Religion for Atheists
by Alain De Botton · first published 2012
10mentions
4recommended by
10HN commenters
2012–2022first – last mentioned
40% recommend60% neutral
What if religions are neither all true nor all nonsense? The long-running and often boring debate between believers and non-believers is finally moved forward by Alain de Botton's inspiring book, which boldly argues that the supernatural claims of religion are entirely false--but that it still has some very important things to teach the secular world. Religion for Atheists suggests that rather than mocking religion, agnostics and atheists should instead steal from it--because the world's religions are packed with good ideas on how we might live and arrange our societies. Blending deep respect
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Alain de Botton writes more generally about taking the goods bits from religion in 'Religion for Atheists: A non-believer's guide to the uses of religion'. It's an interesting thought experiment, and de Botton writes engagingly. Well worth a read for his lateral thinking and, if nothing else, a starting…
Have you read Religion for Atheists by Alain de Botton? You don’t have to be an atheist to enjoy it but it does have an interesting view on the void that you mentioned. In some places there are even “church”/gatherings for non-religious…
on “Book Review: Twelve Rules for Life” ↗…Selfish Gene * A Confession - Tolstoy * Enlightenment Now - Pinker * The Better Angels of our Nature - Pinker * The Improving State of the World - Goklany * The Skeptical Environmentalist - Lomborg * Religion for Atheists - de Botton * Ending Aging - de Grey * Gut Feelings - Gigirenzer Fiction: * Heart of Darkness - Conrad * Candide - Voltaire * Brave New World - Huxley * Selected Works - Goethe * 1984 & Animal…
on “Ask HN: What did you purchase that measurably improved your quality of life?” ↗And for atheists like me, you can still learn a lot from religions. I got a lot out of Alain de Botton's "Religion for Atheists" https://www.librarything.com/work/11370617/book/89008159
on “I'm an addict” ↗Alain de Botton has a book called "Religion for Atheists". His central point is that religions have gone through hundreds or thousands of years of cultural evolution and likely contain rituals and rules that benefit us even if the religion literally isn't true.…
on “Plans you're not supposed to talk about” ↗This is very close to the argument Alain de Botton makes in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_for_Atheists.
on “Jack Dorsey Is Gwyneth Paltrow for Silicon Valley” ↗Have you read "Religion for Atheists", by any chance?
on “Have you looked at your windshield wipers lately?” ↗Thanks for sharing this. His thoughts on treating travel as pilgrimage ring true for my best vacations. It convinced me to add his not-yet-out book, Religion for Atheists to my wish list.
on “Atheism in America” ↗Some time last year I read a bit of Religion for Atheists[0] which touched on some of the same contents. I came away with a certain sense of being condescended, but also some interesting ideas along these lines. If you haven't read it, it may be worth looking…
on “Placebo Button” ↗I quite like Alain de Bottons attempt at trying to mine religion for "good ideas". He wrote a book "Religion for Atheists" on this idea https://www.amazon.com/Religion-Atheists-Non-believers-Guide...
on “The Science of the Benefits of Religion” ↗