins – amicable and engaging meeting of two great minds
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