I want to take us on a slightly different journey, which is that it seems to me the history of Judeo-Christianity is the history of the utter failure of religion over thousands of years. What religion's basically about is knows. And I said, ritual, how you behave, all that sort of thing. They get that wrong and it destroys their relationship with their creator. That is the history throughout the Old Testament. Let's fast forward to what I think is the most, probably the most shocking account in the whole of Scripture. You will know the story of Abraham and Sarah many, many years of Sarah's barrenness. He deceives his servants. He builds an altar.
This is not a debate of religion vs. secularism. This is a debate about where and how the values in life are found, produced, and experienced. Some would argue that atheism has gone too far and there needs to be some point of unity to rally a sense of community around - what will fill a God shaped hole? And to what extent is religion defined by its practices versus the belief in a God?
This animated, and often humorous debate brings together writer and philosopher Alain de Botton, Turner Prize winning artist Grayson Perry, writer and broadcaster Anne Atkins, and Benedictine monk Dom Antony Sutch, along with host Tony Curzon Price, editor of openDemocracy. Together our panel debate whether or not the practices associated with religion are appropriate for those without a God and if a God is removed from religion what is left but a system of control and why is that something some secularists want?
This event was recorded on the 24th January 2012 at The Tabernacle, in London. The original producer was Executive Producer Hannah Kaye and editing was by Daisy Moll
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