Many Brits who were raised as Christians have abandoned their faith, according to a report by the Pew Research Centre. The survey found that 38 per cent of those brought up as Christians are ‘religiously unaffiliated’, while 4 per cent had converted to other religions. The verdict on religion seems gloomy. But I have a slight quibble with this finding: were these people really raised as Christians? Or did they just glance in its direction now and then as children?
The average British agnostic has a similar story to Richard Dawkins
Consider the evolution of Richard Dawkins. He would have us believe that he thought his way out of the shackles of religion. In reality, he went to a public school – Oundle – where there was some vague Anglicanism, mixed with imperial pride. Dawkins, it seems, felt a bit pious for a while, and the fading of this piety gave him a heroic self-image, for decades to come, that he was a free-thinker, trusting in science rather than myth.
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