Alain de Botton Wants a Religion for Atheists: Introducing Atheism 2.0
Open Culture
Last summer Alain de Botton, one of the better popularizers of philosophy, appeared at TEDGlobal and called for a new kind of atheism. An Atheism 2.0. This revised atheism would let atheists deny a creator and yet not forsake all the other good things religion can offer — tradition, ritual, community, insights into living a good life, the ability to experience transcendence, taking part in institutions that can change the world, and the rest.
What he’s describing kind of sounds like what already happens in the Unitarian Church … or The School of Life, a London-based institution founded by de Botton in 2008. The school offers courses “in the important questions of everyday life” and also hosts Sunday Sermons that feature “maverick cultural figures” talking about important principles to live by. Click here and you can watch several past sermons presented by actress Miranda July, physicist Lawrence Krauss, author Rebecca Solnit, and Alain de Botton himself.
If Atheism 2.0 piques your interest, you’ll want to pre-order de Botton’s soon-to-be-published book, Religion for Atheists: A Non-Believer’s Guide to the Uses of Religion.
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2 comments:
Would you mind keeping the reposting of our material to a minimum?
Thanks
I use the introduction to credit you as the source with both your homesite link and the link to the presentation. This is a non-profit, educational site used for teaching and the materials used are for education purposes. What is your complaint -- are you or are you not about "open culture"?
If this is unacceptable to you just let me know and I will remove your materials and will no longer share your website with students -- of course, I will still use the freely available youtube videos.
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