Cultural Christians

{{Short description|People who appreciate Christianity primarily because of its cultural legacy}} {{Globalize|date=July 2017}} {{Use dmy dates|date=February 2021}} {{Nontheism and religion}} {{Christian culture|expanded=hide}} {{Christianity|expanded=hide}} '''Cultural Christians''' are those who received Christian values or appreciate Christian culture but do not subscribe to Christian religious beliefs and practices. They may be agnostics, apatheists, atheists, deists, non-practicing Christians, non-theists, pantheists, or transtheists. These individuals may identify as culturally Christian because of family background, personal experiences, or the social and cultural environment in which they grew up.<ref>James D. Mallory, Stanley C. Baldwin, ''The kink and I: a psychiatrist's guide to untwisted living'', 1973, [https://books.google.com/books?id=ahEG4X5pSXIC&q=%22cultural+Christian%22+-%22multi-cultural+Christian%22+-%22cross-cultural+Christian%22 p. 64]</ref>

Contrasting terms are "practicing Christian",<ref>{{Cite web |last=Rabbe |first=Jake |date=June 6, 2018 |title=Voices: What in the world is a non-practicing Christian? |url=https://www.baptiststandard.com/opinion/voices/what-is-non-practicing-christian/}}</ref> "biblical Christian",<ref>Patrick Morley, ''The Man in the Mirror: Solving the 24 Problems Men Face'' (1997), [https://archive.org/details/sevenseasonsofma00morl/page/46  Biblical Christian or Cultural Christian?]</ref> "committed Christian",<ref>Richard W. Rousseau, Christianity and Judaism: the deepening dialogue (1983), [https://books.google.com/books?id=NbbXAAAAMAAJ&q=%22cultural+Christian%22+-%22multi-cultural+Christian%22+-%22cross-cultural+Christian%22 p. 112]</ref> or "faithful Christian".<ref>Postmodern theology: Christian faith in a pluralist world, Harper & Row, 1989 [https://books.google.com/books?id=ASIQAQAAIAAJ&q=%22cultural+Christian%22+-%22multi-cultural+Christian%22+-%22cross-cultural+Christian%22]. Joseph C. Aldrich, ''Life-style evangelism: crossing traditional boundaries to reach the unbelieving world'' , 1983 [https://books.google.com/books?id=JoDCWZHTSGsC&q=%22cultural+Christian%22+-%22multi-cultural+Christian%22+-%22cross-cultural+Christian%22]</ref> The term "cultural Christian" may be specified further by Christian denomination, e.g. "cultural Catholic", "cultural Lutheran", and "cultural Anglican".<ref>{{cite web |last1=Rautio |first1=Pekka |title=Lutheranism has provided the foundations of the Nordic welfare state |url=https://www.helsinki.fi/en/news/nordic-welfare/lutheranism-has-provided-the-foundations-of-the-nordic-welfare-state |publisher=University of Helsinki |access-date=27 July 2020 |language=en |date=15 August 2017}}</ref><ref>Rachel Zoll, [https://www.usatoday.com/news/religion/2009-06-03-sotomayor-catholic_N.htm ''What would 'cultural Catholic' Sotomayor mean for Supreme Court?''], Associated Press, 6/3/2009</ref><ref name="Zaimov2013">{{cite news |url=http://www.christianpost.com/news/richard-dawkins-i-guess-im-a-cultural-christian-91312/|title=Richard Dawkins: I Guess I'm a Cultural Christian |accessdate=2013-03-05 |date=4 March 2013 |author= Stoyan Zaimov|work=The Christian Post}}</ref>

==Usage== ===Belarus=== Alexander Lukashenko, the President of Belarus, has identified as cultural Christian, calling himself an "Orthodox atheist" in one of his interviews.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8021513.stm |title=Belarus president visits Vatican |work=BBC News |access-date=2010-06-26 |date=27 April 2009}}</ref>

