Swiss-born writer visits Seoul with new book ‘Religion for Atheists’


Philosopher and author Alain de Botton grew up in a Jewish family where religion was thought to be “completely ridiculous,” and it took him a while for him to say he didn’t agree.

“Anyone who was religious, to say bluntly, was thought to be an idiot,” de Botton told reporters at a press conference promoting the Korean edition of his new book, “Religion for Atheists,” in central Seoul, Tuesday.

“(My family thought) if you are intelligent, you believe in science. … And with respect to my parents, I nevertheless moved away from that position. And even though I am still an atheist, I am now much more sympathetic to many of the lessons and traditions of religion.”

The newly released Korean edition, published five months ahead of the English edition, is de Botton’s philosophical account on how “people who don’t believe in supernaturals” can also benefit and learn from religious teachings and practices.

“I have a very close relationship with my Korean publisher,” de Botton said while explaining about the early publication of his new book in Korea. “As soon as they knew the book was coming out ― faster than my English publisher ― they came to me and said, ‘Can we publish it?’ It’s a sign of how well we worked together that this book was able to come out good five months before it will come out in the U.K and the U.S.””

The author’s previous books, including “Essays on Love” (1993), “The Art of Travel” (2002) and “The Architecture of Happiness,” (2006) have been well received by readers in Korea. “I am a very simple person psychologically,” said de Botton, who is in Korea for the first time. “If Korean readers like my work, they are immediately, all of them, among my best friends.”

The author said his new book is for people who don’t believe in anything supernatural, but is nevertheless attracted to certain aspects of religious spirituality. “Maybe it’s an atmosphere in a temple, maybe it’s the rituals of the New Year or new moon,” he said. “Maybe it’s the people who are aware how nice it is to have a religious funeral. In other words, it’s for people who think there are things missing in modern secular world, and, at the same time, who cannot possibly call themselves religious. This is my position, and this is in a way a starting point of this book.”

And there are many things that modern-day secular people could “steal” from religion, including its education, art and the way it perceives beauty.

“Religions remember that we are not just brains but bodies,” he said. “So when religions teach us, they use the body in order to enhance and strengthen the ideas of the mind in a very fascinating way. So they will use music, they will use art, and architecture. Think of the Zen Buddhist tea ceremony. It is an attempt to use the body and drinking of tea to enhance the philosophical lesson of meaning of life.”

He also said religious education is aware that human beings are forgetful creatures, and stresses the importance of remembering the truth of the old ideas, instead of constantly creating new ones.

Religious art, on the other hand, is interested in what is beautiful but also in what is true, de Botton said. “They believed all kinds of art should guide towards making one a better person,” he said. “I think that’s nicely ambitious.”

Though he did not discuss much about himself in it, de Botton said he considers the new book as a personal work. “It’s my story in relation to religion even though I don’t actually discuss myself in it,” he said. “It is the personal journey of someone travelling in this unusual direction from complete atheism to respecting, not for the supernatural sides of religions, but the institutional, aesthetic, and educational side (of religions).”

De Botton, who described Korean author Shin Kyung-sook’s bestseller “Please Look after Mom” as a “lovely book,” will meet with his Korean readers and give lectures during his visit in Seoul. On Saturday, he will be holding a signing event at Kyobo Bookstore’s Gwanghwamun main branch from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m., and will do the same at Wow Book Festival in Hongdae district from 5:30―6:30 p.m.

By Claire Lee (dyc@heraldcorp.com)