{"id":2253,"date":"2012-03-24T20:23:00","date_gmt":"2012-03-24T20:23:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2012\/03\/religion-for-atheists-a-non-believers-guide-to-the-uses-of-religion-by-alain-de-botton.html"},"modified":"2012-03-24T20:23:00","modified_gmt":"2012-03-24T20:23:00","slug":"religion-for-atheists-a-non-believers-guide-to-the-uses-of-religion-by-alain-de-botton","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2012\/03\/religion-for-atheists-a-non-believers-guide-to-the-uses-of-religion-by-alain-de-botton.html","title":{"rendered":"\u201cReligion for Atheists: A Non-Believer\u2019s Guide to the Uses of Religion\u201d by Alain de Botton"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

In a career spanning some 20 years and eight previous books, Alain de Botton has made a name for himself in the land of high-end self-help \u2014 in print, television documentaries and with his School of Life \u2014 by harvesting what he deems useful from great thinkers\u2019 ideas and applying them to everyday life. In his \u201cConsolations of Philosophy,\u201d the Swiss-born, British-educated philosopher cited one of his heroes, the 16th-century essayist Montaigne, for teaching him that \u201cwhat matters in a book is usefulness and appropriateness to life.\u201d De Botton offered advice on how to stop wasting time in \u201cHow Proust Can Change Your Life\u201d and suggested improvements to the often soul-sapping business of earning our keep in \u201cThe Pleasures and Sorrows of Work.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now, in what is sure to be his most controversial book, \u201cReligion for Atheists,\u201d de Botton turns his attention to aspects of religion he considers worth saving. Employing his usual mix of (mostly) cogent, highly personal discourse and quirky, often hilarious photographs, he tries to make a case for not throwing out the baby with the baptismal water.
Read more here<\/a><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In a career spanning some 20 years and eight previous books, Alain de Botton has made a name for himself in the land of high-end self-help \u2014 in print, television documentaries and with his School of Life \u2014 by harvesting what he deems useful from great thinkers\u2019 ideas and applying them to everyday life. In […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2251,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2253","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n\u201cReligion for Atheists: A Non-Believer\u2019s Guide to the Uses of Religion\u201d by Alain de Botton<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"In a career spanning some 20 years and eight previous books, Alain de Botton has made a name for himself in the land of high-end self-help \u2014 in print,\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2012\/03\/religion-for-atheists-a-non-believers-guide-to-the-uses-of-religion-by-alain-de-botton.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"\u201cReligion for Atheists: A Non-Believer\u2019s Guide to the Uses of Religion\u201d by Alain de Botton\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In a career spanning some 20 years and eight previous books, Alain de Botton has made a name for himself in the land of high-end self-help \u2014 in print,\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2012\/03\/religion-for-atheists-a-non-believers-guide-to-the-uses-of-religion-by-alain-de-botton.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Rhetoric Race and Religion\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-03-24T20:23:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Andre E. 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