===France=== French Deists of the 18th and early 19th centuries include Napoleon. In the 21st century, Emmanuel Macron, the President of France, identified himself as an "Agnostic Catholic".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/36006/frances-new-president-is-a-zombie-catholic|title=France's new president is a 'zombie Catholic'|website=Catholic News Agency}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.thelocal.fr/20180625/meeting-with-pope-puts-macrons-religious-views-in-spotlight|title=Meeting with Pope puts Macron's religious views in spotlight|work=The Local|date=25 June 2018}}</ref>

===China=== Traditionally, Christianity has been considered a "foreign religion" ({{Zh|c=洋教|s=|t=|p=yáng jiào}}, means non-local religions) in China, including all the negative connotations of foreignness common in China. This attitude only started to change at the end of the 20th century. Since the Republican era, a trend among Chinese theologians has been to indigenise the divinity of Jesus Christ by bringing Biblical teachings in line with the Confucian tradition.<ref name=":02">{{Cite book |last=Tu |first=Hang |title=Sentimental Republic: Chinese Intellectuals and the Maoist Past |publisher=Harvard University Asia Center |year=2025 |isbn=9780674297579}}</ref>{{Rp|page=186}}

In China, the term "Cultural Christians" ({{zh|s=文化基督徒|p=wénhuà jīdūtú}}) refers to Chinese intellectuals devoted to the study of Christian theology, ethics, and literature, and often contribute to a movement known as Sino-Christian theology. Some of the earliest figures in this movement in the late-1980s and 1990s, such as Liu Xiaofeng and He Guanghu, were sympathetic to Christianity but chose not to associate with any local church.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Reading Christian Scriptures in China|last=Fällman|first=Fredrik|publisher=T & T Clark|year=2008|isbn=978-0567638465|editor-last=Starr|editor-first=Chloë F.|location=New York|pages=49–60|chapter=Hermeneutical conflict? Reading the Bible in Contemporary China}}</ref> Since the 1990s, a newer generation of these Cultural Christians have been more willing to associate with local churches, and have often drawn on Calvinist theology.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Christianity in Contemporary China: Socio-cultural Perspectives|last=Fällman|first=Fredrik|publisher=Routledge|year=2013|isbn=978-0415528467|editor-last=Lim|editor-first=Francis Khek Gee|location=London|pages=153–168|chapter=Calvin, Culture and Christ? Developments of Faith Among Chinese Intellectuals}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Chow|first=Alexander|year=2014|title=Calvinist Public Theology in Urban China Today|journal=International Journal of Public Theology|volume=8|issue=2|pages=158–175|doi=10.1163/15697320-12341340|url=https://www.pure.ed.ac.uk/ws/files/19322411/CHOW_Calvinist_Public_Theology_in_Urban_China_Today.pdf|hdl=20.500.11820/9dc682b5-4fe2-4022-932a-89d466dd71c1|s2cid=143357822 |hdl-access=free}}</ref>

===Italy=== The liberal writer Benedetto Croce, in his book {{lang|it|Perché non possiamo non dirci cristiani}} ('Why we can't not call ourselves ''Christians'''), expressed the view that Roman Catholic traditions and values formed the basic culture of all Italians, believers and non-believers, and described Christianity primarily as a cultural revolution.

===United Kingdom=== Outspoken English atheist Richard Dawkins has described himself in several interviews as a "cultural Christian" and a "cultural Anglican".<ref name="auto">{{cite news |url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7136682.stm |title=Dawkins: I'm a cultural Christian |access-date=2008-03-01 |date=10 December 2007 |work=BBC News}}</ref><ref name="auto1">{{cite news |url=http://www.charlestoncitypaper.com/charleston/qanda-with-richard-dawkins-i-guess-im-a-cultural-christian/Content?oid=4581071 |title=Q&A with Richard Dawkins: 'I guess I'm a cultural Christian' |accessdate=2013-03-04 |date=4 March 2013 |publisher=Charleston City Paper |archive-date=7 March 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130307014227/http://www.charlestoncitypaper.com/charleston/qanda-with-richard-dawkins-i-guess-im-a-cultural-christian/Content?oid=4581071 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="Zaimov2013"/> In his book ''The God Delusion'', he calls Jesus Christ praiseworthy for his ethics.<ref>The God Delusion, page 284</ref> Liz Truss, shortly before becoming prime minister, said "I share the values of the Christian faith and the Church of England, but I'm not a regular practising religious person."<ref>{{cite news |last1=Hatton |first1=Ben |last2=Wheeler |first2=Richard |date=1 August 2022 |title=Nicola Sturgeon is an 'attention seeker' best ignored, claims Liz Truss |agency=PA Media |url=https://uk.news.yahoo.com/nicola-sturgeon-attention-seeker-best-205117348.html |archive-date=5 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220805103420/https://uk.news.yahoo.com/nicola-sturgeon-attention-seeker-best-205117348.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

