Secular Humanism: A Religion for Atheists?

http://business.in.com/article/ideas-to-change-the-world/alain-de-botton-a-religion-for-atheists/13532/1

I came across this article and was intrigued by the idea of a religion for atheists, written by Alain de Botton. He says a secular religion will do three things. One, it will put a person in context by making him/her feel small against the world. This would happen through art, architecture, landscaping, and so on. Second, the purpose of art would return to a kind of propaganda for virtues instead of shock and surprise. Art would elevate what we should aspire to be. And thirdly, it would remind us to be pessimistic and have feast days (analogous to Catholic feast days) to despair and disappointment.

I'm not sure if I agree with his picture of what a secular religion would look like, especially the third premise, or even if one could call it a religion. While interesting, I don't see why de Botton claims secular religion should be pessimistic. If anything, why not create motivation to improve one's self and the world? That, at least, is a facet of classical religion I wouldn't mind seeing kept.

I recommend looking into, as I have said before, secular humanism (http://www.secularhumanism.org/). I feel this gives us a framework for a secular religion that incorporates some of what de Botton recommends, but also is more hopeful and uplifting.