There seems to be a conflicting pattern of thought at the moment. On the one hand, we are becoming far more secular, and our cultural belief in an all-powerful God has been in a steady decline for decades (if not centuries); on the other hand, there also seems to be an increase in people moving toward Christianity.
This got me thinking: can people be Christian without believing in God?
As we’ll see, the answer is both yes and no, depending on how you look at it.
Here are some of the most prominent ideas. By the end, hopefully you’ll have everything you need to decide the answer for yourself.
Christian Atheism
Christian atheism emerged most prominently in the 1960s with the “Death of God” movement, though its roots trace back further. This core claim is that a person can authentically follow Christ while rejecting supernatural theism.
Thomas Altizer argued that God literally died in Christ’s crucifixion, that the transcendent, distant God of traditional theology emptied himself completely into the world. What remains of God, in this sense, is the message of love and self-giving, not a being to worship. For Altizer, this wasn’t a loss but a liberation from oppressive transcendence.
William Hamilton took a more practical approach: modern people simply can’t believe in God anymore in any intellectually honest way, but they can still find in Jesus a pattern for living,solidarity with the suffering, radical love, and resistance to injustice. This path is the one chosen by many people who look to Christianity as a moral framework, rather than a God-worshipping religion.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, though not strictly a Christian atheist, influenced this movement with his prison writings about “religionless Christianity” and living etsi deus non daretur (as if God did not exist). He envisioned a mature faith that didn’t use God as a gap-filler or cosmic problem-solver.
More modern Christian atheists might attend church, find meaning in the lessons of the Bible and community, and genuinely try to embody Christ’s teachings on forgiveness, enemy-love, and care for the marginalised, all while viewing “God” as a mythological framework rather than a real entity. They’d argue the practice of Christianity matters more than metaphysical beliefs.
While this works for many people, there are others who argue that this approach removes much of Christianity’s core content. If Jesus isn’t divine, why privilege his teachings over Buddha’s or Confucius’s? What grounds the moral authority of his commands? Christian atheists respond that the particular story and tradition still carry formative power even without supernatural backing.
Cultural Christianity
Cultural Christianity has gained a fair bit of attention recently, with public figures like Richard Dawkins and Jordan Peterson expressing their own versions of it.
The basic position is that Christianity has shaped Western civilization’s moral intuitions, institutions, art, literature, and social fabric. Even if one doesn’t believe God exists, there might be good reasons to identify with and preserve this heritage rather than embrace pure secularism and reject it altogether.
Several motivations drive cultural Christianity:
Civilizational gratitude is the recognition that values we take for granted (human dignity, care for the vulnerable, and the idea that all people are equal) have Christian roots, even if they’ve been secularized. People worry these values might not survive indefinitely without their original foundation.
Community and meaning have been present within churches that provide rituals marking life’s passages (baptism, marriage, funerals), seasonal rhythms (Christmas, Easter), and genuine community that secular society struggles to replicate. A cultural Christian might attend church for these goods without believing the creed.
Moral framework: some find Christian ethics more robust and coherent than secular alternatives, offering clearer guidance on virtue, sacrifice, and human flourishing, even if they can’t accept the theology underneath.
Aesthetic and spiritual value can be found in our cathedrals, Bach’s masses, Dante, and Dostoevsky, the cultural inheritance is simply too rich to abandon entirely. Some maintain that connection through appreciation of this tradition is a good thing and should be respected as one of the pillars of our own civilization.
Again, there are critics that the cultural Christians face. Can you really benefit from a Christian community while not sharing its beliefs? Is this parasitic? Is it enjoying fruits while refusing to tend the tree? And will the moral intuitions survive long-term if their theological grounding is abandoned? These remain open questions whose answers likely only exist in the future.
Focus on Jesus’ Example
This approach treats Jesus as one would treat Socrates, the Buddha, or Confucius. Basically seeing him as a profound historical figure whose teachings merit serious attention, regardless of supernatural claims. Rather than the literal son of God.
Thomas Jefferson famously created his “Jefferson Bible” by cutting out all miracles, resurrection, and divine claims, leaving just Jesus’ moral teachings. He admired Jesus as the greatest moral philosopher while dismissing the “corruptions” of later theology. This is something many people resonate with in our more modern world.
Leo Tolstoy underwent a late-life conversion to a version of Christianity focused entirely on the Sermon on the Mount. Specifically nonviolence, simplicity, and love. He rejected church doctrine, miracles, and the divinity of Christ but considered himself genuinely Christian because he tried to actually live what Jesus taught (something he accused the churches of failing to do).
Contemporary secular admirers of Jesus might emphasize his radical inclusivity (eating with outcasts), his critique of religious hypocrisy, his teachings on forgiveness and enemy-love, or his solidarity with the poor and marginalized. They find in him a compelling moral vision without needing the metaphysics.
Conclusion:
I personally believe that one can be a Christian without the need for believing in God, in much the same way Buddhists follow the teachings of the Buddha, or a Stoic will follow the teachings of the Stoics.
In today’s world with so many examples of poor character, lack of moral spine, distrust, and conflict, I think that many people can find a great deal of value in Christian beliefs without having to accept all of the religious requirements or literal interpretations of the Bible.
What do you think?
