Peter Hitchens: ‘When I was an atheist I was even more selfish than I am now’

May 8, 2022 by

by Tim Farron MP, Premier:

The 70 year-old journalist and commentator Peter Hitchens, speaks to Tim Farron about moving from atheism to Christianity, how art and architecture cemented his belief in final judgement and why he believes Christian politicians should expect to be reviled by their fellow MPs.


Peter Hitchens, you were brought up in the church but chose to leave it and became an atheist. In more recent years you’ve returned to the faith. How did that happen?

I wouldn’t say I had a particularly Christian upbringing. My parents left it to schools to teach me the basics of the faith. I went to boarding school from the age of seven and was constantly exposed to religious education and regular services. Hardly a day went by without me singing one of the hymns, ancient and modern. And I learned the cadences and the most important words of the Book of Common Prayer 1662, which I’m also very grateful for.

I declared myself an atheist at around the age of 14. I found atheism extremely attractive because at the time I was even more selfish, willful and disagreeable than I am now. And it was an extremely appealing creed.

I remember trying to set fire to my Bible on the playing fields of my school at Cambridge. There was about 20 years in the middle of my life when I was an actively hostile, scoffing atheist. But I found that as time went on, that it was increasingly unsatisfactory. So I decided to return to the faith of my fathers. I got myself confirmed in the Church of England when I was about 33.

Why did atheism appeal to you?

I wanted to live a life of complete liberty from restraint, where I chose what I did and nobody else chose it for me. And nobody was able to judge what I did on any grounds other than what suits me. And there still is, of course, a strong desire to do what I want. At that time, I could see no argument for any restraint, or any reason to believe I should be restrained. But that changes as you grow and experience what I like to call “wisdom”, although I’m not sure other people would call it that.

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