Cultural vs Believing Christianity
Elon Musk calls himself a cultural Christian, so does famous atheist Richard Dawkins.
This term—cultural Christian—means different things depending on who is using the term. For many years, those in evangelical and fundamentalist Christianity called cultural Christians those that were tied to the historic and more conservative standards associated with Christian behavior and choices—in particular dress and entertainment. To them, cultural Christians were true Christians, but Christians who were overly focused on living in a system of historically–derived and narrow rules of conduct.
For Musk and Dawkins—and probably for Donald Trump and many other politicians—cultural Christianity is something notably different. Dawkins describes it as follows:
But there is a distinction between being a believing Christian and being a cultural Christian. I love hymns and Christmas carols and I feel at home in the Christian ethos. I believe that we are a Christian country [England] in that sense. It is true that the number of believing Christians is going down and I am happy with that. But I would not be happy if we lost all our cathedrals and our beautiful parish churches. I would think it would matter if we substituted any alternative religion. I think that would be truly dreadful. . . . If I had to choose between Christianity and Islam, I would choose Christianity every single time.
The idea for both of these men is that the values and ethos of Christianity are good for both the success of the human race and the happiness of the individual and that the world needs to return to cultural Christianity as a matter of survival for the race.
A refreshing change?
There is a sense that this talk about cultural Christianity is a refreshing change. Sociologists and educational leaders have been declaring Christianity the scourge of the planet for decades. Now that we are living in a relativistic society based upon the ethos of secular humanism, we find that the race is literally committing suicide—and the philosopher-types like Jordan Petersen see it. The result of the LGBTQ tidal wave that has swept the free world is death, bodily destruction, and the inability or unwillingness of human beings to reproduce. Add elective abortion to that cauldron and you have a population crisis in most first-world countries.
China, Korea, Russia, and most European countries are not facing overpopulation, but a declining population that could lead to the near destruction of the race. The birthrate in South Korea for 2024 is projected to be .68 children per woman. That is per woman for her life. If that continues, the population will decline by a multiple of .34 per generation. Secular humanism produces a selfish culture that does not consider the welfare of the human race beyond its own lifespan. Christianity sees that as the essence of evil.
Sodom is the biblical example of where this thinking goes. The Sean Combs controversy today makes the biblical account of Sodom look tame.
So a return to the family values, the mutual respect, and the moral values of Christianity would produce a culture that is more pleasant than a culture based upon other world religions.
Cultural Christianity is not enough.
The problem is that a return to a cultural, but unbelieving, Christianity is not enough. It is embedded within human beings’ selfish and carnal nature to prioritize selfish and present values over the more altruistic priorities of a future beyond our own lives. Theologians call this the sin nature. Some unbelieving people commit themselves, at times, to such sacrifices, but an entire population cannot sustain it over time.
Paul says that without real faith, selfish living is the only logical result.
If, in the manner of men, I have fought with beasts at Ephesus, what advantage is it to me? If the dead do not rise, “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die!” (1 Corinthians 15:32)
Believing Christianity is the only answer not only because it is true, but also because it teaches us to live for something beyond death because we will live beyond death. There is life after death. We not only will live with Christ for eternity, we will share eternity with all the believing generations that follow us. It is built on joy and hope and drives people not only to care about others but to take profound measures to lay the foundations for the prosperity of the race far beyond our present time.
Cultural Christianity can produce some positive results, but only if it is enforced by the many—or some authoritarian leader–upon the behavior of individuals. Individuals without accountability will generally feel free to enjoy the pleasures of the moment while demanding that the restrictions of the acknowledged ethic be enforced upon everyone else. Cultural but unbelieving Christianity produces Pharisees who impose moral values on others while exempting themselves. History is full of examples—the Pharisees, most monarchs, the opulent lives of communist leaders while imposing poverty on others, and even the examples of authoritarian governors in the U.S. imposing COVID-19 restrictions on their States while violating those same restrictions privately.
Believing Christianity not only provides hope beyond death, but also the supernatural presence of the Holy Spirit provides supernatural enabling (Galatians 5:16-23). Paul described the frustration of trying to live rightly and consistently without the enabling power of the Spirit through Jesus Christ.
For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find. For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice. Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.
I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good. For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? I thank God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!
Embracing cultural Christianity without embracing believing Christianity—which is really embracing Christ Himself—is doomed to authoritarianism, hypocrisy, and failure. Is it better than giving ourselves over to the anarchy of secular humanism? Yes. But it will not bring true happiness and it will not save souls.
Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. (Acts 16:31)
Listen to the audio version here: Cultural vs Believing Christianity (substack.com)