Alain de Botton, the British pop philosopher whose new book Religion for Atheists has made him the friendly face of modern godlessness....said if you walked into a modern university and asked to study the humanities in order to find meaning in life, “the people in charge would immediately dial the number of the insane asylum, and you would be taken away.”

He said the message of the secular world is that life is simple, and the only people who need help are stupid people who read self-help books.

He set his own views against the “virulent strain” of atheism that sees religion as “not just false but wrong, ridiculous, malign and corrupt,” epitomized by Christopher Hitchens’ claim that “religion poisons everything.”

Read it all.

Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Art • History • Music • Philosophy • Religion & Culture • * International News & Commentary • Canada • England / UK • * Religion News & Commentary • Other Faiths • Atheism • Secularism

The URL for this article is http://www.kendallharmon.net/t19/index.php/t19/article/41652/

© 2013 Kendall S. Harmon. All rights reserved.

For original material from Titusonenine (such as articles and commentary by Dr. Harmon) permission to copy and distribute free of charge is granted, provided this notice, the logo, and the web site address are visible on all copies. For permission for use in for-profit publications, please email KSHarmon[at]mindspring[dot]com