Dominic Bunnell
New
I've just finished reading Alain de Botton's Religion for Atheists, and it was much better than I was expecting.
One of his main observations is that the secular world tends to make a very sharp distinction between children and adults, and so while children need star charts, role models, and constant reminders of how to behave and of what matters in life, adults supposedly don't need any of this any more and so they're on their own now.
But religions understand that we're all fragile, dependent and forgetful. This is why religions are so obsessed with things like days celebrating great people and acts, and with repetition of important ideas in rituals, feasts, and practices. We learn best through imagery, stories and action. Theoretical book knowledge isn't enough.
We often hear from the likes of Dawkins and Harris that religions treat us like children and not like strong, autonomous, independent agents. Alain de Botton would agree with this to some extent, but he sees it as a strength of religion rather than a weakness.
One of his main observations is that the secular world tends to make a very sharp distinction between children and adults, and so while children need star charts, role models, and constant reminders of how to behave and of what matters in life, adults supposedly don't need any of this any more and so they're on their own now.
But religions understand that we're all fragile, dependent and forgetful. This is why religions are so obsessed with things like days celebrating great people and acts, and with repetition of important ideas in rituals, feasts, and practices. We learn best through imagery, stories and action. Theoretical book knowledge isn't enough.
We often hear from the likes of Dawkins and Harris that religions treat us like children and not like strong, autonomous, independent agents. Alain de Botton would agree with this to some extent, but he sees it as a strength of religion rather than a weakness.