Comment by jhbadger
21 hours ago
A "cultural X" is a totally valid position. Many Jewish atheists consider themselves "cultural Jews" and see no problem with celebrating Jewish festivals even if they don't believe in God. Being an atheist doesn't mean you have to reject the culture you grew up in.
I would agree with that, but Dawkins made a career of not doing so, and only modulated his position when it gave him new targets to rail against.
He never did such a thing. Most of his career was in evolutionary biology and his atheism was only relevant in that many of his critics were people rejecting evolution on religious grounds. And even his "God Delusion" (which was only published 20 years ago, when his scientific career was winding down) wasn't about why celebrating Christmas or singing carols was bad, only the part about believing in a God.