A slightly unconventional week end column this time, in which we take a closer look at a single subject, but through the lens of a handful of different articles. The focus this time being the state of twentysomething life in America, its particular pressures and obstacles, as well as the apparent lack of religiosity which seems so constitutive of the current generation, at least if the data is to be trusted. The instinct tends to be (and I’m pointing the finger chiefly at myself) blaming abstract forces like Secularization, Science! etc rather than trying to understand the dearth/flight of twentysomethings…
The Mighty Church of TED?
We’ve spoken more than once on here about Alain de Botton, the Swiss thinker who’s been pushing the not entirely unsympathetic idea that there’s a thing or two worth salvaging from religion in a world that’s largely “moved on.” As far as books of its kind go, De Botton’s Religion for Atheists is less of a mixed proposition than most, going far beyond the baby-and-bathwater attitude that characterizes much of the intellectual establishment’s view of Christianity these days (esp in an election year…). De Botton, however, is probably most well-known for the talk he gave at the TEDglobal conference last…
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