John Gray wrote a review (Guardian) of the new Alain De Botton’s book Religion for Atheists: A non-believer’s guide to the uses of religion. I will say few words about Alain De Botton later but let me just skim the review. The worst thing you can say about a thinker is that he became predictable. And we all know what John Gray is going to say or write if religion is the subject, there is the script in fact. There will be the compulsory attack on the Dawkins-like militant atheists and there will be the inevitable reference to the secular religion of Comte. I think Gray is the only person in the universe who never tires of telling about the faith of progress. And why bother with the inconsistencies? You can write that
“During most of the last century, politics was the principal vehicle for religion. Communism and the cult of the free market are examples of large, flimsy ideas being turned into articles of faith.”
and then
“Rather than trying to invent another religion surrogate, open-minded atheists should appreciate the genuine religions that exist already. London is full of sites – churches, synagogues, mosques and other places of worship – that are evocative of something beyond the human world. Better spend the money that is being raised for the new temple on religious buildings that are in disrepair than waste it on a monument to a defunct version of unbelief.”
Why not spend money at the alter of other “existing” religions like Communism, Free Marketism, etc? Only a person completely removed from religions can be so naive as to propose the investment, this is like a communist in London who appreciates the Stalinist Russia, but from afar…
Now one paragraph about Alain De Botton’s proposition. I recently came in contact with a coworker who had death in the family. It made me realize that the secular culture lacks the proper institution of mourning. Regardless if you belive in the afterlife or not, mourning is what makes us the distinct species. Members of the Hominini tribe leave the mourning markers. This is just one example where the secular creed comes so awkwardly short of our innate needs.
Further reading:
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“mourning is what makes us the distinct species” — interesting that Aristotle is supposed to have identified the distinct human quality as laughter.
Good idea, Aristotle.
I’ve also seen an account of elephants showing signs of mourning when coming across the remains of their departed kind.
Of course animals mourn, but the don’t have mourning rituals and especially they don’t leave behind ritual objects in the burial sites. And Alain De Botton is mostly concerned with the rituals.
Here is Alain De Botton’s take on Comte:
http://benatlas.com/2010/07/no-to-god-yes-to-the-ritual-and-the-masters-the-new-zest/
And his early draft on the secular religion:
http://benatlas.com/2009/11/alain-de-botton-imagines-religion-without-god/