Religion for Atheists: A Non-Believer's Guide to the Uses of Religion Hardcover - 2012

Excerpt

from Part One: Wisdom without Doctrine
 
1.
The most boring and unproductive question one can ask of any religion is whether or not it is true – in terms of being handed down from heaven to the sound of trumpets and supernaturally governed by prophets and celestial beings.
 
To save time, and at the risk of losing readers painfully early on in this project, let us bluntly state that of course no religions are true in any God-given sense. This is a book for people who are unable to believe in miracles, spirits or tales of burning shrubbery, and have no deep interest in the exploits of unusual men and women like the thirteenth-century saint Agnes of Montepulciano, who was said to be able to levitate two feet off the ground while praying and to bring children back from the dead – and who, at the end of her life (supposedly), ascended to heaven from southern Tuscany on the back of an angel.
 
2.
Attempting to prove the non-existence of God can be an entertaining activity for atheists. Tough-minded critics of religion have found much pleasure in laying bare the idiocy of believers in remorseless detail, finishing only when they felt they had shown up their enemies as thorough-going simpletons or maniacs.
 
Though this exercise has its satisfactions, the real issue is not whether God exists or not, but where to take the argument once one decides that he evidently doesn’t. The premise of this book is that it must be possible to remain a committed atheist and nevertheless find religions sporadically useful, interesting and consoling – and be curious as to the possibilities of importing certain of their ideas and practices into the secular realm.
 
One can be left cold by the doctrines of the Christian Trinity and the Buddhist Eightfold Path and yet at the same time be interested in the ways in which religions deliver sermons, promote morality, engender a spirit of community, make use of art and architecture, inspire travels, train minds and encourage gratitude at the beauty of spring. In a world beset by fundamentalists of both believing and secular varieties, it must be possible to balance a rejection of religious faith with a selective reverence for religious rituals and concepts.
 
It is when we stop believing that religions have been handed down from above or else that they are entirely daft that matters become more interesting. We can then recognize that we invented religions to serve two central needs which continue to this day and which secular society has not been able to solve with any particular skill: first, the need to live together in communities in harmony, despite our deeply rooted selfish and violent impulses. And second, the need to cope with terrifying degrees of pain which arise from our vulnerability to professional failure, to troubled relationships, to the death of loved ones and to our decay and demise. God may be dead, but the urgent issues which impelled us to make him up still stir and demand resolutions which do not go away when we have been nudged to perceive some scientific inaccuracies in the tale of the seven loaves and fishes.
 
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 ingenious concepts with which we can try to assuage a few of the most persistent and unattended ills of secular life.

Media reviews

Praise for Religion for Atheists
  
“Highly original and thought-provoking book..... de Botton is a lively, engaging writer."—Publishers Weekly starred review  
 
“Quirky, often hilarious …Focusing on just three major faiths — Christianity, Judaism and Buddhism — [de Botton] makes a convincing case for their ability to create both a sense of community and education that addresses morality and our emotional life.” –Washington Post 
 
“One has to appreciate his pluck as much as his lucid, enjoyable arguments, and this book, like his previous titles, is a serious but intellectually wild ride. If anyone can ‘rescue some of what is beautiful, touching and wise from all that no longer seems true,’ it’s de Botton.” –Miami Herald 

 “[De Botton] demonstrates his usual urbane, intelligent, and witty prose, always entertaining and worth reading…this book will advance amicable discussion among both believers and disbelievers.”
—Library Journal

“His approach, entertaining and enlightening, provides the thoughtful reader with endless enjoyment and an insight into de Botton's beliefs as well as his generous appraisal of the beliefs of others…brings insight and understanding to how religion may enhance the lives of nonbelievers.” –Shelf Awareness

“In earnest and lyrical prose, de Botton illuminates the practical functions of religion in a secular context…compelling.” –Kansas City Star

“A new book by Alain de Botton is always a treat…De Botton is literate, articulate, knowledgeable, funny and idiosyncratic.” –Forbes.com

“[De Botton] is a master of the well-heeled, chatty and above all reasonable tone…Religion for Atheists is provocative and well-intentioned.” –NPR 
 
“A wonderfully dangerous and subversive book.” –San Francisco Chronicle
 
“De Botton writes at his best when he confronts our abiding human frailty…I can't help but wholeheartedly recommend de Botton's new book. It provokes thought…what continuously separates de Botton apart is his genuine attempt to alleviate loneliness and sadness in a harsh world. If only all writers wrote with such unabashedly kind intentions.” –Huffington Post
 
“Much of the book is common-sensical and insightful, as de Botton rescues ‘what is beautiful, touching and wise from all that seems no longer true’…the wealth of knowledge and felicity of phrasing that de Botton brings to his task make for a stimulating read…Written with de Botton's customary humor, grace and melancholy, Religion for Atheists may not always convince. But it always engages.” –Seattle Times
 
“Provocative and thoughtful …Particularly noteworthy are de Botton's insights on what education and the arts can borrow from the formats and paradigms of religious delivery.” –Atlantic 
 
“Compelling…beautifully and wittily illustrated.” –Los Angeles Times


Praise for The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work
“Exquisitely written . . . A perceptive philosophical meditation on work, with its extraordinary claim to provide, along with love, the principal source of meaning in our lives.”
—The Boston Globe
 
“The workplace as subject matter brings out the best in de Botton’s writing . . . His wit and his powers of ironic observation are on display throughout [this] stylish and original book.”
—The Sunday Times (London)
 
“Like a combination of Joan Didion, David Foster Wallace and pop philosopher Thomas Moore, de Botton’s dense, pensive prose expresses a palpable preoccupation with finding better ways of living in our bewilderingly estranged age.”
—Salon


 
Praise for The Architecture of Happiness
“A perceptive, thoughtful, original and richly illustrated exercise in the dramatic personification of buildings of all sorts.”
—The New York Review of Books
 
“With originality, verve and wit, de Botton explains how we find reflections of our own values in the edifices we make . . . Altogether satisfying.”
—San Francisco Chronicle