Look Who it Was Random video

Alain de Botton discusses the new religious argument

1,528 views · Published 31 January 2012 · 2:20 · Indexed 24 October 2026

Channel: Waterstones · 2012 · Entertainment

Watch on YouTube

The boring debate between fundamentalist believers and non-believers is finally moved on by Alain de Botton's inspiring new book, which boldly argues that the supernatural claims of religion are of course entirely false - and yet that religions still have important things to teach the secular world. 

"It's a way of trying to spark a new debate about religion, moving away from that rather tired battle between fierce atheists and fierce fundamental believers and it's a way of trying to say that religion can be really interesting to you even if you don't actually believe in it in any way."

"Though people say nowadays that museums are our new churches, I say that actually museums are doing quite a bad job and they need to learn what churches are really doing to get better."

"This is a book that's looking forward as well as back, it's starting to say how might we learn the lessons of religion and build a new secular world that's a bit more intelligent than the one we've got now."

Buy Religion for Atheists at your local Waterstones bookshop (http://bit.ly/s6sdlu) or online at Waterstones.com today (http://bit.ly/yG9vUO)

More from this channel