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Religion for Atheists: A non-believer's guide to the uses of religion Hardcover – 26 Jan. 2012

by Alain de Botton (Author)

4.3 863 ratings

Alain de Botton's Religion for Atheists looks at the God debate with fresh eyes

All of us, whether religious, agnostic or atheist, are searching for meaning. And in this wise and life-affirming book, non-believer Alain de Botton both rejects the supernatural claims of religion and points out just how many good ideas they sometimes have about how we should live.

And he suggests that non-believers can learn and steal from them.

Picking and choosing from the thousands of years of advice assembled by the world's great religions to get practical insights on art, community, love, friendship, work, life and death, Alain de Botton shows us a range of fascinating ideas on a range of topics, including relationships, work, culture, love and death - and that could be of use to all of us, irrespective of whether we do or don't believe.

In the Sunday Times top-ten bestseller Religion for Atheists, Alain de Botton takes us one step further than Dawkins and Hitchens have ventured and into a world of ideas beyond the God debate . . .

'A serious and optimistic set of practical ideas that could improve and alter the way we live' Jeanette Winterson, The Times

'A beautiful, inspiring book . . . offering a glimpse of a more enlightened path' Sunday Telegraph

'Packed with tantalizing goads to thought and playful prompts to action' Independent

'Smart, stimulating, sensitive. A timely and perceptive appreciation of how much wisdom is embodied in religious traditions and how we godless moderns might learn from it' Financial Times

'There isn't a page in this book that doesn't contain a striking idea or a stimulating parallel' Mail on Sunday

'Packed with tantalizing goads to thought and playful prompts to action' Independent

Alain de Botton was born in 1969 and is the author of non-fiction essays on themes ranging from love and travel to architecture and philosophy. His bestselling books include How Proust Can Change Your Life, The Art of Travel, The Consolations of Philosophy, The Architecture of Happiness, Status Anxiety, Essays in Love, A Week at the Airport and The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work. He lives in London and founded The School of Life (www.theschooloflife.com) and Living Architecture (www.living-architecture.co.uk). For more information, consult www.alaindebotton.com.

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Print length

320 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Hamish Hamilton
Publication date

26 Jan. 2012
Dimensions

14.6 x 2.8 x 22.2 cm
ISBN-10

0241144779
ISBN-13

978-0241144770
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About the Author

Alain de Botton is the author of Essays in Love, The Romantic Movement, Kiss and Tell, How Proust Can Change Your Life, The Consolations of Philosophy, The Art of Travel, Status Anxiety, The Architecture of Happiness, The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work, A Week at the Airport, Religion for Atheists, The News: A User's Manual, andlatest novel The Course of Love, among many others. Alain is a bestselling author in 30 countries. He lives in London, where he runs The School of Life and Living Architecture.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Hamish Hamilton; First Edition (26 Jan. 2012)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 320 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0241144779
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0241144770
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 14.6 x 2.8 x 22.2 cm

Best Sellers Rank: 248,754 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- 675 in Religious Philosophy (Books)
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Alain De Botton

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Alain de Botton is the author of Essays in Love (1993), The Romantic Movement (1994), Kiss and Tell (1995), How Proust can Change your Life (1997), The Consolations of Philosophy (2000) The Art of Travel (2002), Status Anxiety (2004) and most recently, The Architecture of Happiness (2006).

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Mike Cross

Interesting, informative and persuasive

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 7 April 2024

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As an atheist is is often hard to understand what people see in religion, this does a good job of explaining the value of western religion. In many respects having western religion allows atheists the freedom to not believe while having tbe benefits of society defined by those who do.. an interesting and thought provoking book.

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Fiona

review for my bookclub

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 30 May 2013

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“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.”

I think that the above quote sets out what Alain tries to achieve in this book. He explains very clearly why humanity invented religion: our need to live together in mutual support despite our predilection towards the violence which is endemic to human nature, and also our need to cope with our personal vulnerabilities.

I like his logical approach to providing secular solutions to our dilemmas through examination of the ways in which religions have tackled them, with a chapter allocated to different aspects of our lives: community, kindness, education, art and so on.

