Interior Design Blog
Build 'temples for atheists', urges philosopher Alain de Botton
January 26, 2012
Look across London from the summit of Primrose Hill and you'll see the topography of a truly diverse modern city. In the distance, lies the famous dome of Saint Paul's cathedral, and rising up behind it, like a colossus of glass and steel, London's newest skyscraper, Renzo Piano's The Shard. But is something missing from this picture? On the one hand we have a cathedral, a temple of Christianity; on the other, an office building which many people have come to see as a totem of unfettered capitalism. Perhaps neither of these impressive buildings truly represents who we are. In his new book, Religion for Atheists philosopher Alain de Botton argues for an entirely new kind of building, one that might take the place of the church in an increasingly secular society. 'Why should religious people have the most beautiful buildings in the land?' asks de Botton. 'It's time atheists had their own versions of the great churches and cathedrals'.
De Botton has already begun working on the first Temple for Atheists, a huge black tower designed by Tom Greenall Architects which is to rise up among the office buildings in the City of London.
Standing 46m tall, the tower represents the age of the earth, with each centimetre equating to 1 million years. At its base, a tiny band of gold a millimetre thick represents mankind's time on earth.
De Botton suggests that atheists like Richard Dawkins won't ever convince people that atheism is an attractive way of looking at life until they provide them with the sort of rituals, buildings, communities and works of art and architecture that religions have always used.
'As religions have always known, a beautiful building is an indispensable part of getting your message across. Books alone won't do it,' says de Botton.
Do we need secular temples? And if so, what should they look like?
Comments
Hi Mary, and thanks for your comment on my article. I think the point Mr de Botton is making is that non-religious people don't really have any suitable public buildings in which to celebrate the most significant moments of their lives. Churches and temples aren't only used to talk about the existence of God; they are also used as venues for weddings, funerals and ceremonies to celebrate the birth of children. What de Botton is proposing is that people who don't follow any of the established religions may still want somewhere nice other than their own homes to get together and celebrate or commemorate life's milestones. Going to a Christian church certainly involves talking about God, but it also involves talking about how we should live our lives. De Botton's point (and I agree) is that many atheists could use a well-designed building were they can go for spiritual advice and to hold ceremonies (atheists get married and have funerals, too).
Are you kidding me?!! What is this supposed to be? So now you want to make believing in nothing a religious group!!! This is ridiculous! There is no issue with believing in nothing, but I don't understand the point of all this. So you are going to gather and talk about what? The inexistence of God/a higher being. So your entire "religion", sect (Christianity was considered a sect when it started, so I'm not using this word in a negative tone here) or whatever you want to call it will be based on DENYING the existence of God!!! Don't you have something better to do other than spending time denying the existence of something? I don't like jello, mac & cheese, but you won't see me go around build a building where we can talk about hoe we don't like jello, mac & cheese. If you believe in something other than God, than fine,it's your belief. You can believe in trees, nature, anything, I would understand that! But you don't believe in anything! What is there to celebrate?!!! And that would be starting a new religion which will contradict the whole definition of being an atheist.
Interesting article - the problem with this way of thinking is that you'd effectively be starting a new religion, which seems a bit hypocritical!
We usually deal with the beautiful religious buildings this article mentions, but even beautiful secular temples need seating!
Black would be a fitting color. http://atheistlegitimacy.blogspot.com/
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