I am a secular Christian
One of the things that fascinates me about Richard Dawkins is his penchant for saying the unexpected.
While speaking at the Hay Festival in the UK, Dawkins said this in response to a question. It was asked by an American who described himself as a Christian minister who didn't believe in miracles ...
“I would describe myself as a secular Christian in the same sense as secular Jews have a feeling for nostalgia and ceremonies,” said Dawkins.
“But if you don’t have the supernatural, it’s not clear to me why you would call yourself a minister.
“But I am a secular Christian, if you want to call me that.”
Dawkins has at times identified himself as an atheist, an agnostic and now a Christian of sorts.
Agreeing with Dawkins
Strangely, I find myself wanting to wear the title "secular Christian" but for very different reasons than Dawkins.
When Dawkins calls himself "secular" he means he makes no appeal to the supernatural. He doesn't believe there is a supernatural, and that all phenomena are part of the natural order.
When he calls himself "Christian" he is referring to his cultural attachments, growing up in the Anglican tradition. It is the ceremonies and symbols for which he feels nostalgic, not the meaning traditionally ascribed to them. I suspect his soft spot is what those ceremonies say about humans, rather than what they say about God.
How can I, as a Christian in the supernatural sense, agree with Richard and say "I am a secular Christian"?
Let me illustrate by quoting James, the brother of Jesus ...
Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world
What James is saying is that our understanding of the supernatural should transform our lives in this world. How do we live in the light of the supernatural? Care for the needy! The original sense of the word "secular" is "pertaining to this age". Religion must be pragmatically secular.
But the supernatural should also shape our desires. James says we should keep ourselves from being polluted by this world. That only makes sense if we have goals and aspirations that are not of this world. We should be living intentionally for the next.
Disagreeing with Dawkins
There is a sense in which I agree with Dawkins but another in which I don't.
The American fellow who questioned Dawkins said he didn't believe the resurrection occurred. A belief that Dawkins shares. And that's the key to our disagreement.
In my view, the fact of the resurrection and the other miracles of Jesus puts us in contact with the supernatural. It points to a coming age that is worth being part of. A coming age that transforms the way we live now. A life that only Jesus can offer us.
A secular Christian lives generously in this age, with an eager expectation of life in the next.
