Not at all what I expected. Instead of a treatise on why religion no longer serves society and what has risen up to take its place, this book is more like a lament on the demise of religion and a reluctant suggestion for how to incorporate all the trappings of religion into secular life. NO THANKS. The authors are under the impression that secular society lacks inspiration, connection, awe and wonder, honorable people to look up to, and on and on and on - guess they haven't been paying attention, because it's not difficult to find all of those and more. The authors also want to drum it into your head incessantly that you are "broken" and "sad" and all sorts of other belittling ideas (wow, just like religion does!) - NOPE. We may all be works in progress, but there is nothing inherently WRONG with each of us - certainly nothing that requires submission to some other person or being to overcome. That's a road map for gaslighting and abuse, not for transcendence.

Thank you to Netgalley for providing an ebook copy of this for advanced review!

This is really not very different from 'Religion for Atheists,' which I think came out from the School of Life a few years ago. Some of the sections are incredibly close to what was written there, if not copied verbatim. I still agree wholeheartedly that there really is not enough awe, reverence, compassion, empathy, and honest human connection in our world, and also that belief in supernatural forces should not be a requirement to feel any of those things. Religion has managed to address these concerns to varying degrees of success, and maybe our modern secular world can learn a thing or two when it comes to these needs we all have.

This book would be great for starting conversations about what religion is and what functions it performs. The author has come up with an "alternative" to religion, but as an American Episcopalian, the virtues, rituals, and structures proposed looked quite familiar. The proposed "alternatives" are pretty much Christian values, rituals, and even a liturgical calendar - just with different wording and and updated language.

While I agreed with some of the criticisms of ancient religions, I found it baffling that the "new" alternatives were not new at all. Nonetheless, this book was well written and presented. It would be quite the thing for Anglican discussion groups.

This is not an easy book to review as it's full of food for thought and you need to "grock" it before being able to write something meaningful.
I recommend it because it well written and full of interesting reflections.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.