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The Little Book of Atheist Spirituality
by André Comte-Sponville (trans. Nancy Huston)
206 pages (hardcover)
Genre: Nonfiction/Philosophy/Atheism
Sadly I didn't get to finish this lovely little book, because it's already overdue at the library. I do plan to check it out again, though: at page 53. It is a true philosophy text, though accessible because of the layman language. It's also translated from the original French, which accounts for a liberal use of exclamation marks. Comte-Sponville is a "faithful atheist," maintaining traditional Western Christian morality while not believing in God. He also distinguishes at length between faith (belief) and fidelity (commitment), which combine oftentimes to form piety. As he says:
Religion's greatest strength, according to him, is consolation in grief. It is the wellspring of society, but it is not necessary for civilization to continue. Comte-Sponville is an atheist philosopher with the most open views that I've ever had the pleasure of reading: truly gentle, tolerant, accepting. He respects theists, nontheists, and atheists equally. He talks about his own "liberation" in deconversion, then in the next paragraph will earnestly discuss those who converted and experienced the same liberation. And he concludes from this seeming paradox, simply, that "all people are different."
So: very sad that I didn't get to read more of this. I would recommend it to anyone interested in theological philosophy. Comte-Sponville surprised even me with his firm neutrality.
by André Comte-Sponville (trans. Nancy Huston)
206 pages (hardcover)
Genre: Nonfiction/Philosophy/Atheism
Sadly I didn't get to finish this lovely little book, because it's already overdue at the library. I do plan to check it out again, though: at page 53. It is a true philosophy text, though accessible because of the layman language. It's also translated from the original French, which accounts for a liberal use of exclamation marks. Comte-Sponville is a "faithful atheist," maintaining traditional Western Christian morality while not believing in God. He also distinguishes at length between faith (belief) and fidelity (commitment), which combine oftentimes to form piety. As he says:
"Frankly, do you need to believe in God to be convinced that sincerity is preferable to dishonesty, courage to cowardice, generosity to egoism, gentleness and compassion to violence and cruelty, justice to injustice, love to hate?...If you cease believing in God, are you obliged to turn into a coward, a hypocrite, a beast?" [22-23]
Religion's greatest strength, according to him, is consolation in grief. It is the wellspring of society, but it is not necessary for civilization to continue. Comte-Sponville is an atheist philosopher with the most open views that I've ever had the pleasure of reading: truly gentle, tolerant, accepting. He respects theists, nontheists, and atheists equally. He talks about his own "liberation" in deconversion, then in the next paragraph will earnestly discuss those who converted and experienced the same liberation. And he concludes from this seeming paradox, simply, that "all people are different."
So: very sad that I didn't get to read more of this. I would recommend it to anyone interested in theological philosophy. Comte-Sponville surprised even me with his firm neutrality.
