Alain de Botton Plans "Temples for Atheists'

DE ZEEN MAGAZINE

Alain's TempleAlain de Botton and Tom Greenall's proposed Temple to Perspective,

right foreground. Photograph: Thomas Greenall & Jordan Hodgson

UNITED KINGDOM - Dezeen Wire: writer Alain de Botton has announced plans to build a series of temples for atheists in the UK. Books alone won’t do it.’ De Botton suggests that atheists like Richard Dawkins won’t ever convince people that atheism is an attractive way of looking at life until they provide them with the sort of rituals, buildings, communities and works of art and architecture that religions have always used. Why not just learn from religions and build similarly beautiful and interesting things right now?’The first will be a 46 metre-tall black tower designed by Tom Greenall Architects and constructed in London to represent the idea of perspective. "It’s time atheists had their own versions of the great churches and cathedrals’. Alain de Botton has laid out his plans in a new book, Religion for Atheists, which argues that atheists should copy the major religions and put up a network of new architectural masterpieces in the form of temples. ‘As religions have always known, a beautiful building is an indispensable part of getting your message across. [link]