In the chapter on loss of a sense of community, I feel that Alain sometimes takes some extreme negative examples to prove his point, which is a shame. For example, I feel that society has already gone some way to reducing isolation. I am told by a British friend that Agape restaurants do exist; there seems to be an explosion of places where people can meet each other in safe environments, places offering poetry, music, art, creative writing meetings, book clubs, yoga; our small French village of 40 people has associations which organise seven special meals a year where people are all mixed up at the tables, we have a weekly fitness class, our yoga sessions always start with a good gossip with neighbouring mats and friends we have made in class, a local café runs a Tuesday discussion get-together. I do not feel that we all “…naturally expect all strangers will be murderers, swindlers or paedophiles…”

He makes the point that church attendance encourages an acceptance of strangers without worry, they give us a comfortable space in which to be open to others. They also expose us to a wide variety of different classes and types of people and, hopefully enable us to appreciate that there is value and goodness to be found in all. It also encourages us to value the person and not necessarily their worldly achievements. In religion, rules are also laid down for interacting with others, and, personally, I do feel sad that formal politeness has dropped out of a lot of British life (I do come back several times a year). It is one of the facets of life that I really appreciate in France, the way in which we greet total strangers in shops with a “bonjour” and shake hands with everyone, giving our names, at social gatherings. I found his suggestion that conversations should be guided at Agape restaurants a fascinating one, enough to get even the shyest person going, cheaper than a psychiatrist and possibly helpful to people in personal trouble.

I loved the Jewish Day of Atonement, what a brilliant idea, what a way to get corrosive feelings out of one’s system. Maybe it could happen for each person on their birthday!

Alain is very good at getting us to look at information which has been available over the ages in a new light, “…so opposed have many atheists been to the content of religious belief that they have omitted to appreciate that … it provides us with a well-structured advice on how to lead our lives” Education today gives us information, but does not teach us how to live and cope with what life throws at us. He has some really interesting ideas on how English Literature should be taught, for example, not looking at the whole oeuvre of an author but choosing a selection of authors to cover the concept of betrayed love. There should be “an emphasis on the connection between abstract ideas and our own lives..” There is also an interesting discussion on our inability (on the whole) to remember what we have read, and so the concept of repetition becomes important. Book clubs are a good help I think, making us mark up, think about, revisit and write about or discuss what we have read. He suggests that “…we should to train our minds just as we train our bodies..”

In the chapter on tenderness, Alain shows us that female figures representing this virtue are to be found throughout all the ages and all over the world. They are a response to “a universal need”. He is not too clear on how we could cater to this need in our modern lives.

On pessimism, Alain argues that, due to a misplaced belief that science can solve all the material problems of humanity, we have become too optimistic, particularly too unrealistic. In a sense, we have replaced religion with science as a belief. He further argues that this optimism has led us to think that perfection is easily possible, and thus we are less able to appreciate the need to cope with the inevitable problems that arise in, for example a marriage, or with relational problems in the workplace. I am not convinced that he offers much in the way of a solution, apart from noting that knowing that others also suffer from the same emotional problems as ourselves should make us feel better, that we are not alone. Does it? (possible discussion point?)

In his chapter on pessimism, Alain argues interestingly that, with God dead, “human beings are at risk of taking psychological centre stage. .. they trample upon nature, forget the rhythms of the earth and shy away from valuing … until at last they must collide catastrophically with the sharp edges of reality.” He suggests that there will always be some things that we cannot understand, and that it would help us to be made to meditate on the stars, for example, that we should have easy access to images of things larger and beyond our daily comprehension.

“Art… is a medium to remind us about what matters…. It is a mechanism whereby our memories are forcibly jogged about what we have to love and be grateful for, as well as what we should draw away from and be afraid of.” I loved this chapter, and the ideas that “we need art because we are so forgetful...” and that “good art is the sensuous presentation of those ideas which matter most to the proper functioning of our souls..” Art should also teach us to look at others through lenses which are not our everyday prejudices, to see other people as like us, fragile, uncertain, needing love, under their multiple different surfaces. He had a couple of what I thought were good ideas: the first being that it would be helpful if we were given help in what we should be contemplating when we look at abstract art, and the second that some exhibitions should be centred around a theme, he suggests the example of maternal nurture, rather than the work of a specific artist, or a particular time frame. It is true that when one goes to a large exhibition, one is jolted from one picture to the next, from a portrait to a landscape and so on. I have found in the past at exhibitions that I responded visually and not contemplatively.

I found the quote from John Calvin in the chapter on architecture fascinating, that “For anyone to arrive at God the Creator, he needs only Scripture as his Guide and Teacher.” In other words, just words. And so, a huge amount of religious “teaching” art was destroyed. Plotinus argues that beauty reminds us about “virtues of love, trust, kindness and justice… it is a material version of goodness.” He goes on to argue that it was in Protestant countries that the first really ugly buildings were constructed, because “architecture and art have no role to play in the condition of our souls...”, that all we need are the words of a bible to lead a good life. I did take exception to his remark that we have to take on board our own “nullity and mediocrity” (p261) and feel strongly that, within every person, there are always some sparks of creativity, goodness, success. One just has to acknowledge that, although one might not value, or even see, another’s achievements, yet, if you look, they are there, they are valid. Nobody is totally nul or mediocre. I got quite cross!

