Religion for Atheists: A Non-Believer's Guide to the Uses of Religion (29 page)

3.
It has already been conceded that a book cannot achieve very much on its own. It can, however, be a place to lay down ambitions and begin to sketch out some intellectual as well as practical trajectories. The essence of the argument presented here is that many of the problems of the modern soul can successfully be addressed by solutions put forward by religions,
once these solutions have been dislodged from the supernatural structure within which they were first conceived. The wisdom of the faiths belongs to all of mankind, even the most rational among us, and deserves to be selectively reabsorbed by the supernatural's greatest enemies. Religions are intermittently too useful, effective and intelligent to be abandoned to the religious alone.

I am deeply indebted to the following for their help in the writing, thinking through or production of this book: Deirdre Jackson, Dorothy Straight, Joana Niemeyer, Richard Baker, Cecilia Mackay, Grainne Kelly, Richard Holloway, Charles Taylor, Mark Vernon, John Armstrong, James Wood, A. C. Grayling, Robert Wright, Sam Harris, Terry Eagleton, Niall Ferguson, John Gray, Lucienne Roberts, Rebecca Wright, Simon Prosser, Anna Kelly, Juliette Mitchell, Dan Frank, Nicole Aragi, Caroline Dawnay, Phil Chang and his team, Thomas Greenall, Jordan Hodgson, Nigel Coates and Charlotte, Samuel and Saul de Botton.

Andrew Aitchison:
2.16
; akg-images:
3.3
,
4.6
; akg-images/Stefan Drechsel:
9.3
(left); Alamy/ Gari Wyn Williams:
3.7
; Archconfraternity of San Giovanni Decollato, Rome:
8.6
(left); Archivio Fotografico Messaggero S. Antonio Editrice/Giorgio Deganello:
4.9
; Arktos:
9.2
; Axiom/Timothy Allen:
2.2
; Richard Baker:
4.1
,
4.2
,
4.15
,
4.17
,
4.18
,
4.19
,
4.20
,
10.5
;
Every Word Unmade
, 2007, by Fiona Banner, courtesy of the Artist and Frith Street Gallery, London:
8.3
; from
Brigitte et Bernard
© Audrey Bardou:
8.5
(below); from
The Roman Missal, 1962
© Baronius Press, 2009:
2.7
; Nathan Benn:
2.14
; Jean-Christophe Benoist:
1.2
; © Bibliothèque Nationale de France:
4.16
; Big Pictures:
6.2
; Bridgeman Art Library/Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris:
10.10
; Bridgeman/British Library, London:
3.1
; Bridgeman/Chiesa del Gesù, Rome:
9.3
(right); Bridgeman/Church of the Gesuiti, Venice/Cameraphoto Arte Venezia:
1.1
; Bridgeman/Duomo, Siena:
2.9
; Bridgeman/ Fitzwilliam Museum, University of Cambridge:
4.13
; Bridgeman/Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence:
5.1
,
8.4
(above); Bridgeman/Galleria dell' Accademia Carrara, Bergamo:
5.4
; Bridgeman/Hermitage, St Petersburg:
8.21
(below); Bridgeman/Neil Holmes:
9.7
; Bridgeman/© Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston:
8.17
; Bridgeman/Musée des Beaux-Arts et d'Archéologie, Besançon/Giraudon:
8.8
(above); Bridgeman/Musée du Louvre, Paris/Giraudon:
8.1
,
8.16
; Bridgeman/Museo di San Marco dell'Angelico, Florence/Giraudon:
8.18
(above); Bridgeman/Musée d'Unterlinden, Colmar:
8.7
; Bridgeman/National Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Sarajevo/Photo © Zev Radovan:
2.11
; Bridgeman/Noortman Master Paintings, Amsterdam:
6.1
; Bridgeman/Prado, Madrid:
8.14
(above); Bridgeman/Private Collection:
4.7
; Bridgeman/St Peter's, Vatican City:
8.12
(above); Bridgeman/Scrovegni Chapel, Padua:
3.4
; by kind permission of the Syndics of Cambridge University Library:
3.6
; Camera Press, London/Butzmann/Laif:
2.6
; © Nicky Colton-Milne:
2.12
; from the
Garden Ruin
series © François Coquerel:
8.9
(below); Corbis/Robert Mulder/Godong:
2.15
; Corbis/Bob Sacha:
4.11
; Jean-Pierre Dalbéra:
10.11
,
10.12
; Fczarnowski:
5.2
; Peter Aprahamian/Freud Museum, London:
3.8
(below); Gabinetto Fotografico Nazionale, Rome:
8.6
(right); from the
Remember Me
series © Preston Gannaway/Concord Monitor:
8.13
(below); Getty Images:
8.19
(below),
9.1
,
10.4
; Thomas Greenall & Jordan Hodgson:
2.10
,
2.18
,
3.5
,
3.8
(above),
4.8
,
5.5
,
6.4
,
7.1
,
8.11
,
8.23
,
9.6
,
9.8
,
9.11
,
10.3
,
10.6
(below); Dan Hagerman:
10.8
; from
The Sunday Missal
© HarperCollins, 1984:
4.12
;
istockphoto.com
:
9.10
(above); Rob Judges:
4.3
;
New York
, c.1940, by Helen Levitt © Estate of Helen Levitt, courtesy Laurence Miller Gallery, New York:
8.15
(below); Linkimage/Gerry Johansson:
2.1
;
Red Slate Circle
, 1987, by Richard Long. Courtesy of the Artist and Haunch of Venison, London © Richard Long. All Rights Reserved. DACS, 2010:
8.22
(below); Mary Evans Picture Library:
2.17
; © Mazur/catholicchurch.org.uk:
2.4
,
2.5
,
2.8
,
8.10
(below); © Museum of London:
9.10
; Naoya Fujii:
9.5
; PA Photos/AP/Bernat Armangue:
2.13
; PA Photos/Balkis Press/Abacapress:
10.7
; Panos Pictures/Xavier Cevera:
4.4
; John Pitts:
9.10
(below); from
Contrasts
, 1841, by A.W.N. Pugin:
9.4
; Reuters/Yannis Behrakis:
6.3
; Reuters/STR:
10.9
; Rex Features:
3.5
(inset),
4.14
; Lucienne Roberts & David Shaw:
3.2
,
10.6
(above); Scala/Art Institute of Chicago:
5.5
(inset); Scala/Pierpont Morgan Library, New York:
4.5
,
4.10
; Scala/ White Images:
8.20
(above);
Untitled – October 1998
, by Hannah Starkey, courtesy Maureen Paley, London:
2.3
; Mathew Stinson:
5.3
;
National Gallery I, London 1989
by Thomas Struth, courtesy of the artist and Marian Goodman Gallery, New York/Paris © Thomas Struth:
8.2
; Westminster Cathedral, London:
8.10
(above); Katrina Wiedner: 140,
9.9
.

Italic
page numbers indicate illustrations