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John Gray: Atheism & Religion’s Value

John Gray, the philosopher and religious skeptic, reviews atheist Alain de Botton’s new book advocating a more irenic view of religion. Gray says that the militant, Ditchkins-style atheists of today are ignorant knotheads, however formally brilliant: It is only the illiteracy of the current generation of atheists that leads them to think religious practitioners must […]

John Gray, the philosopher and religious skeptic, reviews atheist Alain de Botton’s new book advocating a more irenic view of religion. Gray says that the militant, Ditchkins-style atheists of today are ignorant knotheads, however formally brilliant:

It is only the illiteracy of the current generation of atheists that leads them to think religious practitioners must be stupid or thoughtless. Were Augustine, Maimonides and al-Ghazali – to mention only religious thinkers in monotheist traditions – lacking in intellectual vitality? The question is absurd but the fact it can be asked at all might be thought to pose a difficulty for de Botton. His spirited and refreshingly humane book aims to show that religion serves needs that an entirely secular life cannot satisfy. He will not persuade those for whom atheism is a militant creed. Such people are best left with their certainties, however childish.

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Most people think that atheists are bound to reject religion because religion and atheism consist of incompatible beliefs. De Botton accepts this assumption throughout his argument, which amounts to the claim that religion is humanly valuable even if religious beliefs are untrue. He shows how much in our way of life comes from and still depends on religion – communities, education, art and architecture and certain kinds of kindness, among other things. I would add the practice of toleration, the origins of which lie in dissenting religion, and sceptical doubt, which very often coexists with faith.

Today’s atheists will insist that these goods can be achieved without religion. In many instances this may be so but it is a question that cannot be answered by fulminating about religion as if it were intrinsically evil. Religion has caused a lot of harm but so has science. Practically everything of value in human life can be harmful. To insist that religion is peculiarly malignant is fanaticism, or mere stupidity.

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