The Duchess (2008)

A story with an unexpected lesson on the devotion of mothers to their offspring. Being based on a true story, it's all the more surprising. Keira Knightley doesn't seem terribly attractive here. Dominic Cooper doesn't raise my blood pressure either. The acting and story carry the movie along well though.

Society without God by Phil Zuckerman

The author spent some time in Scandinavia where belief in Christianity would seem to be strong with nationalized Christian churches. Actually, Denmark and Sweden are the world's most secular nations. Despite this, they consistently rate as the happiest nations in the world.

The author has some interesting theories on why it turned on this way. The Danes and Swedes national religion actually has little in the way of competition. Supported by the government, the church is somewhat complacent compared to the heavy marketing, including Us vs Them message of the American churches.

An interesting question delved into by the author is the question of fear of death. The secular Danes and Swedes seem to have a healthy attitude towards death. They do not fear it, and understand it to be simple ceasing to exist similar to animal death. The author then makes the point, that this is probably a better attitude than the fear and uncertainty caused by the 'question' of heaven or hell.

[It's actually one hell of a crazy marketing tactic: create something which cannot be verified called a soul and say that it survives in another plane of existance where it's immortal, but it can either suffer forever or take it easy forever. In fact, it plays on the human aversion to loss. Does one accept this next to impossible explanation for existance or accept a more mundane one that the end is the end, and lose out on the possibility of heaven? Diabolical. And if it works on a community, it makes the population hugely more piable for enforcing norms. I.e. thou shalt not covet they neighbors wife or risk hell, etc.]