===United States=== Thomas Jefferson, a Founding Father of the United States, considered himself part of Christian culture, despite his doubts about the divinity of Jesus.<ref name="Jayne2000">{{citation |last = Jayne |first = Allen |title = Jefferson's Declaration of Independence: Origins, Philosophy and Theology |year = 2000}} traces TJ's sources and emphasizes his incorporation of Deist theology into the Declaration.</ref><ref name = "FranklinAutobiographyp52">{{Cite book |last = Franklin |first = Benjamin |title = Autobiography and other writings |publisher = Riverside |orig-year = 1771 |year = 1958 |location = Cambridge |page = 52 }}</ref><ref name="MosaicOfChristianBelief">{{cite book|last=Olson|first=Roger|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rGMKbaNIjIoC&pg=PA61|title=The Mosaic of Christian Belief: Twenty Centuries of Unity and Diversity| publisher = InterVarsity Press|quote=Other Deists and natural religionists who considered themselves Christians in some sense of the word included Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin.|date=19 October 2009|isbn=9780830826957}}</ref><ref name="Boller1996p31">{{citation |first = Paul F |last = Boller |title = Not so!: popular myths about America from Columbus to Clinton |year = 1996 |page = 31}}</ref><ref name=twsMarE19>{{citation |first = Paul F |last = Boller |title= George Washington & religion |quote = ...the father of his country... died as he had lived, in dignity and peace; but he left behind him not one word to warrant the belief that he was other than a sincere deist |page = 16 |year= 1963 |publisher = Southern Methodist University Press |isbn = 9780870740213 |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=C_d2AAAAMAAJ&q=deist |accessdate= 5 March 2011}}</ref>

== Demographics == ===Western Europe=== Most European countries have a Christian cultural background, which was significant in inheriting European civilization,<ref>{{cite book|title=Understanding Western Culture: Philosophy, Religion, Literature and Organizational Culture|first=Lianhua |last=Xu|year= 2018| isbn= 9789811081507| page =183|publisher=Springer Singapore}}</ref> and Europe also came, in some contexts, to be seen as synonymous with "Christendom" (though properly speaking the term refers to the Christian world in its entirety).<ref>{{cite book|title=The European Culture Area: A Systematic Geography|first=Terry G. |last=Jordan-Bychko|year= 2020| isbn=9781538127605| page =7|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield Publishers}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Dawson|first1=Christopher|title=Crisis in Western Education|year=1961|isbn=978-0-8132-1683-6|edition=reprint|first2=Glenn|last2=Olsen|page=108|publisher=CUA Press }}</ref> Today, many people in Western Europe remain "culturally Christian". According to a 2018 study by the Pew Research Center; Christianity is still the largest religion in Western Europe, where 71% of Western Europeans identified themselves as Christian.<ref name=pew>{{Cite web|date=2018-05-29|title=Being Christian in Western Europe|url=https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/wp-content/uploads/sites/7/2018/05/Being-Christian-in-Western-Europe-FOR-WEB1.pdf|access-date=2021-01-21|website=Pew Research Center's Religion & Public Life Project|language=en-US}}</ref> According to Pew Research Center "most Christians in Western Europe today are non-practicing, but Christian identity still remains a meaningful religious, social and cultural marker",<ref>{{cite web|first = Neha |last =Sahgal|url= https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/05/29/10-key-findings-about-religion-in-western-europe/|title=10 key findings about religion in Western Europe|date =29 May 2018 |publisher=Pew Research Center}}</ref> where 55% of Western Europeans identified themselves as non-practicing Christians, and 18% identified themselves as church-attending Christians.<ref name=pew/>

