Atheism

The Belief of Not Believing, written by Ria Godha

“Questions you cannot answer are usually far better for you than answers you

cannot question.”

- Yuval Noah Harari, 21 Lessons for the 21st Century

When questioned about the existence of God, each individual has a different insight

to offer, none being wrong or correct. Theism is the belief in the existence of God,

deities or a supreme, supernatural being. Gnosticism is the belief that human beings have a part of God, divinity and goodness within themselves. Agnosticism is the belief that the existence of God is uncertain because human reason can neither justify nor completely reject the idea. Atheism is the disbelief in the existence of God, deities or a supreme, supernatural being.

Atheism goes way beyond what it stands for. And the first step towards

understanding the belief, is understanding the believers. So, here is a list on the types of atheists you may come along in your life.

● Implicit and Explicit Atheists:- According to George H. Smith’s Atheism:

A Case Against God, implicit atheism refers to “the absence of theistic belief

without a conscious rejection of it” and explicit atheism refers to “the absence

of theistic belief due to a conscious rejection of it”.

● Negative and Positive Atheists:- Negative (or weak or soft) atheism is

when a person does not believe in the existence of God but does not publicly

assert that whereas positive (or strong or hard) atheism is when a person does

not believe in the existence of God and additionally, publicly claims so.

● Atheist Feminists:- An atheist feminist is an advocate for both gender

equality and atheism who believes that religion is responsible for women

oppression.

● Anti-theists:- An anti-theist is against religion and thinks of it as harmful.

● Ritual Atheists:- A ritual atheist does not believe in god or afterlife but

considers some religious practises or traditions useful. Instead of identifying

themselves as religious, they prefer spiritual.

● Freethinkers:- A freethinker forms opinions, theories and conspiracies

about the universe without influence from religions.

● Accommodationists:- An accommodationist highlights the similarities

between religion and science.

For decades, the atheist community has been a victim of persecution and

discrimination. Thirteen Islamic countries can lawfully punish atheism and apostasy

(leaving a religion) by death. Atheists even have to face appalling physical, social and mental abuse such as withdrawal of legal status and execution in cases of apostasy. Following and advocating for atheism can lead to imprisonment under the offence of blasphemy which means talking sacrilegiously about God. As we are growing, we must learn to be liberal, give people a choice to dictate their own lives and be merciful.

Since religion was established, man-kind has changed- for the better or worse is a

debate of another time. Therefore, come forth times we observe sentiments and

beliefs that are held very mighty and preached by our ancestors are what we find

particularly frustrating, inscrutable and oblivious to the real world. We must

acknowledge that religion is not flawless. It is a pity that instead of viewing religion

as a force of unity and well-being, we have made a political agenda out of what was supposed to bring nothing but joy and be nothing but pure. We have started a war between religions, making them compete for which is better instead of realising that they are all magical and knowledgeable in their own way and what is worse is that we have normalised it. “The Hindus and Muslims are rioting again.” “Eh. Tell me

something new.” Every religion is defined by its core values, practises and believers.

Personally, I like to think that religion is a way of living life. And as representers of a

‘Modus Vivendi’, it is our duty, and more so our likes, to do right by our religion. This

means, not using religion as an excuse to be pardoned for our misdeeds, respecting other religions and Atheism, being well-educated and not blind followers and if it comes to it, even questioning our religion when it is going wrong. We are derailing from the true meaning of religion and now it is on us to redeem it from its bad state and remake it into a safe and accepting community, awaken a sense of pride towards religion and give people a cause to have faith in, hope and loved ones to lean on.

The difference between an atheist and a theist is one believes that the universe was created because of the Big Bang and the other believes that the universe was created by God. But have we ever paused to wonder what if God is just another name for the Big Bang? Personally, I believe that God is a figment of our imagination or possibly even a character of a fictional story tale written by what I choose to call a very imaginative and powerful author. He was created to symbolise the good, the kind, egalitarianism, justice and peace. He was made as a refugee for struggling people to share their guilt and sadness and eventually feel better. He was created by humanity for humanity. God is everything you want Him to be- a teacher, a therapist, a leader, a healer, someone who accepts all, someone who doesn’t need you to be perfect to be good. God is the ideal human being.