Religion for Atheists
by Alain DeBotton
A Non-believer's Guide to the Uses of Religion by Alain De Botton
- Percentage of approved critics who have given this book a positive review.
Critic Rating
31%
Critic Reviews: 36
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- User rating from iDreamBooks & iTunes
Reader Rating
64%
Reader Ratings: 182
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Synopsis
What if religions are neither all true nor all nonsense? The long-running and often boring debate between fundamentalist believers and non-believers is finally moved forward by Alain de Botton's inspiring new book, which boldly argues that the supernatural claims of religion are entirely false-but that it still has some very important things to teach the secular world.Religion for Atheists suggests that rather than mocking religion, agnostics and atheists... more
About Alain DeBotton
Critic Reviews for Religion for Atheists : A Non-believer's Guide to the Uses of Religion by Alain De Botton
Add Critic Review- All Critics: 36
- Positive: 12
- Negative: 24
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The Miami Herald | 25 Mar 2012
If anyone can “rescue some of what is beautiful, touching and wise from all that no longer seems true,” it’s de Botton.
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Publishers Weekly | 13 Feb 2012
De Botton will no doubt annoy militant atheists who believe religion not only has no use but is essentially evil, but his well-reasoned arguments should appeal to the more open-minded nonbeliever.
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Kansas City Star | 29 Mar 2012
Readers will not find groundbreaking analysis or theory in his new book.
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Biblioklept | 24 Feb 2012
. . .full of sloppy logic gussied up in rushed anecdotes and glossed over with barely-connected pictures and silly graphs.
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National Post | 9 Mar 2012
. . .gradually reveals itself to be way undercooked, the product of an inquisitive, good-natured spirit. . .that’s fallen perilously in love with a provocative but idealistic and impractical thesis.
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Seattle Times | 9 Mar 2012
If you value privacy and solitude, some of de Botton's points — his regret, for instance, that restaurant diners don't make "meaningful contact" with each other while eating their meals — may prove real stumbling blocks.
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Literary Review
Though it is aimed at unbelievers, I've got a feeling that a lot of uneasy believers will welcome it like a well of water in a dry place.
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San Francisco Chronicle | 11 Mar 2012
. . .he appears to take a thoroughly benign, even pollyannaish, view of religion.
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Crikey | 29 Mar 2012
The failure of de Botton’s approach is that. . .he trips over himself trying to offer us solutions before we’ve begun to understand — or even properly discuss — the problems.
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The Millions | 6 Mar 2012
It is a wholly sincere and serious book (and despite that stodgy description it’s lively as well), and for maintaining such a balance de Botton deserves some praise.
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Kirkus Reviews | 1 Dec 2011
The idea that we can replace this timeworn practice with a billboard ad promoting Forgiveness in lieu of a sneaker brand is insulting to believers and atheists alike.
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Harvard Humanist | 28 Mar 2012
Along the way, de Botton also provides a scathing, and I would argue, unfair critique of the optimism of secularism.
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The Globe and Mail | 9 Mar 2012
Less convincing are de Botton’s own positive suggestions, which flirt with self-parody.
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Brain Pickings | 6 Mar 2012
Particularly noteworthy are de Botton’s insights on what education and the arts can borrow from the formats and paradigms of religious delivery. . .
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The New York Times | 16 Mar 2012
The atheists know what they don’t believe in, but they don’t seem to know what they don’t feel. This is a gap that has existed for centuries, and de Botton doesn’t fill it.
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The Washington Post | 23 Mar 2012
In his zeal to cure the anomie of modern culture, he goes ridiculously overboard, recommending that emotion be injected into every aspect of our lives.
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The Guardian | 12 Jan 2012
What the book does, in short, is hijack other people's beliefs, empty them of content and redeploy them in the name of moral order, social consensus and aesthetic pleasure.
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New Statesman | 16 Feb 2012
Where he could have dug deeper is the tangled relations between religion and belief.
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Los Angeles Times | 8 Apr 2012
. . .beautifully and wittily illustrated. . .
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Boston.com | 9 Mar 2012
. . .many of his solutions are cringe-worthy.
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The Telegraph | 3 Feb 2012
. . .high-minded yet practical, told in penetrating, stately prose.
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The Independent | 20 Jan 2012
. . .suffers from the thinness of its historical topsoil.
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The Sydney Morning Herald | 18 Feb 2012
. . .de Botton makes an entertaining and often plausible argument that ideas such as these are the only way secularism can truly replace religion.
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Oregon Live | 7 Apr 2012
The problems with Alain de Botton's latest effort at intellectual self-help, "Religion for Atheists," begin with its very first sentence.
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Huffington Post | 11 Mar 2012
. . .writes as if he lives in a vacuum in which he discovers, or espouses ideas that to him feel fresh, but to others, feel old, stale, almost childish.
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Brisbane Times | 18 Mar 2012
Lacking the depth needed for a satisfying book, it's far more boring than the author is in person.
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The Guardian | 21 Jan 2012
. . .they (people) sought, and seek, salvation, and for this God‑givenness seems to me essential.
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The Economist | 10 Mar 2012
Although Mr de Botton is a clever man, he often stretches a good idea beyond its elastic limit.
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Edmonton Journal | 24 Mar 2012
. . .a short, thought provoking exploration not only of atheism, but of fundamentals of human nature.
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Melbourne Art Network | 21 Feb 2012
. . .like utopian philosophers always, he is rather too inclined to recreate the world in his own image.
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The Australian Friend
It is an easy book to read, with gems of insight and even wisdom.
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The Telegraph | 27 Jan 2012
De Botton writes with the elegance and wit so admirable in someone who is committed to making his insights relevant to a wide readership.
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Boston.com | 7 Mar 2012
. . .de Botton's general message to atheists is worth hearing. . .
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NPR | 13 Mar 2012
The problem...is not simply that the solutions are trite or feel crassly commercial. The problem is that it is utterly impossible to get any sort of consensus on what we poor secularists need from religion.
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The Globe and Mail | 6 Sep 2012
De Botton excels at exposing the emptiness of contemporary self-congratulation. He has a fine eye for the senselessness of hypermodern urban life, including such key institutions as universities, museums, even hotels.
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The New York Times | 16 Mar 2012
The atheists know what they don’t believe in, but they don’t seem to know what they don’t feel. This is a gap that has existed for centuries, and de Botton doesn’t fill it.
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