Among the top worldview stories of 2024 was the series of unexpected admissions from prominent atheists of the cultural good of Christianity. Even as hostility toward Christianity and Christian morality has increased in recent years, a growing number of atheists, former atheists and secularists verbalized the role Christianity played in shaping the Western world and why it is a necessary factor in preserving civilization.
Most notable was Richard Dawkins. Author of The God Delusion, one of the so-called “four horsemen” of New Atheism, and longtime critic of Christianity, Dawkins made this fascinating confession after seeing lights celebrating Ramadan on a street that once celebrated Easter:
The world first learned that Ayaan Hirsi Ali was considering Christianity in 2023. In 2024, it’s become clear that what’s happening with this former atheist is more than just a cultural admission. Asked by Dawkins how she could accept the “nonsense” idea that Jesus is the Son of God and rose from the dead, she replied:
Historian Tom Holland, whose journey of faith preceded the last year, made similar, powerful observations on a social media thread.
“Essentially what I’m talking about,” he wrote, “… is … what makes Western civilization distinctive.” His list included lifelong marriage, an understanding of sexuality that protected women and children, the modern scientific project, and the idea that humans bear the image of God. These ideas ended slavery, expanded care to the poor, established democracy, educated the masses, and insisted that everyone be under the same law. In short, Christianity has given the Western world nearly everything that matters the most.
Tesla and SpaceX founder Elon Musk also jumped on 2024’s “cultural Christian” bandwagon. In an interview for Daily Wire, Musk said:
In these comments is the tacit admission that Christianity has been good for the world. This is a significant change of course for the so-called “new atheism,” a movement that claimed that God was a delusion, faith was foolish, and religion “poisons everything.” However, as science and reason have been terrorized by the moralizing witch-hunts of progressivism, many of Christianity’s harshest critics find themselves the target of the woke left, especially due to pseudoscience on sex and gender.
They are now discovering what has always been true, that the Western ideas of human rights, political equality, and science and art are products of Christianity. These things do not occur in most civilizations, and there is no reason to expect that they will endure in the West if Christianity fades. It’s incredible to watch secular prophets recognize the debt owed to the religion of Jesus.
However, the West benefited because of people who really believed in Jesus. Cultural Christianity came from real Christians. Their faith was good for the West and the world because Christianity is true. Cultural flourishing and renewal will not come by merely adopting the best ideas of Christianity, but by advancing Christ. This is what Chuck Colson meant by the Church being the Church.
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