Richard Dawkins makes shock claim about the Bible
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Reverend Coles joins fellow celebrities Toyah Wilcox and Sharron Davies on tonight’s edition of ITV’s Tipping Point Lucky Stars. Known as “Britain’s most famous vicar”, Rev Coles was initially a star as one half of pop duo the Communards during the Eighties, before being ordained in 2005. Since becoming a vicar, Rev Coles has been credited as helping modernise religion and regularly appears on TV and radio with his own shows.
But to many people’s surprise, Rev Coles counts among his friends Prof Dawkins, who is highly regarded for his assertive take on atheism.
Atheism itself is described as being a “disbelief or lack of belief in the existence of God or gods”, and Rev Coles and Prof Dawkins discussed the topic at length on BBC Newsnight in 2009.
Since then the pair have become friends, with Rev Coles admitting he “engaged” with Dawkins and now they follow one another on social media.
He described them as “both typical Aries”, and the similarities between them were laid bare by Rev Coles during a piece he wrote for Penguin in 2019.
Alongside Rev Coles’ piece, Prof Dawkins also penned an article as the pair fiercely debated how people could “outgrow God”.
Rev Coles noted how they “share a name, a fondness for dogs, and a birthday, March 26, which I discovered in the Newsnight Green Room when he Googled me before we went on air to argue about religion”.
He continued: “I, of course, did not need to Google him.
“We are both public school-educated, and we both underwent the compulsory indoctrination inflicted on us in the chapel.
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“Both, in our teens, protested by refusing to bow our heads in prayer when instructed to do so by those in authority, both adopted atheism. Typical Aries.”
He jokingly then claimed that while Prof Dawkins would be taking part in The Royal Institution Christmas Lectures, he was on Strictly Come Dancing, which left him feeling as “much David to his Goliath as Orville the Duck to his Malcolm Muggeridge”.
And though Rev Coles admitted he was “not a fan” of Dawkins’ bestseller The God Delusion, his rival was a “wonderful guide to the natural world”.
He concluded: “His comradely solidarity with those who are waking up to the gap between what religious authority teaches and what actually is the case, presupposes that wakefulness requires a rejection of religious faith. It does not, clearly.
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“I don’t think I have ever read any criticism of Christianity in Richard’s work that I have not thought of independently or encountered elsewhere.
“His description of the processes of change in the natural world I find persuasive and often brilliant but nothing in it causes me to doubt the faith I profess.”
While Rev Coles has been a constant force in ensuring faith can still be appreciated and enjoyed within the 21st century, he has been highly critical of some of the practices the church still demands of its worshippers.
Among them is the rule of celibacy for those in the priesthood.
The act of celibacy means a clergy is forbidden from having sex outside a heterosexual marriage – a rule enforced within the church for centuries.
Rev Coles, who was speaking to The Guardian in 2014 regarding the issue, said he was only celibate for “pragmatic reasons”, but argued “it’s not something that I think of as being that significant”.
He described it as “the Church of England’s completely ridiculous position, which I think is daft and probably wicked, and all but intolerable”.
He continued: “I entered the priesthood thinking I was hors de combat… I did think that I would be on my own, and not looking to stop being on my own – and also not looking in lay-bys and bushes and so on… but then I met David.”
David was Rev Coles partner, and they entered a celibate relationship until the former passed away tragically in 2019.
Tipping Point Lucky Stars airs from 6.30pm on ITV tonight.
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