One of the many questions that haunt me is ‘does God exist?’
Whenever I ask myself that question a huge debate is set off in my head.
I watched a talk given by a gentleman called Richard Dawkins. Link- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VxGMqKCcN6A.
I was bowled over by his confidence and his determined belief that there is no such entity as God. He propounded the Atheist line of beliefs. Personally, I don’t like that word. Atheism. It sounds rude and offensive. I also believe I’m not a true atheist. I’m more of a person who doesn’t believe in religion and the numerous ideas that go with it.
But, I do believe in God though it’s not the same as a theist‘s belief in God. However, I’m not even an Agnostic. That word sounds low too. If you watch the video link above, you can see that Mr Dawkins talks about another terminology- a tooth-fairy agnostic. Now that may describe what I am but it’s not even close. For more clarity about Atheist beliefs please refer the link above because I won’t be discussing it here.
On the contrary, I will try to pen down what I do believe in.
Let’s start off at the grass root level. As little children, we’re all told stories of Gods, superhumans, miracles and faith. It’s all in good health. But we fail to realize that these stories are just that. Stories. To make us learn what it means to be humble and polite and truthful. The last lesson is the most important of all. Being truthful, both to others and yourself.
The mind of a person in search of truth is never stale. It remains ever curious and questions everything but accepts the truth.
All of you who are reading this post have been educated in schools which have taught the scientific methodology. So it must mean you would have grown up to have a scientific mind which questions everything. But more than half of us in the same position as you, don’t think twice before accepting religious beliefs. Why is that so? Why do we fail to question the existence of superhuman beings on earth when we know that we evolved from apes and there has been no further evolution of homo sapiens sapiens to date? Has our scientific education bailed on us? Or are we so hung up in our tradition that we are blind to the proofs staring at us?
Now coming to the agnostic belief. It basically means that you believe in God. But as a formless force which governs the Universe. I can be sure that I am not an agnostic as I believed I was when I was 12. Of course, I don’t follow a faith. But I can’t accept the fact that we’re so weak to lay our troubles and problems on an unknown force and believe that which we don’t even know for sure exists, to relieve us of our problems. However, I believe in the theory of God of the gaps.
Here’s what the theory says-
The phrase God of the gaps refers to a view of God as existing in the “gaps” or aspects of reality that are currently unexplained by scientific knowledge.*
From time immemorial, man has always been fascinated by the Unknown. And he has always attributed this to the presence of a force far above his grasp.
In the early days of human existence, man was frightened by the flashes of light in the sky and the roar of the clouds which we know today as lightning and thunder. But man thought that the gods were angry at him and he must please them with animal/human sacrifices. Now we know why and how these phenomena take place. There’s nothing godly about them. We also know that man is not the centre of the Universe around whom it revolves.
But before this revelation took place, religions were born. I never quite understood the relevance of religion in today’s society. It must have served as doctrines or rules that helped unruly subjects stay faithful to their kings. But that’s where its usefulness ends. It’s more of a leash to keep a check on the human brain’s wild thoughts.
When in today’s world, we encourage our children to keep an open mind and give them the freedom to express their thoughts through every way possible including blogs like these, then why do we restrain them with an epidemic called religion which threatens to stagnate the ever learning brain?
It’s high time we end this debate on whether to follow a religion or not.
That’s because there is no debate and no time. We’ve got to stop this madness before it implodes and swallows the whole of mankind.
*For more information, follow this link– http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/God_of_the_gaps
Potpourri 
In the earlier days .. whatever was inexpiable was attributed to a supernatural being in short god .. it was an attempt to take credit for solving the mystery .. to give a pat at the back of ego of human beings who are in constant search of knowledge to prove their superiority …
Human beings by nature are chaotic and destructive .. to contain the anarchy inside .. u need to channelize the energy somewhere else .. so few very intelligent guys came out with the concept of religion to bring peace among the general mass both at internal and communal level.
But then again, u will find corrupt people everywhere they started twisting rules bending them to get profit out of the blind followers ..
and the story continues…
to cut the story short .. it’s a natural tendency to slack off .. to take the easier path .. being atheist is not easy it is actually harder than being a believer .. as a believer u have the luxury viz. the psychological comfort that there is someone greater than u to look after u, to save your ass when u r in trouble .. being an atheist you are on your own .. u will fight alone .. succeed alone or fail alone .. no one to blame but self.
Atheism is a choice to take responsibility , to believe in yourself.
