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Alain de Botton, writer, philosopher and author of Religion for Atheists: A Non-believer's Guide to the Uses of Religion, looks at what religion offers, even to the agnostic and atheist.

Religion plays a fundamental role in daily life, and in political life, to believers and non-believers both. And while wars have been fought and era-defining antagonisms built for centuries between opposing religions, the relatively recent antagonism between believers and non-believers has reached something of a fever pitch. You can trace it to the Enlightenment, but the likes of Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, and Christopher Hitchens have brought the argument to a head … or maybe to a standstill. Is any kind of progress possible in a debate between religious-believers and atheists? Or is there just a never-breakable impasse between the two worldviews?

Writer and philosopher Alain de Botton discusses his new book A Week at the Airport and what he learned as "writer-in-residence" at Heathrow airport.

European officials struck a deal yesterday to reopen most of Europe's air space to plane travel as early as this afternoon, assuming Iceland's Eyjafjallajokull volcano continues to subside. This would end the worst peacetime travel disruption in history, a travel crisis that has left thousands of passengers stranded for days and cost the airline industry hundreds of millions of dollars. But in the midst of the chaos and inconveniences, one philosopher took a moment to reflect on what our world would look like without airplanes.

We spend much of our adult lives at work--yet what makes employment meaningful is not well understood. Alain de Botton, writer, philosopher, and author of The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work, takes a look at the modern idea that you can do well by doing good.

Event

With millions of jobs lost in this economy, people are reflecting on how important their jobs are -- and not just for the obvious financial reasons. Philosopher Alain de Botton has been thinking about what constitues a meaningful life. For his latest book, "The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work," he followed working people around the world, going behind the scenes with fishermen, career counselors, and cookie manufacturers, to offer perspective on the working person's life.

Tacky architecture can make us cringe. Avant-garde buildings can make us think, "huh?" But according to Alain de Botton, author of The Architecture of Happiness, a well-designed building can be more sublime than most aphrodisiacs. Kurt Andersen asks de Botton which buildings put a smile of ...