{"id":14672,"date":"2024-07-27T16:09:55","date_gmt":"2024-07-27T06:09:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rationalemagazine.com\/?p=14672"},"modified":"2024-07-27T16:55:21","modified_gmt":"2024-07-27T06:55:21","slug":"christianity-lite-when-all-belief-is-gone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rationalemagazine.com\/index.php\/2024\/07\/27\/christianity-lite-when-all-belief-is-gone\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Christianity-lite’: When all belief is gone"},"content":{"rendered":"

The world\u2019s richest person, Elon Musk, just\u00a0announced<\/a>\u00a0that he\u2019s a \u201cbig believer in the principles of Christianity\u201d and \u201ca cultural Christian\u201d. Musk\u2019s reasons are moral and political \u2013 he believes Christianity can boost both happiness and birthrates.<\/p>\n

Musk joins many western conservative thinkers troubled by a rapidly changing world. Some of these thinkers\u00a0have embraced Christianity<\/a>\u00a0to combat these changes. Yet they often struggle to accept Christianity\u2019s central supernatural claims, like Christ\u2019s resurrection.<\/p>\n

Adopting Christianity at least partly as a way to achieve political ends could backfire. However, such thinkers may have another option. If we can have coffee without caffeine and beer without alcohol, why not Christianity without miracles? Could conservative thinkers embrace \u201cChristianity-lite\u201d and still achieve their aims? As an academic who has examined the meeting point between religion and psychology, I find this an intriguing question.<\/p>\n

In conservative intellectual circles, the receding tide of Christianity is turning. For some, the appeal is aesthetic. The prominent atheist, Richard Dawkins, calls Christianity\u2019s core claims \u201cobvious nonsense\u201d, but he still identifies as a \u201ccultural Christian<\/a>\u201d because he enjoys hymns and cathedrals.<\/p>\n

Others see moral value in Christianity. The British conservative commentator Douglas Murray calls himself a \u201cChristian atheist\u201d, rejecting key Christian beliefs, but valuing its moral ideas like the \u201csanctity of the individual<\/a>\u201d. US psychologist and media personality Jordan Peterson\u00a0acts \u201cas if\u201d God exists<\/a>\u00a0because for him, it provides meaning, purpose and order.<\/p>\n

Some see political value in Christianity. Dawkins values it as \u201ca bulwark against Islam<\/a>\u201d. Musk thinks it can increase birthrates and\u00a0prevent population collapse<\/a>.<\/p>\n

When writer Ayaan Hirsi Ali converted to Christianity, she cited political reasons, claiming Christianity was the only way the west could\u00a0combat \u201cwokeness\u201d, Islam and authoritarian regimes<\/a>. She\u00a0later clarified<\/a>: \u201cI choose to believe that Jesus rose from the dead\u201d, yet added, \u201cwhat is even more real for me is the wisdom in that story, the morality\u201d.<\/p>\n

The evidence for the benefits these thinkers perceive in Christianity is\u00a0complicated<\/a>. Researchers\u00a0argue<\/a>\u00a0religion does not create morality, but orientates it towards issues.<\/p>\n

Religious people are\u00a0more likely to hold<\/a>\u00a0moral values that maintain social order. These include loyalty, conformity and respect for tradition and authority. They are also more likely to have moral values that\u00a0promote self-control<\/a>.<\/p>\n

So, conservative thinkers might be right in believing Christianity can support the social order they feel is threatened. But this is not a new idea. Egyptian pharaohs used religion to aid social stability<\/a>. Today, in China, President Xi Jinping\u00a0uses Confucianism<\/a>\u00a0for such purposes.<\/p>\n

Yet, many conservative intellectuals struggle to believe Christianity\u2019s core supernatural elements. Re-enchanting the world is difficult. So, can the benefits of Christianity be retained without believing such claims?<\/p>\n

Some conservative intellectuals think the west has already adopted Christianity-lite. Many point to the book Dominion: The Making of the Western Mind<\/em> (2019), by historian Tom Holland.<\/p>\n

