A Replacement for Religion

Many of us find ourselves in the odd situation of not believing in religion, but nevertheless being interested in it, moved by it and sympathetic to some of its aims. We may enjoy religious art and architecture, music and community, and even some of the rituals – while being unable to believe in the divine. This book is about those feelings and what we might do about them.

The School of Life is fascinated by the gaps left in modern society by the gradual disappearance of religion. As a secular organisation, we’re interested in the difficulties we face in finding a sense of community, how rituals are dying out and the way in which we sometimes crave the solemn quiet found in religious buildings.

A Replacement for Religion lays out how we might absorb the best lessons of religion, update them for our times and incorporate them into our daily lives: it tries to rescue some of what remains wise and useful from that which (for many of us) no longer seems quite true.