atheists taking good ideas from church

[dragonyphoenix]

In the past two days I have stumbled across two separate articles about atheism picking up ideas from religion. Is this a thing?

What Can Atheism Learn From Religion? A TED Talk by Alain de Botton. This was quite interesting. He talks about things that religion does very well. For example, regularly throughout the year people are asked to think about their values. I was not raised religiously so this was something of a surprise to me but does seem like a good idea.

The Sunday Assembly is a group that participates in all the best bits of church without believing in God.

Okay, I like the first one better because I'm somewhat ideas oriented and, as an agnostic, there are local churches I could attend if I really wanted to. But I did find it interesting that I saw these articles only a  day apart from each other.

Comments

[beer-good-foamy.livejournal.com]

I read de Botton's book (http://beer-good-foamy.livejournal.com/195702.html), and honestly I thought he came across as completely bonkers. His main gripe with atheism seems to be that it doesn't offer the sort of dogmatism, strict patriarchal structures, and imposed groupthink that traditional religion does; funny, I always figured that was a good thing.

[dragonyphoenix.livejournal.com]

Too bad the book is so disappointing. I thought he made some interesting points in the TED talk, although I'm not sure how some of them could be implemented without a large "governing" body.

I had planned to think about a personal practice where I can regularly review ideas I think are important.

[velvetwhip.livejournal.com]

That is interesting.

I know that the atheists on Daily Kos are becoming quite fond of Pope Francis, so it seems like atheists and believers are engaging in lots of different ways lately.


Gabrielle

[dragonyphoenix.livejournal.com]

Ooooh, bunnies! Sorry, distracted by the cuteness.

Francis does seem to be an unusually cool Pope. I haven't followed him much, but even I have picked up on that.