Reddit reviews Religion for Atheists: A Non-believer's Guide to the Uses of Religion

Jeg er ateist, hører en masse black metal og jeg er mindst lige så kritisk overfor religion, MEN den her video og den har bog i kombination med en øget muslimsk tilvækst i Europa har flyttet mit syn på den sag. Jeg er fuldt ud overbevist om at 1) Kristendommens positive indflydelse er undervurderet og 2) uden kristendommen bliver muslimsk indflydelse meget større i Europa end den er i dag, hvad jeg meget gerne vil undgå. Hvis valget står mellem Islam og Kristendommen, hvad jeg er begyndt at tro det gør, så vælger jeg Kristendommen. Uanset hvad, så er det min vurdering, at det bedste bolværk imod Islam er Kristendommen, og jeg er trosalt mere utryg ved Islam end ved Folkekirken.

You mentioning the value of community reminds me of the second chapter of this book, and I only wish I had such a community of my own. Alain de botton is a dabbler (dabblist?) if I've ever seen one.

My favorite idea to ponder is that of impermanence. Observing anything, you'll see that nothing lasts- but does anything stand still? The taoists seem to think that nothingness is behind the seams of everything, and getting in touch with it by clearing your head is the natural path of authentic virtue.

I think a few near death experiences made the search for something that lasts come along pretty authentically. I believe that if everything comes from and returns to nothingness, then everyone is born as a clean slate- so what keeps you from empathising with others when the wrongdoer does exactly what you would do if you went through every single thing they have?

I am skeptical about group dynamics, and the way people lose themselves in a crowd, so I naturally can't pick one "ism", but I also have my guard up from giving too much attention to just anything, in fear of falling pray to inauthentic things.

Meditation, or returning to my clean slate, I can ask myself "do I really want this thing this group wants of me?" of any group, or "do i really need to feel this way?". Realising that nobody can please me but myself, and more importantly- that nobody can upset me other than myself, I find my self getting overjoyed and overwhelmed less and less.

It may sound crazy, but self-reliance, meditation, permanence, compassion, reason, and tranquility may all be one & the same thing. Whenever I work to develop one of them, the other ones seem to flourish with it.

ITT: y'all haven't read Alain De Botton's Religion for Atheists: A Non-believer's Guide to the Uses of Religion and it shows.

If you wrote the book from the same perspective as this one, I'd buy it. I think what you're doing now is too superficial. An "exploration of the faith in terms of its ritual and dogma" from a secular humanist's perspective would be very interesting.

This is perfectly normal but very under-discussed.

See Alain de Botton's book "Religion for Athiests"
https://www.amazon.com/Religion-Atheists-Non-believers-Guide-Uses/dp/0307476820


Throughout human culture we have created rituals, marked our developments, and formed communities through religion and spiritual avenues. Our need for these institutions goes beyond their adherences to divine philosophies. They serve the human need for meaning and collaboration.

We, as atheists, can engage in religious archetypes of ritual and action because they in themselves are not religious projects, but human projects, and the atheist community hasn't solidified our own yet.

Enjoy!

Edit: link

You're completely ignoring the sociological functions that religion satisfies, which is why "common sense and intelligence" hasn't overrun religion entirely in the developed world. You should definitely read Religion for Atheists: A Non-believer's Guide to the Uses of Religion.

I'm also not talking about morality (and you're incorrect claiming that most religious people are immoral) nor about war and "divisiveness" (which are primarily caused by material factors and not ideological ones).

Not my bag really, but Alain de Botton has published a book which sounds like it might be right up your alley - Religion for Atheists.

The other option that comes to mind is AC Grayling's The Good Book. (In my opinion, a little better)

Hope they help!

Is it possible to not quit that type of social life cold turkey? Can you still hang out with those saw people our of church? I know I did that a little but afterwards but it's hard. There isn't as much in common eventually.

I keep forgetting to pick this up. But it apparently talks about what we can get from religion, ie a structured social gathering.

http://www.amazon.com/Religion-Atheists-Non-believers-Guide-Uses/dp/0307476820

If you can, read the book Religion for Atheists. It's all about how awesome traditions and customs we assign to religion could be appropriated to serve a secular mankind. In truth, Christmas was a pagan festival well before it was appropriated by Christianity and vestigial aspects of that pagan holiday (x-mas tree, the date Dec. 25th for example) still remain.

You might want to check out Alain de Botton's books (most notably, "Religion for Atheists: A Non-believer's Guide to the Uses of Religion") and his project "The School of Life".

Also, see Sunday Assembly.

He's got some TED Talks too.