(RNS) In “Religion for Atheists: A Non-Believer's Guide to the Uses of Religion,” Alain de Botton proposes ways atheists can borrow some of the rituals, practices and other trappings of religion and adapt them to build a better secular society.

Here are four of de Botton's proposals as explained on the book's website (www.religionforatheists.com):

1. Temples

“As religions have always known, a beautiful building is an indispensable part of getting your message across. Books alone won't do it. De Botton argues that you definitely don't need a god or gods to justify a temple. You can build a temple to anything that's positive and good. That could mean: a temple to love, friendship, perspective, calm, generosity.”

2. Therapy

“Going to see a priest used to be the old way of dealing with your problems. You'd go to the priest with your worries about death, your troubles at work, with money and with family.

However, with the decline in religious belief has come an end to the role of the priest for many people. What has sometimes stepped in to fill the gap is psychotherapy. But, unfortunately, therapy is currently for the few and for the brave.

That's because therapy tends to take place in obscure and forbidding locations and lacks proper branding and high-street appeal. Therefore, it continues to be viewed as arcane and frightening by many.

De Botton thinks that the secular world should learn from religions and properly replace the priests of old. Therefore, he's putting forward a proposal for an international chain of high-street psychotherapists, which would place therapy where it needs to be, right at the heart of our everyday lives, catering to a basic need not so different to our need for an aspirin or a bunch of flowers.”

3. Museums

“The museum shouldn't be a neutral space for laying out the artworks of the past like a giant library or catalogue. It should be a place to convert you to something.

Try to imagine what would happen if modern secular museums took the example of churches more seriously. What if they too decided that art had a specific purpose — to make us good and wise and kind — and tried to use the art in their possession to prompt us to be so? What if they gave up on the neutral, bland captions they tend to use, and put beneath each picture a really directive set of commands, telling us, for example, 'Look at this image and remember to be patient' — or 'Use this sculpture to meditate on what you too could do to bring about a fairer world?'”

4. Hotels

“The tradition of religious retreats reveals a need for a new kind of establishment, a secular hotel for the soul, devoted to satisfying with intelligence and artistry the psychological as well as physical needs of its clientele. Such a hotel would humbly study the extraordinarily structured ways in which Buddhism approaches the topic of relaxation, as well as casting an eye across other faiths and psychological schools in order to arrive at programs for the care of our troubled minds that would extend beyond the lamentable solutions currently on offer.”

Source: Religion for Atheists website (www.religionforatheists.com)