Today atheists and theists are always disagreeing. One believes in the truth of the divine the other think its ridiculous. One thinks the world is better because of religion the other thinks the opposite. Common ground has not been a popular place for the two views.
However, Alain de Botton has a new book that seeks to not necessarily unite the two ideologies but to see what one can learn from the other. He ask the question “even if religion isn’t true, cant we enjoy the best bits?”. He calls this Atheism 2.0. In the book and in the video above he lays out several answers. Alain argues that although the claims of religion are false, religion has so much to teach the secular world.
Some of my favorite things that he suggest we can learn from religion are: 1) to use bodies and not just our brains, 2) the power of oratory tradition, 3) arranging time(calender) as a way to bump into ideas,4) choosing the sermon over the lecture, and 5) the power of repetition. What he suggest is that even if you are not an atheist, these components of religion can add a different dimension to the secular parts of your life.
As I think about Alain de Botton’s thesis, i cant help but to create an antithesis. Lets imagine that I create a book that will sit beside Alain’s. Lets call it Non-Religion for Theists: What theists can learn from atheists. A few responses will be 1) necessity of argumentation 2) ability to hold to ones belief despite popular opinion 3) finding meaning when there appears like its none and 4) being good for goodness sake. It will serve as a symbol that we all have so much to learn from each other no matter how much we disagree. We will call it Unity 2.0. And then world peace will be accomplished and me and Alain will get the credit. I hope.