I liked his ideas about temples of reflection, maybe we need some, but can we not all find such places when out walking, in the countryside, in a city park, all we need, maybe, is to realise that we need to seek them out. I often wander into an old church and sit there, light a candle, think, without being attached to the owning-religion. But maybe, spaces dedicated to “promote important emotions and abstract themes,” would be good.

The final chapter on institutions was mind-blowing… that if we look at the Catholic Church, for example, as a business, it has been amazingly successful. So, someone wanting to reorient humanity should study institutions; writing a book, Alain de Botton, will not be good enough!

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Manto

The author argues that a more holistic approach has to be undertaken and encourages learning from strategies and tactics employe

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 17 August 2016

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The author addresses a very palpable issue. Why despite having intellectually established the non-existence of God is religion still so relevant in peoples lives? I have always felt that the atheist makes a compelling argument against the non-existence but than packs up and goes home leaving the cultural issues of lack of community, kindness, education tenderness etc. The author argues that a more holistic approach has to be undertaken and encourages learning from strategies and tactics employed by all great religions which effectively tackled these issues over the previous centuries. I love the analogy with religious colonization which must be employed by the non-religious if they want to effectively impose their own ideas. In short they will have to develop their argument to tackle these cultural requirements, instead of merely gloating at having won the argument. It shouldn't be that difficult to achieve as its successfully been done before by all religions.

Not only is the book for readers with atheist inclination but also for the believers as it subtly exposes the religious propaganda developed over hundreds of years to tackle the various spiritual needs of its congregation.

Consider the very real issue of paragons in religion. The only real paragon in any religious propaganda is its prophet, which implicitly means that no follower of religion can attain such a level again, automatically absolving them of any responsibility of attaining religious perfection. This clever bit of spinning keeps its follower focusing on the 'message' while blaming themselves for not understanding its meaning when making mistakes. So basically every believer is encouraged to follow the prophet while at the same time told that he will never attain his level ever, however hard he tries. The maximum state achievable in a dedicated and pious life led is a saint or a Sufi, which are below the status of the founder prophet. No wonder that religion is still winning when the secular society chooses to counter this clever bit of chicanery with Super stars and singers.

Can culture really replace religion? Pretty ironic assumption by the athiest when you consider that the artistic revolution was funded and abetted by the Church as a way of wooing their congregation.

Alain's brialliant obeservations between secular and religious education highlight the rise of fundamentalism in ex-colonies like Pakistan, where secular education was introduced only in the early 1900's to replace the incumbent religious education. The huge reluctance of secular education to tackle human relationships gives an open field to the relgious schools to keep filling in their toxic propganda alive.

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Ian Shine

De Botton's best book

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 30 November 2020

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I've read most of De Botton's books, including his early novels, and think this is his finest.
This book pulls together several strands from those other books - most notably The Architecture of Happiness and Status Anxiety - as it attempts to extract the non-religious elements of religion that secular society could learn from.
These include elements of community spirit, the use rituals to give us time to come to terms with our experiences and emotions, and the ability to use TV preacher-style rhetoric to draw in an audience.
Secular society has thrown the baby out with the bath water when it comes to religion, de Botton is saying, and it his avenue of exploration is far more interesting than that of Richard Dawkins, who would like to cosign the entirety of religion to the dustbin because the idea of God is false. Surely what is more interesting is that is God is false, why have so many people felt the need to have a God in their lives across so many different periods of history.
De Botton doesn't so much probe that area, but the related one of the structures built up to support a religion, and asks which of those could also be used to better support society - and more importantly, the individuals that comprise it.
Fascinating work, as always.

2 people found this helpful

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CabezaDeVaca

Brilliant way to look at things

Reviewed in Canada on 2 May 2019

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This guy is a genius. Yes, I bet some philosophers would argue he is trivializing concepts, but isn't that the point? make deep knowledge accessible to all (instead of getting depressed into useless, lingo-laden wormholes). The chapter on education is by far my favourite (I have read it many times). This is one of the most enlightening books I have read in the last few years in terms of helping me understand how religion works and why the traditional (secular) education system is not. Go also and check 'The school of life".

