CCP125: On the New Hunger for Cultural Christianity

In this week's conversation between Dr. James Emery White and co-host Alexis Drye, they discuss both the startling rise of cultural Christianity in the West, as well as the incurably churchy desires of our souls. While there is an upward trend in America for people to identify themselves as religiously unaffiliated, they don't actually seem to want to disaffiliate themselves from all things related to religion. In fact, there are many traditions and symbols associated with Christianity that they seem to long for. So what causes this spiritual hunger?

Episode Links

Dr. White recently blogged about this topic, which is part of what prompted today's conversation. We'd suggest reading “The Rise of Cultural Christianity” and “Surprising Mourners for the Decline of Christianity.” There was also an article written by Madeleine Davies for The New Statesman titled “The rise of cultural Christianity,” which you can find HERE.

Dr. White also mentioned the surprising commentary made recently by famed atheist Richard Dawkins stating that he would consider himself to be a cultural Christian. You can watch the LBC video post of Richard Dawkins on X HERE, as well as read the article written by Walter Sánchez Silva titled “Famous Atheist Richard Dawkins Says He Considers Himself a ‘Cultural Christian'.” There was another article Dr. White referenced written by Derek Thompson - who considers himself to be an agnostic - in The Atlantic. You can read “The True Cost of the Churchgoing Bust” HERE.

There were a few books that Dr. White noted related to today's conversation: The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order by Sam Huntington, Mr. Jones, Meet the Master: Sermons and Prayers of Peter Marshall by Catherine Marshall and How the Irish Saved Civilization by Thomas Cahill.

There are a couple past podcasts that you may be interested in checking out related to today's conversation. One is CCP106: On Atheists and Agnostics and the other is CCP9: On Unchurched Christians. The first explores the rise in Americans saying “no” to organized religion and the second focuses on this desire that so many have to find church-like experiences in other settings. There is also an article written by Marc Ramirez in USA Today titled “As Millions Leave Organized Religion, Spiritual and Secular Communities Offer Refuge.” You can read that article HERE.

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