Alain de Botton wants something awe inspiring in his life, something to foster love, friendship, and goodness. Something transcendent one might be tempted to think if it were not for the fact that Botton is an atheist and so is compelled to reach the obtuse conclusion that his longing for transcendence is evidence that it doesn’t exist.

Not to be deterred, he has decided to build a temple to his god: atheism. It purports to be a celebration of life on earth, culminating in the human genome sequence inscribed in binary on the outside walls – a tribute to man’s ego as much as atheism.

Botton’s atheism purports to be a more positive form of atheism than that of Richard Dawkins, but adopting the aesthetics of religion while denying its truth doesn’t seem to me to be much less misguided than rejecting both.

Rev. George Pitcher seems to think it is a good idea – a sure indicator that it isn’t

From here:

Plans to build a £1m “temple for atheists” among the international banks and medieval church spires of the City of London have sparked a clash between two of Britain’s most prominent non-believers.

The philosopher and writer Alain de Botton is proposing to build a 46-metre (151ft) tower to celebrate a “new atheism” as an antidote to what he describes as Professor Richard Dawkins’s “aggressive” and “destructive” approach to non-belief.

Rather than attack religion, De Botton said he wants to borrow the idea of awe-inspiring buildings that give people a better sense of perspective on life.

“Normally a temple is to Jesus, Mary or Buddha, but you can build a temple to anything that’s positive and good,” he said. “That could mean a temple to love, friendship, calm or perspective. Because of Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens atheism has become known as a destructive force. But there are lots of people who don’t believe but aren’t aggressive towards religions.”