Ana

Merece la pena leerlo

Reviewed in Spain on 4 December 2019

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Está muy bien

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Adam

A Voice of Reason

Reviewed in Germany on 5 September 2019

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The New Atheism movement inspired by Richard Dawkins' bestseller "God Delusion" has resulted in fierce public discussions over the role and place of religion in contemporary societies. Many of the 'Brights', as secular humanists like to call themselves, have an almost militant attitude towards the issue, disregarding and often fully disrespecting religious beliefs as being superstitious and not compatible with our technology-driven modern world. Such militant atheists are likely to reject not just certain aspects of religion as irrational or dangerous, but dismiss religious views altogether as impermissible in the public discourse. This intolerance towards religious people, who on a global scale by far outnumber the non-believers, has been criticised as strategically unwise for the popularisation of science-based atheism that, at its best, involves the theory of evolution, critical history of religion, and combined knowledge from other sciences such as sociology or psychology.

There might be a more conciliatory middle path towards this goal, as Alain de Botton's book proves. Pick the very best things about religion, transform them into a secular setting and show respect for those who have not yet arrived on their journey towards enlightenment and reason. Indeed, all too many atheists do have a tendency of mocking the believers and making clear that they are intellectually superior to them. By adopting (and adapting in a secular fashion) some of the 'good' religious ideas, all parties could profit. Specifically, de Botton focuses on ten different areas such as community, kindness, art and institutions. The surprisingly lengthy book (over 300 pages) provides valuable insight into religious life. The author contends that religions have been successful because they usually offer comprehensive philosophies and overarching spiritual structures for all major events during a life time. He rightly observes how meaningless and lonely secular lives can be without the protective and consoling constraints of traditional belief systems. In a way, this book is about secular self-criticism: non-religious people appear as fragile and in need of something 'bigger' than themselves just like the religious ones do. We all seek by nature for meaning, transcendence, sense of community or rituals. The beautifully written "Religion for Atheists" makes the reader aware of these purportedly religious needs in a compelling way. A highly recommendable read!

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Kindle Customer

Gives an insight on the value of religion and the ...

Reviewed in India on 30 March 2016

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Gives an insight on the value of religion and the theological traditions being followed by generations. Highlights the connection between progression and the desire for secular society which can get inspired by religion and its age old traditions. Speaks about the application of Art,Literature & Culture in shaping a new religion for the atheists.

2 people found this helpful

Claudia Moscovici

Religion for Atheists and the Public Intellectual

Reviewed in the United States on 30 March 2012

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For me, Alain de Botton's highly visible career as a public intellectual represents a personal journey as well. He took the path I wish I had pursued, as he did, much earlier in life. Therefore, here, I will not only review his newest book, Religion for Atheists (2012), but also chart the significance of this journey. Alain and I are intellectuals of the same generation, similar formation--in philosophy and literature--and with similar cultural ideals. Alain de Botton is one of the most vocal and prominent defenders of "a philosophy of everyday life". He upholds the view--and shows by example, in each of his best-selling works--that philosophy and literature are not just for scholars or the intellectual elite. They are for everyone interested in taking some time off their busy schedules to enjoy the canonical works of Western philosophy and literature. If they read Alain de Botton's books, they will be persuaded that--far from being dated or having a merely historical interest--these canonical works are still relevant to their daily lives. The ideal of engaging with philosophy and literature--let's say, the wisdom of the ages--may seem perfect for an academic setting but, in my personal experience, I have found that for the most part it is not.

Although there are some reputable scholars in the U.S. who write about important human issues in a way that is relevant to the general public and easy to understand without being simplistic--I'm thinking of Martha Nussbaum, Richard Rorty, Arthur Danto, Harold Bloom, Stanley Fish, Victor Brombert and a handful of others--for the most part, scholarly writing tends to be too specialized to interest the general public. Furthermore, during the mid to late 1990's, when I was going to graduate school, the fields of Comparative Literature, English, French and other languages were dominated by exceedingly specialized, arcane theories--loosely called "poststructuralist" or "postmodernist"--that rested upon questionable premises and widened the gap between the general public and scholarly writing in the arts and humanities. For a persuasive debunking of those theories, I'd recommend Alan Sokal and Jean Bricmont's Fashionable Nonsense: Postmodern Intellectuals' Abuse of Science, 1997.

Of course, there were and still are countless scholars in the Arts and Humanities--the vast majority perhaps--who write clearly about their areas of specialization and make important contributions to their fields. However, in most cases, their target audience is not, as it is for Alain de Botton, a general audience but rather a more restricted group of specialists. In my estimation, the specialized nature of scholarly writing combined with the predominance of arcane, trendy theories risked dooming literary studies to public irrelevance during the 1990's.

