Richard Dawkins in the Telegraph reflects on the 20 years since the publication of The God Delusion:
Wishful thinking forlornly proclaims a Christian revival in Britain. I have even been accused of complicity because I said I was a “cultural Christian”. Well of course I’m a cultural Christian. I owned that exact phrase in a 2007 BBC broadcast, but it goes back much further.
How could it not, given the sort of schools I went to? I was baptised by an Anglican vicar and confirmed by a bishop. I know Hymns Ancient and Modern, and frequently play the tunes by ear. I know when to stand and when to sit in church.
The God Delusion contains two pages of biblical quotations. I lamented today’s widespread ignorance of the Bible as “bound to impoverish one’s appreciation of English literature”. I regard some versions of Christianity as relatively harmless. They may even have positive value as a bulwark against greater evils such as Islam. To quote Hilaire Belloc: “Always keep a hold of nurse / For fear of finding something worse.”
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