So my position is perhaps unusual: I am at once very respectful and completely impious. I am deeply respectful of religion, but I believe none of its supernatural aspects. I really disagree with the hard tone of some atheists who approach religion like a silly fairy tale. I don’t feel the need to mock anyone who believes. Motherboard: What do you think is wrong with the conversation around atheism today, the conversation that’s already been popularized by Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens. (He since backed off the idea.) I emailed him to talk about what the hell is wrong with how we talk about atheism, why religion’s good, and what modern art can learn from stained glass windows.

But there’s no need to feel nostalgic.But De Botton, who since Proust Can Save Your Life and The Architecture of Happiness and various film projects, has become the modern age’s best-selling philosopher, recently stirred up his own controversy by announcing provisional plans to build a temple for atheists in the center of London. They may even feel sad that nothing like them gets built nowadays. 'Even the most convinced atheists tend to speak nicely about religious buildings. The Temple is dedicated to the idea of perspective, which is something we're prone to lose in the midst of our busy modern lives.ĭe Botton suggests that atheists like Richard Dawkins won’t ever convince people that atheism is an attractive way of looking at life until they provide them with the sort of rituals, buildings, communities and works of art and architecture that religions have always used. Measuring 46 meters in all, the tower represents the age of the earth, with each centimetre equating to 1 million years and with, at the tower's base, a tiny band of gold a mere millimetre thick standing for mankind's time on earth. Designed by Tom Greenall Architects, this will be a huge black tower nestled among the office buildings in the City of London. That could mean: a temple to love, friendship, calm or perspective.'ĭe Botton has begun working on the first Temple for Atheists. ‘You can build a temple to anything that's positive and good. Books alone won't do it.'ĭe Botton argues that you definitely don't need a god or gods to justify a temple. 'As religions have always known, a beautiful building is an indispensable part of getting your message across. 'It's time atheists had their own versions of the great churches and cathedrals'.Īlain de Botton has laid out his plans in a new book, Religion for Atheists, which argues that atheists should copy the major religions and put up a network of new architectural masterpieces in the form of temples. 'Why should religious people have the most beautiful buildings in the land?' he asks. Author Alain de Botton has announced a bold new plan for a series of Temples for Atheists to be built around the UK.

Alain de botton religion for atheist