Religion for Atheists: Alain de Botton (taped) Live on Big Think

The past 10 years or so of public atheist discourse, says Alain de Botton, author of Religion for Atheists, has been dominated by the idea that all religious belief is somehow infantile. What interests him more is the idea of “stealing” the best ideas of religious culture and applying them to secular living. For example, the ancient Christian idea of an “Agape feast” (feast of love), where strangers break bread together and reinforce the values of charity and friendship. 

In our livestream interview with de Botton on 3/12, he answered several reader questions about the ideas in his new book. We present the recorded livestream here, in its entirety.