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Permalink Reply by Robert Karp on January 30, 2012 at 1:29pm

Someone emailed Alan De Botton about this and he is doing "no such thing"

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Permalink Reply by Gideon Jagged on January 30, 2012 at 2:10pm

This idea of a Temple fuels the erroneous notion of believers that Atheism, Humanism, and Science are just other forms of belief, no different than their own.

A profoundly bad idea.  

--Gideon

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Permalink Reply by ZachsMind on January 30, 2012 at 2:14pm

[I've read elsewhere AND here that de Botton is not actually doing this. That's immaterial. The point is it CAN be done, there are already websites declaring churches of atheism. You can't put the genie back in the bottle.]

It is an absurd notion. Being an absurdist, I applaud it. Not because I think it's a good idea, but because this reinforces my insistance that IF there is anything to believe in this universe, it's that absurdity is the only true reality. 

But then, many things already show the absurdity of belief, like In God We Trust on american money for example, or people believing a god would tell them to destroy other ppl (his alleged creation) for any reason, or depictions of jesus on the cross all over the place while muhammad is actively not visibly depicted (but every other muslim couple names their child muhammad). That's just a few examples of the absurdity in religion. 

Tomatoes are a fruit. Really. Need I go on? 

So temples for worshiping atheism? Only stands to reason, in an absurd universe with an even more absurd humanity observing it. You already have rallies for reason. You are already scheduling monthly meetings and annual pilgrimages. Why not erect a physical structure dedicated to these things? And don't forget the offering plates. You'll need to pay for the utilities and upkeep of the grounds. 

Maybe the Believers were right. Atheism has always been a religion. At any rate, I'm out. I gotta be an anti-theist until someone figures out how to turn that into a religion too and then I'll move on to something else. You guys just became the enemy. So long as one person somewhere still insists on believing something, religion will remain a virus in the global consciousness of mankind. I hope you enjoy yourselves in your fellowship. Just please remember it's okay to dance, no matter what the baptists say. 

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Permalink Reply by Dave G on January 30, 2012 at 11:41pm

If it were being done, it'd be pretty pointless.

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Permalink Reply by John Kelly on January 31, 2012 at 12:56am

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/authorinterviews/9045391/A...

Here is another article that portrays it as more a museum thing to rally around rather than a temple.  Atheism does need to spawn a central ideology though.  Education ought to be lifelong as well.  School doesn't teach enough and there ought to be optional academies (drawing from the greek concept) in the places of churches that can be attended at weekly intervals as most people have busy schedules.  They wouldn't need to do anything other than learn and socialize there.

Atheists need to have an identity because the lack of belief places them in a different category with the rest of society and in a sense isolated.  Rallying around a recognizable ideology would foster integration with society on a more efficient level.

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Permalink Reply by Luis Veras on February 1, 2012 at 11:50am

Atheism already has temples. They're called Libraries :-)

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Permalink Reply by Sophie B on February 6, 2012 at 7:27pm

This. XD

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