![]() ![]() ![]() It is when we stop believing that religions have been handed down from above or else that they are entirely daft that matters become more interesting. ![]() Particularly noteworthy are de Botton’s insights on what education and the arts can borrow from the formats and paradigms of religious delivery, from why the sermon is more effective than the lecture to how engineering visceral encounters can help draw power from art. In a world beset by fundamentalists of both religious and secular varieties, it must be possible to balance a rejection of religious faith with a selective reverence for religious rituals and concepts.” One can be left cold by the doctrines of the Christian Trinity and the Buddhist Eightfold path and yet at the same time be interested in the ways in which religions deliver sermons, promote morality, engender a spirit of community, inspire travels, train minds and inspire gratitude at the beauty of spring. That’s the premise behind Religion for Atheists: A Non-believer’s Guide to the Uses of Religion ( public library), a provocative and thoughtful new book by modern philosopher, prolific author, and School of Life founder Alain de Botton, who recently made a passionate case for redefining success. ![]() But if we can divorce the medium from the message, there might be some powerful communication lessons secular movements could learn from religious ones. The tension between secularity and religion has endured for centuries, infusing academia and science with a strong and permeating undercurrent of atheism. ![]()
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