Richard Dawkins has revealed that even when he suffered a stroke, the last thing on his mind was praying.
The vehement atheist was speaking on BBC Radio 4's Today programme Tuesday when John Humphrys asked him: "After you had your illness you didn’t say 'please God help me not to die or something like that?'
But Dawkins insisted: "Absolutely not, no."
He added that one thing he was still unable to do since suffering a mild stroke in February was sing, adding that he would consider his recovery complete when he could warble in tune in the shower.
His comments come after new research showed that Christians are now outnumbered in England and Wales by people who claim to be of "no religion".
Analysis shows 48.5% of people identified in 2015 as having no religion, compared with just 25% who said the same in the last census in 2011.
This means atheists outnumber the 43.8% who identify as Christian.
Speaking to the Times to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the publication of his book The Selfish Gene, Dawkins said that the decrease in church attendance suggested that "the tide is going in the right direction".
He also spoke out on what he saw as a failure to tackle extremism, particularly in Islam.
He pointed to the examples of FGM and segregated seating at political meetings or university events and labelling it "pandering".
He added: "There's a tendency among liberals in the West to bend over backwards because they're terrified of being called racist. Islam gets a free pass."