![]() In our atavistic, rationalist world we have lost these connections. Religions may have evolved out of a need to enforce social cohesion, but one cannot deny the sense of belonging that going to church confers on the participants. One of the losses modern society feels most keenly is that of a sense of community. And if mention is made here of only three of the world's largest religions – Christianity, Judaism and Buddhism – it is no sign of anxiety that I might get a fatwa if I also rope in Islam. Why then should secular society lose out on the benefits a religion can offer merely because it rejects certain of its catchphrases? Is there not a middle way where Karen Armstrong and Richard Dawkins can join hands and teach the world to sing in perfect harmony? My strategy, then, is to take various religious principles completely out of context and apply them as feelgood, quasi-spiritual soundbites to areas such as education, literature and architecture. I myself was brought up a committed atheist, but even I had a crisis of faithlessness that originated in listening to Bach's cantatas, was developed by exposure to Zen architecture and became overwhelming on reading my own prose. Yet this should not stop us cherry-picking the bits we like and repackaging them as self-help aphorisms for a liberal middle-class who consider themselves too clever for Paulo Coelho. T he most boring question one can ask of any religion is whether or not it is true. ![]()
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