Pulsar wrote:Sorry for necromancing, but there's a new TED-talk from de Botton:



Now, I have much respect for de Botton, but this idea of him is just damn stupid. He seems to think that modern secularism is somehow flawed, being focussed on spreading purely information without offering morality, guidance or passion, which according to him are the virtues of religions. Since when? I'm an atheist, and yet I haven't become a serial killer, so obviously I manage pretty well. So what is atheism supposed to be lacking? De Botton doesn't seem to criticize modern secularism, he's criticizing bad education. And of course he's right about that, but what does that have to do with atheism?

Mister Agenda wrote:Maybe. It hasn't been my experience and I don't know of any evidence to support the idea of moral deficiencies in atheists (except failure to follow purely religious precepts), so until I see that evidence, I'll stick with 'we're just as good as they are'.

Mononoke wrote:am i the only person who thinks that Botton could have made the same speech by replacing religion with hitler

Darwinsbulldog wrote:

Mononoke wrote:am i the only person who thinks that Botton could have made the same speech by replacing religion with hitler

I do recall writing summat about "fascist" in my post!