After expressing his satisfaction at what he perceives as a decline in the number of Christians, the famous atheist noted that he “would not be happy if, for example, we lost all our cathedrals and our beautiful parish churches.”
“So I call myself a cultural Christian and I think it would be truly dreadful if we substituted any alternative religion.”
‘I’d choose Christianity every time’
Asked whether he sees the decline in church attendance and the construction of some 6,000 mosques with many more planned as a problem, Dawkins responded: “Yes, I do really. I have to choose my words carefully: If I had to choose between Christianity and Islam, I’d choose Christianity every single time.”
“It seems to me to be a fundamentally decent religion, in a way that I think Islam is not,” he commented.
When questioned about that statement, Dawkins said: “The way women are treated in Christianity is not great about that, it has had its problems with female vicars and female bishops, but there is an active hostility to women which is promoted I think by the holy books of Islam.”