I am neither an atheist nor a believer but an opportunist .. mold yourselves as the situation demands is my moto 😛
Well said Aritra 🙂 But again ‘Opportunist’ has a negative feel to it 🙂 So I wouldn’t describe myself as that 🙂
You dont have to be religious or agnostic or atheist or an opportunist to be Spiritual 🙂
N being Spiritual is the essence of religion. rituals, n theories from the junk and useless part of it.
N i do agree that being spiritual is very difficult. Because in this age of apples and blackberries we never take time to appreciate the 1st rain drops falling on our face. 🙂
Being Spiritual gives you the strength as well a moment to feel and appreciate the power of life that we all have.
Nonetheless a well written article. M sure u’ve put in a lot of thought while writing this.
N i remember discussing this with you in person while going to IISc.. God of Gaps 🙂
How is appreciating finer things in life Spiritual? You dont have to believe in a God to smell a flower and smile.
Being Spiritual need not always mean believing in god.
But you said being Spiritual is the essence of religion. If its not believing in God, what is it? Realising Brahman, achieving Moksha (Salvation), every book and every Spiritually inclined person teaches these things through worshipping the Supreme. If that’s not believing in God what is?
aha .. u can’t get it all .. u have to make a trade-off ..
but if u think about what i said earlier you will find to a degree all of us adapt to the need .. e.g
Example 1 : “I have topped the exam .. yo…”
but
Example 2 : “Bhagwan why didn’t make the rain happen .. my crops got ruined … ;(”
when it comes to taking credit .. we will be the first in queue but for blaming we have our all powerful god 🙂
very few people can actually accept their faults
and funnily unless u accept .. u can’t evolve to the next level of fixing the fault.
So u see .. u can;t have all +ve and goody goody stuff .. u will need to dirty yourself a bit no matter what 🙂
Yeah. But I’m just saying the word Opportunist doesn’t do justice to my belief. I’ll have to invent a new word 🙂
Well, I would say religion is indispensable until you start thinking about self or even realize there is something called self. Basically religion is more like a castle with sentinel around (of course our imagination or cognitive limitation) till you find a door way out.
It was indispensible. Think about a world where religion doesn’t exist anymore. Where every person could think scientifically. The curiosity and thirst for knowledge whether it be about the Universe outside or Self would be heightened and we would be approaching the same in the right direction. No ambiguity. Know what you know for sure, try to know what you don’t. I don’t see the need for even a shadow of Religion in this process..
Good stuff. So I guess you are looking for a word to describe ‘God-of-the-gaps’ believers. Or will such a word also be too low? 🙂
I hadn’t seen Dawkins’ TED talk before. He’s always very compelling. I am sure you would have also seen his documentary ‘Root of all evil?’.
As far as religion goes, I agree with what you have to say about how it came about. I am just not so radically opposed to it – I don’t want to see religion eradicated as such, because history has shown us that it’s the best way of getting things done. Most art and architecture that survive to this day (like all the temples in South India) are only there because of belief and faith. The world would be poorer without it.
And lastly, I don’t think anyone ties religion and science together as (amazingly) well as Asimov in his short story – Nightfall.
http://www.astro.sunysb.edu/fwalter/HON114/Nightfall.htm
Hello Shwetha,
I am Ajith’s colleague & happened to chance upon your interesting blog. You have very well articulated your thoughts & the thought process seemed natural enough for your age.
I hope you wouldn’t mind if I lent my perspective to the discussion.
Religion in my opinion & experience is nothing more than a framework, following which we can attain our goal. And what is THE goal? is it attaining moksha? having a peaceful life? respecting/accommodating other beliefs? well, it is each of these, all of these & more than these.
That is the beauty of a religion! It draws a framework for you – you can work YOUR own goal & also work YOUR own way towards it. To give you an analogy, religion is like the curriculum in a school/college – mind you, curriculum doesn’t “tell” you that you have to score a distinction (THE goal!). All it does is, it gives you the boundaries, adhering to which you may score a distinction (if that was your goal!).
You may ask, why is there a boundary in first place, doesn’t it curb our instinctive thinking? But if you think about it, the religious customs that we are asked to follow make us more disciplined in life than anything else. Following customs isn’t the goal in itself (like how it has been perceived now!!). Customs, traditions lead us to a bigger goal. Raise yourself beyond the customs & traditions, not by showing dissent, but by understanding the essence of it & marching towards YOUR goal.
Look at spiritual (Yes! not religious) achievers around you, do they adhere to ALL the customs that we are bound to? NO! Because, they have trained their body & minds enough & the petty customs are no longer a necessity. For the society in general (a heterogeneous mix of individuals!) customs & traditions are necessary to channel the body & along with the mind too in the initial stages.
The same way we can’t do away with a curriculum, I am not sure if we can channel/direct the society towards their goals, without a religion!
—
Amith