Renowned atheist Richard Dawkins revealed on Wednesday that there was a time in his life that he wanted to receive a vision from God.
Dawkins was speaking at the Edinburgh International Book Festival in Scotland when he shared that he sought the Lord when he was 13 years old, the Guardian reports.
The 73-year-old was raised Anglican, attended a Church of England school, and was confirmed. In his teens, he became preoccupied with a fantasy of praying before an altar, being struck with a brilliant, white light, and seeing an angel. His curious desire lasted around two years, Dawkins added.
"I was briefly seduced by it and took it all in and would pray very vigorously every night," he told festivalgoers. "God never actually did get through to me for some reason".
He admitted that he didn't act on the fantasy, however.
"I never tried the experiment," he said. "I shall never know if it might have happened."
Dawkins formerly revealed how, after years of embracing Christianity, he became an atheist in his mid-teens.
"I suppose that by that time the main residual reason why I was religious was from being so impressed with the complexity of life and feeling that it had to have a designer," he told the Guardian in a 2003 interview, "and I think it was when I realised that Darwinism was a far superior explanation that pulled the rug out from under the argument of design.
"And that left me with nothing."
Dawkins is also a prolific author, and his 2006 book, "The God Delusion," sold over two million copies. It peaked at number four on the New York Times Best Sellers list.
The Edinburgh International Book Festival runs through August 25 in Charlotte Square Gardens in Edinburgh, Scotland. Over 800 authors attend the event, including popular writers Diana Gabaldon, Kader Abdolah, and Esther Freud.
