Abstract
Tourist atheists see the world as a large buffet, from each item of which they take some pleasure. That is to say, the aim is no longer considered to be something external (in the temple of the universe) but it is the internal pleasure. In this chapter the author explores the idea of ‘tourist atheists as players’, mainly through the idea’s first public appearance in the works of Alain de Botton. Today, de Botton is the face of tourist atheism because he has successfully publicised its core idea which is the atheistic deconstruction of religion. The term ‘atheism 2.0ʹ represents his description of tourist atheism. The point is that we need to interpret his perspective on religion against the backdrop of his version of touristic individualism which is most evident in his other books.
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Notes
- 1.
- 2.
The intriguing fact about Orhan Pamuk is that he is totally aware of the touristic consumption of his novels. So he established a real museum in Istanbul on the basis of the narrative of his novel.
- 3.
I use the terms ‘player’ and ‘tourist’ in the same sense.
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Hashemi, M. (2017). Tourist Atheists as Players. In: Theism and Atheism in a Post-Secular Age. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-54948-4_6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-54948-4_6
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