By Albert Thyrniang
A blathering letter by two individuals as a rejoinder to an article that envisaged free education for under-privileged children triggered a plethora of responses from concerned citizens who viewed the position of the duo in calling Meghalaya Atheists Society (MAS) as radicalised terrorists unwarranted. Seemingly the writer of the article is associated with MAS which aims to mobilise funds to ensure free education for the thousands of disadvantaged children in Meghalaya. The ‘computer programmer and teacher’ looks to be supporter of the “humanist society” and is vocal in the social media expressing his contempt for religion. That is the reason the pair took upon themselves to declare that there is no cpuntry for atheists.
Before my pen rolls on let me have my say on the reaction by a person branding my statement that caste system is religiously sanctioned as a mere supposition. Well, if the four main castes represent God’s own body parts then the system is religiously sanctioned. Further the Supreme Court’s definition of Hinduism as a way of life does not mean it is not a religion. By and large Hinduism is regarded as a religion.
For me there is space for atheists and atheism. It is a free world! Atheists have equal rights. It goes without saying. An online research clearly reveals that atheists are in all the continents and in all the countries. In fact studies show that the number of atheists is rising. An online article in 2012 reported that the global poll released by Red C Opinion Polls found that the number of self-declared atheists in the world rose by 9% since 2005. Another report in 2019 might shock many. The General Social Survey for the first time in the US history revealed that atheists constitute the largest ‘religious’ group in the country increasing by a massive 266% in the past three decades to account for 23.1% edging out Catholics, the nation’s most dominant faith. Notably most of the atheists in the US are relatively young men.
In many European countries atheists make up even a larger share of the population than in the U.S. A report informs that in Western Europe the Pew Research Center’s survey in 15 countries in 2017 found the highest concentration of atheists in Belgium (19%), Denmark (16%), France (15%), Germany (15%), Netherlands and Sweden (14%) and United Kingdom (13%).
In India, reportedly, there are about 2.9 million atheists. Atheistic thought is part of the Indian and Asian cultures for millennia.The ancient religions of Jainism and Buddhism in particular may be considered atheistic religions in the sense they are not theistic religions. There are also atheistic philosophies like the Carvaka and Ajivika (6th century BC). Even in Hinduism atheistic schools like theSamkhya and the Mimamsa schools rejected the idea of a creator God. Elements of atheism are also present in ancient religious texts.
On the global scale there at least 23% who think they are not religious and 13% who call themselves convinced atheists. So why is there no country for atheists? Why should there be no space for non-believers in Meghalaya? Meghalaya is a free state (not a Christian state) like any other state in India.
Now, atheism is a very broad concept. It includes agnostics, rationalists and sceptics. An agnostic professes that the existence of God and the supernatural is unknown. He/she does not deny God’s existence per se. An agnostic merely states that he does not know. This is a fair position and we need not lose sleep if there are agnostics among us. We should be alarmed instead at those who claim they are too certain of things regarding faith. The dreaded Taliban, the ISIS, the Boko Haram, Al–Qaeda and other religious fundamentalist groups think they definitely know their mission comes from God and consider killing ‘infidels’ as God’s will and are duty bound to carry out the assignment on behalf of God. The Church, through the secular arm executed heretics up to 18th century because it was sure that heresy was a certain deviation from the dogmas. Apostates were also condemned because the Church and other religions ‘knew’ for certain that abandonment of one’s faith was against God’s will. Even today heresy, apostasy and blasphemy are punishable crimes, including death in some Muslim countries. In India some Hindu fundamentalist elementsare sure cow is divine. They resent against those who don’t believe so and even lynch suspects of beef carriers.
Rationalists and sceptics appeal to reason and are against blind faith, superstition and certain religious and social practices that are deemed unreasonable. Thus witchcraft and black magic are irrational. The advent of Coronavirus saw superstitious frenzies of chanting ‘go corona go’, drum beating, lighting of candles and diyas and flashing of torchlights and mobile lights propagated not by the ignorant but by the PM himself. Now, with more than three millions cases we know COVID-19 will be beaten by vaccines and not by superstitions. Clearly rationalists and sceptics have a place in the society and can contribute to its progress.
Rationalism even made an intrusion into religion to be called religious rationalism. Thanks to it, scientific and the philosophical advancement took place. The Galileos and Isaac Newtons were born. Church Fathers like Thomas Aquinas were, in a sense, rationalists as they argued that part of the revealed truth is demonstrable by reason.
Sometime last year a politician on television declared that she became an atheist because 12 children were burnt alive in a fire that broke out in a residential area. She stated that if there was Jesus, or Buddha or Ram or any other god those children should not have died. So atheism is existential. Most religions believe that God is all powerful and all good. But there is much suffering, misery, poverty, calamities, sickness, violence, division, inequality, injustice, et al. Most of the sufferers are innocent. If God is good, sympathetic and kind why doesn’t he remove these evils? If he wills he can because he is all powerful. Why God has to entrust human beings to try to remove these ills? Suffering was there 200,000 years ago, is still there now and it will be there forever.
The world, human beings and creation as a whole are imperfect. If God is perfect why doesn’t he make everything perfect? Why humans and other species have to undergo the ‘humiliating’, painful and long process of evolution. Will we ever achieve perfection? If atheists ask these questions shouldn’t they be heard? Should their queries be anathema?
Theists turn to the ‘cosmological’ proof for the existence of God. There is nothing as mind boggling as attempting to comprehend the cosmos. Even by the latest ingenious physics the universe is immeasurable as it is ever expanding. The whole Universe is estimated to be 250 times larger than the observable Universe. There are at least two trillion observable galaxies each measuring between 1,000 to 100,000 parsecs in diameter (approximately 3,000 to 300,000 light years). Our galaxy alone, the Milky Way has more than 100 thousand million stars, the Sun the only one among them.The size and scale, splendours and marvels of the universe with all the heavenly bodies in perfect order makes it impossible to think that there is no creator, designer and ‘sustainer’.
To add to the indescribable grandeur is the sheer beauty of nature and its complexity and variety of biology on the earth. With 391,000 plants species and counting and the incomplete list of 8.7 million animal species,the only known living planet is a miracle. The complexity of DNA makes scientists wonder struck. To say that accident is the author is unreasonable. If atheists are still unconvinced is up to them.
Theists and atheists are not poles apart. They share a common trait – faith. Theists need faith to believe in the existence of God though it is impossible to prove so. Similarly, atheists require faith to say there is no God because they cannot scientifically prove the non-existence of the entity they dislike. There are Youtube videos and literature to explain that it takes more faith to deny the existence of God than to believe in God. It takes more faith to be an atheist than to be a believer.
With all said and done atheists have space to live meaningfully and commit themselves to doing good. Good can be done just for its own sake and not necessarily for a higher cause. The Meghalaya Atheists Society (MAS) whose members are humanists can undertake the noble project of launching its ‘Pending Project’ by giving free education to poor children as eloquently, lucidly and articulately spelled out in their ‘vision statement’. They are not to be deterred in their endeavour.
Atheists can consider religion an obstruction to progress, see God as unnecessary and perceive religious beliefs and practices superstitious. There is no need to be threatened for they do no harm. Instead be suspicious of fanatical believers who commit atrocities, violate human rights and are downright intolerant.