Religion plays a fundamental role in daily life, and in political life, to believers and non-believers both. And while wars have been fought and era-defining antagonisms built for centuries between opposing religions, the relatively recent antagonism between believers and non-believers has reached something of a fever pitch. You can trace it to the Enlightenment, but the likes of Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, and Christopher Hitchens have brought the argument to a head … or maybe to a standstill. Is any kind of progress possible in a debate between religious-believers and atheists? Or is there just a never-breakable impasse between the two worldviews?
Alain de Botton tries to get past the heated, divisive, and potentially stifling conflicts between believers and atheists in his new book "Religion for Atheists: A Non-believer's Guide to the Uses of Religion."
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The DSM and Mental Health in America
Lessons From a Female Union Electrician
Diplomatic Damage Caused by Drone Strikes, In Defense of the DSM-5, Bob Woodruff's Advice for New Grads
Defining Normal After a Diagnosis of Schizophrenia
The show is a co-production of WNYC Radio and Public Radio International, in collaboration with New York Times Radio and WGBH Boston.
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Comments [6]
To Ed from Larchmont -
Re; contraception-health insurance. Ones beliefs are not part of the economic contract employees have with their employers, vice versa. There are plenty of things "I" pay for in a group policy that I do not think is right for me to have to share. Like the meds for the fat people who refuse to take care of their health while I take great care.
Look at Mary Midgley's insightful book "Evolution as a Religion: Strange Hopes and Stranger Fears" from 1985 addressing how poor understandings of evolution develop into religious-like reasoning.
I think Alain de Botton might want to consider how his beliefs fit into Unitarian Universalism. As I listened to him this morning, I wondered if he had ever hear of this faith tradition.
The debate is not about contraception but about the free exercise of religion: should people be required to pay if it's against their conscience.
The question of religion isn't that we need help: the question is does God exist? and what is God's nature?
We can work together if we respect each others' consciences; if not, we can't.
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