by Alain de Botton
chosen by Domestic Goddess
(Thanks to JP for her notes for the minutes this month)
Domestic Goddess chose this book as it had no characters and she wanted to escape the 'novel' genre.
About the author:
Alain de Botton was born in Zurich, Switzerland in 1969 and now lives in London. He is a writer of essayist books on love, travel, architecture and literature. Alain also started and helps to run a school in London called The School of Life, dedicated to a new vision of education. Religion for Atheists is his latest book. His first book, Essays in Love, was published when he was twenty-three.
(general biographical detail from the author's website)
What the publisher says about the book:
The boring debate between fundamentalist believers and non-believers is finally moved on by Alain de Botton's inspiring new book, which boldly argues that the supernatural claims of religion are of course entirely false - and yet that religions still have some very important things to teach the secular world. Religion for Atheists suggests that rather than mocking religions, agnostics and atheists should instead steal from them - because they're packed with good ideas on how we might live and arrange our societies.
Blending deep respect with total impiety, de Botton (a non-believer himself) proposes that we should look to religions for insights into, among other concerns, how to: build a sense of community; make our relationships last; overcome feelings of envy and inadequacy; escape the twenty-four hour media; go travelling; get more out of art, architecture and music; and create new businesses designed to address our emotional needs.
For too long non-believers have faced a stark choice between either swallowing lots of peculiar doctrines or doing away with a range of consoling and beautiful rituals and ideas. At last, in Religion for Atheists, Alain de Botton, the author of the bestselling The Consolations of Philosophy and How Proust Can Change Your Life, has fashioned a far more interesting and truly helpful alternative.
What we discussed about the book:
- Why atheists should not mock or make fun of religion
- What can we learn from what spirituality and faith have to offer?
- How religion has ideas which we can learn from going forward and use these ideas to help shape our society
- Were some of the examples far-fetched? Did this detract from the ideas?
- How can some of the ideas protect and assist religion to progress into the future
- Are we presently at a crossroads with the risk of losing our 'faith' altogether going forward for the younger generations?
- If we control peoples faith, are we assisting them to taking away their right to decide?
- Is the book a series of suggestions that can be adopted into a non-religious framework?
- How have religions branded their icons for recognition across the centuries?
- What do militant atheists make of de Botton?
- Do we need a structure of community togetherness (e.g. a secular Sabbath) to help us join together?
- Do we need guidance and reminding about how to feed and nurture our souls?
Ratings:
Range: 7 to 8
Average: 7.56
Next book: A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan (chosen by KM)
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