Dezeen � Blog Archive � Alain de Botton plans temples for atheists‘Why should religious people have the most beautiful buildings in the land?’ he asks. ‘It’s time atheists had their own versions of the great churches and cathedrals’.
Alain de Botton has laid out his plans in a new book, Religion for Atheists, which argues that atheists should copy the major religions and put up a network of new architectural masterpieces in the form of temples.
‘As religions have always known, a beautiful building is an indispensable part of getting your message across. Books alone won’t do it.’
De Botton argues that you definitely don’t need a god or gods to justify a temple. ‘You can build a temple to anything that’s positive and good. That could mean: a temple to love, friendship, calm or perspective.’
De Botton has begun working on the first Temple for Atheists. Designed by Tom Greenall Architects, this will be a huge black tower nestled among the office buildings in the City of London. Measuring 46 meters in all, the tower represents the age of the earth, with each centimetre equating to 1 million years and with, at the tower’s base, a tiny band of gold a mere millimetre thick standing for mankind’s time on earth. The Temple is dedicated to the idea of perspective, which is something we’re prone to lose in the midst of our busy modern lives.
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.
‘Even the most convinced atheists tend to speak nicely about religious buildings. They may even feel sad that nothing like them gets built nowadays. But there’s no need to feel nostalgic. Why not just learn from religions and build similarly beautiful and interesting things right now?’
My first reaction was that de Botton appears to be making atheism a religion by giving atheists a place to gather. But then I thought it over and realized it could be a place for them to gather and discuss. But then again, isn't that what some religious people do anyway? I mean, you have youth church groups, Jewish men gathering to interpret the Torah, Buddhists to meditate, etc.
So this led to me wondering what exactly is religion. If its a belief in God or many gods, then leave out Buddhism and make that simply a philosophy. If it is to question the meaning of life and where we came from and where we're going, then atheism can be considered to be a religion.
Also, what sort of art could atheists come up with? No offense, but if they come up with something that resembles a science book, I would find it boring. Unless there's a lot of gold, stained glass windows and mosaics involved.