====The Netherlands==== Forms of Christianity have dominated religious life in what is now the Netherlands for more than 1,200 years,<ref>Milis, L.J.R., "A Long Beginning: The Low Countries Through the Tenth Century" in J.C.H. Blom & E. Lamberts ''History of the Low Countries'', pp. 6–18, Berghahn Books, 1999. {{ISBN|978-1-84545-272-8}}</ref> and by the middle of the sixteenth century the country was strongly Protestant (Calvinist).<ref>{{Cite book |first=Jonathan |last=Israel |title=The Dutch Republic: Its Rise, Greatness, and Fall, 1477–1806 |date=1995 |isbn=978-0-19-820734-4 |author-link=Jonathan Israel|pages= 361–395|publisher=Clarendon Press }}</ref> The population of the Netherlands was predominantly Christian until the late 20th century, divided into a number of denominations.<ref name=Creationism>{{cite book|last=Numbers|first=Ronald L.|year=2014|isbn= 9781421415628|title=Creationism in Europe|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uSuhBQAAQBAJ&q=netherlands+protestant+country&pg=PA65|publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press}}</ref> The provinces North Brabant and Limburg in the Netherlands are historically mostly Roman Catholic, therefore many of their people still use the term and some traditions as a base for their cultural identity rather than as a religious identity. Since the War of Independence the Catholics were systematically and officially discriminated against by the Protestant government until the second half of the 20th century, which had a major influence on the economic and cultural development of the southern part of the Netherlands.<ref>{{cite book|first = Jonathan |last = Israel |author-link=Jonathan Israel |title=The Dutch Republic: Its Rise, Greatness and Fall, 1477–1806|series=Oxford History of Early Modern Europe|year=1995|isbn=0-19-873072-1}}</ref>

From the Reformation to the 20th century, Dutch Catholics were largely confined to certain southern areas in the Netherlands, and they still tend to form a majority or large minority of the population in the southern provinces of the Netherlands, North Brabant and Limburg; however, with modern population shifts and increasing secularization, these areas tend to have fewer and fewer religious Catholics. Since 1960 the emphasis on many Catholic concepts including hell, the devil, sinning and Catholic traditions like confession, kneeling, the teaching of catechism and having the host placed on the tongue by the priest rapidly disappeared, and these concepts are nowadays seldom or not at all found in modern Dutch Catholicism. The southern area still has original Catholic traditions including Carnival, pilgrimages, rituals like lighting candles for special occasions and field chapels and crucifixes in the landscape, giving the southern part of the Netherlands a distinctive Catholic atmosphere, with which the population identifies in contrast to the rest of the Netherlands. The vast majority of the (self-identifying) Catholic population in the Netherlands is now largely irreligious in practice. Research among Catholics in the Netherlands in 2007 shows that even among religious Dutch Catholics only 27% can be regarded as theist, 55% as ietsist, 17% as agnostic and 1% as atheist.<ref name="Nederland' 2006">God in Nederland' (1996–2006), page 42, by Ronald Meester, G. Dekker, {{ISBN|9789025957407}}</ref>

==References== {{reflist}}

==External links== * Tricia C. Bruce, ''[https://brill.com/view/book/edcoll/9789004380073/BP000006.xml?lang=en Cultural Catholics in the United States]''. Annual Review of the Sociology of Religion, Volume 9, 2018. * David Masci, ''[https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2015/09/03/who-are-cultural-catholics/ Who are ‘cultural Catholics’?]'', Pew Research Center. 3 September 2015. * Mark Bauerlein, ''[https://www.firstthings.com/media/cultural-catholicism Cultural Catholics]''. First Things, 29 March 2019. * ''[https://www.catholicworldreport.com/2018/05/28/ireland-and-the-end-of-cultural-catholicism/ Ireland and the End of Cultural Catholicism]'', Catholic World Report, 28 May 2018.

Category:Christian secularism Category:Christian terminology Christian Category:Catholic culture