Holland argues that despite declining religious belief, Christian ideas remain central to western civilisation. He views liberalism \u2013 our dominant political philosophy \u2013 as\u00a0secularised Christianity<\/a>. For him, core western ideas, like universal human rights, equality and dignity, stem from Christianity.<\/p>\n

In this view, our moral values are the\u00a0vapour trails<\/a>\u00a0of a vanishing Christianity or, as Holland puts it, \u201cthe shadow of a corpse\u201d. This causes some to worry that these values may\u00a0lack vigorous defenders<\/a>\u00a0and be unable to bind society together.<\/p>\n

Those playing with holy fire also risk being biblically burned. Adopting Christianity as a noble lie would support those who want to abandon the separation between church and state.<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

There may be some truth here. Research into \u201csacred values\u201d shows some people have values they\u2019ll defend, regardless of cost. When people violate our sacred values, parts of our brain that weigh up costs and benefits of our actions\u00a0shut down<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A\u00a0godless morality<\/a>\u00a0may lack the sacredness needed to promote the actions conservatives hope for. This might lead intellectuals to feign belief in Christianity or to find a way to believe.<\/p>\n

Public intellectuals might promote Christianity for perceived benefits while feigning belief. For them, Christianity would become a \u201cnoble lie\u201d \u2013 a falsehood knowingly professed by elites to ensure social stability. Today, we call such falsehoods disinformation.<\/p>\n

In addition to ethical concerns, this approach would likely fail. You can accept a myth because\u00a0you think it works to your advantage<\/a>. But using sacred values\u00a0for self-interested purposes<\/a>\u00a0makes them feel less sacred and diminishes their power.<\/p>\n

Those playing with holy fire also risk being biblically burned. Adopting Christianity as a noble lie would support those who want to abandon the separation between church and state. This includes\u00a0US Catholic integralists<\/a>\u00a0who want their government to promote Catholic values. Using Christianity to fight authoritarian regimes abroad could\u00a0create religious authoritarianism at home<\/a>.<\/p>\n

What would it take for sceptical conservative thinkers to believe in Christianity? The philosopher Giambattista Vico (1668\u20131744) suggested that our\u00a0age of reason and self-interest<\/a>\u00a0might need society to collapse into \u201cprimitive simplicity\u201d for faith to arise again.<\/p>\n

A less apocalyptic solution is to realise that many Christians already subscribe to Christianity-lite. A\u00a0quarter of self-identified British Christians<\/a>\u00a0don\u2019t believe Jesus was resurrected.<\/p>\n

Such doubts are not limited to congregations. Some clergy feel the same way. A\u00a0study<\/a>\u00a0led by the famous philosopher and atheist Daniel Dennett in 2010 interviewed clergy who doubted or disbelieved.<\/p>\n

One pastor explained there were many clergy who, \u201cif you were to list the five things that you think may be the most central beliefs of Christianity, they would reject every one of them\u201d. Another minister rejected the virgin birth and Jesus\u2019 divinity, yet still believed in God.<\/p>\n

This shows that some people are comfortable rejecting central claims of Christianity, while still sensing a God-shaped hole in the world and identifying as Christian. But, when push comes to shove, will such beliefs act as sacred values and generate the societal benefits conservatives hope for? God knows.<\/p>\n

This article was originally published in <\/strong><\/em>The Conversation<\/strong><\/a>.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Image: Daniel Oberhaus, 2018, Flickr CC; Channel 82<\/a> (Unsplash).<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The world\u2019s richest person, Elon Musk, just\u00a0announced\u00a0that he\u2019s a \u201cbig believer in the principles of Christianity\u201d and \u201ca cultural Christian\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":686,"featured_media":14677,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[352,704,330],"coauthors":[628],"class_list":["post-14672","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ethics-religion","tag-christianity","tag-conservatism","tag-religion"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rationalemagazine.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14672","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rationalemagazine.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rationalemagazine.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rationalemagazine.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/686"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rationalemagazine.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14672"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/rationalemagazine.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14672\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14680,"href":"https:\/\/rationalemagazine.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14672\/revisions\/14680"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rationalemagazine.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14677"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rationalemagazine.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14672"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rationalemagazine.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14672"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rationalemagazine.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14672"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rationalemagazine.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=14672"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}