In this academic context, it took a lot of courage and a certain leap of faith for Alain de Botton to leave the academia (when he was a graduate student in philosophy at Harvard University) in order to become a public intellectual promoting philosophy and literature. While this goal would have been quite common for European intellectuals during the 1930's and 40's, when--to offer just one example out of many--the Existentialist movement had such a vast impact upon culture, this notion has become nearly obsolete nowadays. As difficult as it is to become a public intellectual in an academic setting--due to the two main reasons I mentioned earlier--it's even more difficult to achieve this status outside the academia. Today the general public has been turned off by scholarship and, generally speaking, has little interest and time for intellectual pursuits.

In an interview, Alain de Botton describes his choice to leave the academia in order to become a public intellectual as seizing the best opportunity: "In another age, I might have been an academic in a university, if the university system had been different. So it's all about trying to find the best fit between your talents and what the world can offer at that point in time." To turn this expression around, what De Botton has offered the world is a genuine love of knowledge; a sense of the practical applications of canonical works and a clear; elegant explanations of some of the best-known Western novelists and philosophers. His efforts have been consistently rewarded with resounding success. His first book, Essays In Love (1993) became an instant bestseller. The Romantic Movement (1994), Kiss and Tell (1995) and--my personal favorite--How Proust Can Change your Life (1997) quickly followed suit, becoming equally popular with the public. Alain de Botton's success is well earned, not only because of the quality and accessibility of his books, but also because he works hard to maintain his public status and connection to readers. He travels around the world for book launches and talks; connects with fans on Facebook and other public forums; gives lectures at TED conferences and even runs his own production company, called Seneca Productions that makes documentaries about his works. For him, being a public intellectual--let alone being a writer--is more than a full-time job. It's a life passion.

Despite its provocative title, his newest book, Religion for Atheists (2012), offers neither a polemical defense of religion for nonbelievers nor, conversely, a defense of atheism for believers. Rather, it's the strongest and most compelling defense for humanist values I have read since Martha Nussbaum's Cultivating Humanity (1997). De Botton compellingly illustrates that religious principles and allegories should play an important role in modern secular society. His main thesis is 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." (Religion for Atheists, 12)

In a way, De Botton expresses the secular contemporary version of "Pascal's wager". Seventeenth-century French philosopher Blaise Pascal has famously stated in Pensées (1669) that since the existence of God can't be proved or disproved, a rational person should bet that God exists and live "as though he had faith." Then, logically speaking, if God exists he has everything to gain and if he doesn't he has nothing to lose. Taking this kind of argument a step further, De Botton's Religion for Atheists argues that even if we bet that God doesn't exist, we should still adhere to some religious principles as if he did.

What do we have to gain from "De Botton's wager", so to speak? First of all, religious principles and rituals--such as mass and other means of congregation--give us a sense of community. Without this, we risk becoming isolated, self-absorbed and alienated individuals. Religion also teaches us about the value of kindness and being other-regarding, which is as necessary for a sense of community as it is for modern marriages and family life. Religious figures and prophets, De Botton further pursues, offer us role models that are worth emulating. This is especially important in a media-driven culture that encourages us to admire athletes and actors, many of whom have questionable conduct and values. World religions also emphasize the role of education: not as a practical steppingstone to a pragmatic job, but as a way of growing emotionally and intellectually as individuals.

Religion also teaches us a sense of modesty and reminds us of our limitations. Nothing brings this point home better than the problem of theodicy, or the question of why the suffering of innocents exists in a world governed by an omniscient and omnipotent divinity. The answer given by Christianity in The Book of Job, by Blaise Pascal, Simone Weil and even by Dostoyevsky in The Brothers Karamazov comes down to the following thesis encapsulated by De Botton: "Fragile, limited creatures that [we] are, how can [we] possibly understand the ways of God?" (Religion for Atheists, 198) There are some things beyond human comprehension but our limitations should not be an excuse for hubris or for believing that we're above morality.

If I place De Botton's important new book in the longstanding tradition of Western humanism, it's because it underscores the importance of human ethical and social values that find their best expression through the invention of religion. Although postmodern critics, such as Michel Foucault and Jean-François Lyotard, have described themselves as "anti-humanists," asserting that humanism posits overarching principles that lead to exclusion and hierarchy, Religion for Atheists demonstrates clearly and thoroughly why that's not so. On the contrary, De Botton persuades us, we cannot exist harmoniously or happily as a secular society without respect for the religious principles and wisdom passed through the ages.

Claudia Moscovici, Literaturesalon

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Religion for Atheists: A non-believer's guide to the uses of religion Hardcover – 26 Jan. 2012

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