The author admires the religious passion that created purposeful communities and institutions, noble art and architecture . . . Photo: Photo: StockPhotosforFree.com / flickr CC.
Religion for atheists
John Lampen reflects on a philosopher’s attempt to find wisdom without doctrine
I looked forward to this book, hoping it might speak to those looking for a faith with no taint of dogma or superstition; wisdom without doctrine, as the author calls it.
Alain de Botton writes, in Religion for Atheists:
The error of modern atheism has been to overlook how many aspects of the faiths remain relevant even after their central tenets have been dismissed. Once we cease to feel that we must either prostrate ourselves before them or denigrate them, we are free to discover religions as repositories of a myriad of ingenious concepts with which we can try to assuage a few of the most persistent and unattended ills of secular life.
Religion for Atheists is a series of essays, varying in length and depth, in which the author admires the religious passion that created purposeful communities and institutions, noble art and architecture. It has promoted tender kindness, fellow feeling and a noble pessimism in facing the trials of life.
I was stimulated by his witty, yet serious, comparison of the deliberate dryness and detachment of academic discourse with the committed teaching of the great faiths. As means to his goal his suggestions include temples to secular virtues, moral messages on billboards, nonreligious rituals and ‘agape’ restaurants.
Surprisingly for a philosopher, Alain de Botton does not distinguish between the religion he dismisses and the spiritual, a word that is missing from the index, except a short section on ‘spiritual exercises’. This prevents his asking if such a programme, which draws so much from religious practice, can be realised on a nonspiritual basis. Would the approaches he admires shine more brightly if the barnacles of religion were removed? Or would we simply find we had drained away their lifeblood in the process?
Unfortunately, the most striking test case is not encouraging. Those of us who saw how the Soviet Union employed art, architecture, education, propaganda, moral exhortation and all the fervour of religion in trying to create the perfect secular community will not want to repeat the experiment.
Religion for Atheists by Alain de Botton, Hamish Hamilton, ISBN 9780241144770, £18.99
