By Bhogtoram Mawroh
I was very much amused when I saw the letter ‘No country for Athiest’ by Wandashisha Laloo and Darity Wahlang describing the page ‘Shillong Humanist’ as a terrorist organisation. I hope that the authors of the letter understand what a terrorist organisation means. According to the United Nations General Assembly, 1994 terrorism means “Criminal acts intended or calculated to provoke a state of terror in the general public, a group of persons or particular persons for political purposes are in any circumstance unjustifiable, whatever the considerations of a political, philosophical, ideological, racial, ethnic, religious or any other nature that may be invoked to justify them.” By extension a terrorist organisation is one which indulges in such activities. Nowhere in the letter has this definition been found to be suitable for describing the page ‘Shillong Humanist’ (it’s not Humanist Society). They assume that non-belief and not giving credit to the Church as evidence of being a terrorist organisation and by extension its member’s to be terrorists. Of course any rational reader will know that the authors were just ranting and did not know what the terms actually mean and what it implies. My request to the authors is that before using terms in a respectable platform please try to find out its meaning. If they are still confused better avoid using those terms.
But the biggest problem that the letter reveals is the self-righteous attitude of some section of the faithful who have taken it upon themselves to take offense. Here I would to point out a big difference between taking offense and giving offense. Facebook is like echo chambers where when you join a particular group you meet people who adhere to the same ideology. Shillong Humanist as it describes itself is “an eclectic group – theists and atheists, sceptics and contrarians but all committed to rational discussion, civil discourse and sometimes blasphemous humour”. Pay attention to the words ‘discussion’, and ‘discourse’. It is natural that in a page as described as such people who believe in the progress of society through science will try to find faults with any competing belief. This is what a hypothesis building exercise is.
For many in the group they start with the argument that religion is a stumbling block of human progress and therefore try to state facts or their reasoning as to why it is so. Therefore when someone says “religion frustrates progress” it is nothing but an extension of that attempt to prove their hypothesis. Now there are those who might disagree with it. There are two options for people like them: state your argument as to why it is not so or leave the group and join one where they feel more comfortable. It’s a simple choice. But some, like the authors, are not satisfied with the choices. Instead they would like to throttle all those beliefs that are not in sync with their own. The letter ‘No country for Atheist’ is nothing but such an attempt. The authors have taken offense that there are others who don’t subscribe to their belief, and have taken to name calling which exactly proves the point of the members of ‘Shillong Humanist’. Without discussion there can be no progress (I hope the authors agree to this at least) and since these individuals inspired by their beliefs have gone out of the way to stifle discussion, by extension “religion indeed frustrates progress”. And without progress there would be no civilisation. After all, civilization is the pinnacle of human progress.
The letter is nothing more than an incoherent rambling emerging from a self-righteous attitude to put down people or groups who disagree with certain beliefs. It’ pathetic but it’s also sad. I don’t know if there is no country for Atheists but I do know that it’s a free country. Lack of belief is also a belief and like all beliefs its adherents have the right to propagate their message. And I would like to invite all those who believe that the hallmarks of a progressive society are debate, openness, logic, rationality and humanism to come and join the ‘Shillong Humanist’ group. You are always welcome. For those who think otherwise don’t join the group and if you see a post from the group there is a simple tool in Facebook which can help – scroll up or down. And still if you feel that you need to be offended, drink a glass of water, go and meet your loved ones and try to have a nice time with them. All the best!