The irony of Cultural Christianity

Not long ago, controversy broke out on Nigerian Twitter about some comments made by Kemi Badenoch, leader of the British Conservative Party. It concerned an interview on the Honestly podcast with Bari Weiss where she gave her account of an experience she had with the Nigerian police.

Some commenters felt she should not have ‘embarrassed’ the country by revealing that her brother was robbed by policemen. Others felt grateful that a person of her political stature in Britain made her point by exposing a bit of the manifest rot in Nigerian society.

In all this, something else caught my attention, and it had nothing to do with the tyrannical habits of Nigerian men in uniform.

Bari: “Do you believe in God?”

Kemi: “Not anymore. But I am not an atheist, I am agnostic. I used to believe very much, but now I describe myself as a Cultural Christian.”¹

On the surface, her response was clear and simple. But there is much to unpack about it. Nothing in this essay is intended for direction towards her in a negatively critical manner. This is, instead, written for the sole benefit of Christians who are interested in making sense of her response, wherever they may hear a similar thing being said. Having established that, let us start with the good stuff.

The first part of Kemi’s response reflects a degree of honesty that is not common among politicians. The typical politician is supposed to say something like: “Well, I believe that whether or not you have a religious faith, we can all work together to make a country great.” If you are reading this, you have likely heard this sort of response, or a variation of it, from a politician. You recognize it because it has that meandering effect which disappoints in the end because it is meaningless. It does not answer the question.

Kemi’s response was not meaningless. It was a sharp, concise verdict. Moreso, I imagine she must have arrived at it after much contemplation. The problematic stuff, however, begins with the final part of her response:

“I describe myself as a Cultural Christian.”

I was familiar with the term ‘Cultural Christian’ before I watched Kemi’s interview, but not before I heard famous atheist Richard Dawkins, describing himself as one in a different podcast several months earlier. If you haven’t heard this term before, it is often used to describe someone who appreciates or subscribes to the concept of Christian values without personally believing what Christians believe.

It is a sweet spot, if I may use that phrase, where anyone can claim a degree of association with Christianity while simultaneously distancing themselves from the convictions that define it. You might ask, what is the problem with that?

Three things.

First, the most obvious problem is the usage of the term. Let me illustrate: Say for example I am a physician assistant, I might relish it when patients, who do not know my credentials, address me as ‘Dr’ even when I am aware that they are unknowingly using the term to imply that I am a medical doctor. In fact, I might even be bold enough to suggest to them that I am “medically trained.”

But if I am called upon in a medical emergency or to perform a surgery, I would be more than happy to announce that I have not acquired training or expertise the sort of which would make me relevant in those situations. This would then beg the question: why have I previously appropriated the term ‘Dr’ when patients unknowingly address me so?

These are the facts: an agnostic is an agnostic, an atheist is an atheist, and a Christian is a Christian. Each of these positions has its own dispositions. There are things you would be inclined to believe, say or do depending on where you stand. The mere fact that you were raised in a Christian home, or that you live in a society founded on Christian principles, or that you value Christian teachings, or that you do deeds that would be expected of a Christian, or that you were even formerly a Christian, does not make you a ‘Cultural Christian.’

Similarly, if a man who is a Christian begins to act in ways that would not be expected of a Christian, he does not become a ‘cultural atheist’ or a ‘cultural agnostic.’ We call him a ‘bad Christian’ or a ‘morally inconsistent Christian.’ But he is a Christian nonetheless. To quote C.S. Lewis, “it is much clearer to say he is a bad Christian than to say he is not a Christian.”² The point is not to pass judgment on his moral character. It is to retain the essence of what makes him Christian in the first place.

Every Christian must understand this. It is not just a matter of semantics, because the thing that makes someone a Christian is neither upbringing, geography, personal preference, former allegiances, or even good deeds. This point will become clearer as we move to discuss the second problem.

Unlike the first problem which seems like a superficial issue of nomenclature, the second is a deeper problem. It is an issue of the heart, a personal issue, and that is: the issue of denying the Christian faith. I have nothing against anyone who, after wrestling with their faith, concluded that it deserved to be abandoned. I also did that. But it is a spectacular thing to behold a person who is indifferent to, or who flatly rejects, the core belief that birthed Christian culture, to then publicly identify themselves as a cultural adherent either because they appreciate the behaviours and ethics which characterize a Christian life or because they partake in the celebrations and remembrance rituals that mark Christian holidays.

Culture starts with an idea, and an idea originates in the mind of a person. The irony of Cultural Christianity is that those who describe themselves as such do not seem to be aware that Christian culture traces back in history to one person. Not an imaginary figure, but an actual person who physically walked on the surface of the earth — Jesus Christ. Even if they appreciate this fact, they appear unwilling, by virtue of their unbelief, to acknowledge this person for who he is and for what he did.

Christian culture is contingent on who Jesus is and what he did. It is the profound implications of his life, death and resurrection that made the early believers begin to think and act in ways that would later make them known as Christians. They believed in Jesus. Their faith in him and their adherence to his words engendered a certain way of living — a culture. Doubting him or rejecting the fact of who he is, but then moving to associate yourself with his legacy, indicates that you are not clear in your mind about what you believe.

The first and second problems lead to the third, a societal problem, which is the widespread disregard for the Christian faith. Atheism, and its slightly less malignant cousin agnosticism, both lead to a moral value system that is based on personal choice. Not based on the recognition of a superior transcendent authority, but based on personal choice. If atheists and agnostics can describe themselves as ‘Cultural Christians,’ and they are, at the same time, free to select and change values as one would select food and drink from a restaurant menu, is it any wonder why Christianity is not taken seriously in our world today?

Certainly, it would be unfair to suggest that atheists and agnostics are the only ones responsible for every reputational damage Christianity has suffered in the world. Indeed, Christians too are guilty. I, for instance, have often been a bad example of what it means to be a Christian. But there is an important difference, and it is not the fact that my conscience is pinched in moments of moral failure — after all, anyone who is not a psychopath is capable of feeling depressed from a guilty conscience.

Rather, the difference is in the fact that I know I must repent by submitting myself again, and again, to God’s divine authority. I know I can not bend God’s laws to suit my preferred way of living. I know if I decide to start living by my own rules, it would be tantamount to raising my middle finger to his face. I acknowledge him as the Almighty God. I accept him as my Lord and Saviour. I believe that he was divinely conceived, that he was wrongly executed for my sake, and that he miraculously came back to life, after three days dead. This is what it means to be a Cultural Christian, if we are to accept that such a description should continue to exist.

It is not a badge or a sticker that can be worn and removed on a whim. It is an identity that is underlined by the shameless recognition of, belief in, and submission to the person and power of our Lord Jesus Christ. There may be no brownie points for being an outspoken, unabashed Christian, but it certainly does you no good — on a personal level — to appropriate Christianity for identity purposes only.

1. Bari Weiss, ‘Kemi Badenoch’s Fight for the UK—and the West’ (The Free Press, 12 December 2024) Link accessed 19 December 2024

2. C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity (The C.S. Lewis Signature Classics Edition, William Collins, 2016) xv.