In a world full of believers, it is interesting to know that currently there are about 450 to 500 million* confirmed non-believers and agnostics on the face of this earth, roughly constituting seven per cent of the world population. Though the percentage value is small, it is actually very encouraging if we factor in the religious, rigid and conservative nature of the societies we live in. Followers of atheism are now one tribe that is set to increase exponentially from now onward. But before we talk of why it is on the rise, it is important that we first revisit our understanding of what a ‘theist' or a 'believer’ stands for.
A theist** is someone who believes in a supernatural intelligence (supreme being) who, in addition to his main work of creating the universe in the first place, is still around to oversee and influence the subsequent fate of his initial creation. In many theistic scriptures and belief systems, the deity is shown to be intimately involved in human affairs. He answers prayers; forgives or punishes sins; intervenes in the world by performing miracles; frets about good and bad deeds, and knows when we do them (or even think of doing them).
Now, if you read this definition again, you may find the description a tad idiotic with comic undertones. How can a supreme being who created the universe in the first place be relegated to someone who gets involved in petty human affairs on a day-to-day basis and takes great delight in doing inconsequential things? Isn't it absurd? But this is exactly what we, as a society, have been believing in without raising eyebrows since time immemorial.
Basis what I have read and understood about the subject at hand, the widespread acceptance and following of religion around the world is primarily because it has been thought to fill four main roles in human life - explanation, persuasion, consolation and inspiration. To understand this, look no further than the ruling class that uses religion as a tool to subjugate the underclass for political reasons, day in and day out. For an instance, black slaves in America were consoled by promises of another life, which blunted their dissatisfaction with this one and thereby benefitted their owners. Thankfully, exposure to alternative theories and organic progression over the centuries have led to a considerable number of people (yes, those seven per cent) realising that humans don't really need a religion to lead fulfilling lives. They have wisened to the fact that absence of religion doesn’t necessarily mean darkness. Science, by virtue of facts and reasoning, alone can enlighten, inspire and guide mankind.
Science can explain almost everything today with sound reasoning. For an instance, Charles Darwin’s Theory of Evolution by natural selection explains the living world in the best possible way. It has not only raised our consciousness but also helped our understanding of the cosmos. So, instead of being guided by religious dogma and chasing illusions, it will help if we follow science as it gives us practical premises to study, investigate and understand the very principles that form the world we live in.
But, let us be practical. The ones (and it forms the majority) who are staunch believers will never come around to scientific way of looking at things, mainly because of their deeply ingrained religious convictions. For them, the religious faith is uniquely privileged and it is something which is above and beyond criticism. So, the chances are bleak. But, there is a possibility that their next generation who could be fence sitters may still forsake religious spectacles altogether and adopt scientific outlook towards life. For most people, the main reason they cling to religion is not that it is consoling but that they have been let down by our educational system and don’t realize that non-belief is even an option. Right from childhood, we are conditioned to become a believer and we never really get to know that becoming an atheist can be a perfectly acceptable choice.
Richard Dawkins, a British ethologist, evolutionary biologist and atheist, advocates an alternative view in his book, The God Delusion. He says, “Any creative intelligence, of sufficient complexity to design anything, comes into existence only as the end product of an extended process of gradual evolution. Creative intelligences, being evolved, necessarily arrive late in the universe, and therefore cannot be responsible for designing it. God, in the sense defined, is a delusion.” This is the best explanation I have ever come across in life. I mean you can't be more convincing than this in your argument against the existence of God.
Looking back at history, we have had a number of famous personalities across spectrum who were non-believers: Confucius, Benjamin Franklin, Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Edison, John Stuart Mill, Karl Marx, Marie Curie, Robert Frost, Albert Einstein, Periyar, Bhagat Singh, Jawaharlal Nehru, Khushwant Singh, Sir Charles Spencer (Charlie Chaplin), George Orwell, Christopher Hitchens and Stephen Hawking among others. Talking of contemporary world, we have Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Angelina Jolie, Richard Dawkins, Amartya Sen, Javed Akhtar, Rahul Bose, Suhel Seth, Bhaichung Bhutia, Vijay Tendulkar etc who wear their atheism on their sleeves. This is just a sample size of individuals who realised over time that science provides better and plausible explanations that are more in sync with our past and presence. They dared to go against the wave. Most of them did so at a time when the society was relatively more rigid and less forgiving.
On the other hand, we have examples of some 'learned' people or the so-called thinkers who not only believed in the concept of God but also came up with their own weird explanations to prove the point. Blaise Pascal, a great French mathematician, summed up his thought process with a mix of logic and humour. He said, “You’d better believe in God, because if you are right you stand to gain eternal bliss and if you are wrong it won’t make any difference anyway. On the other hand, if you don’t believe in God and you turn out to be wrong you get eternal damnation, whereas if you are right it makes no difference. On the face of it the decision is a no-brainer. Believe in God.” Well, there are rational arguments that need to be taken seriously and then there are arguments that need to be only enjoyed for its humour and sophistry. Pascal’s thoughts qualify for the latter.
The point I am trying to drive home here is that we should challenge the established beliefs, customs and traditions if they don’t provide satisfactory answers. Human beings are blessed with faculties to think and reason out. Let’s put them to good use and reassess our association with things we no longer identify ourselves with. The idea is to raise consciousness and look at things from scientific lenses. If religion doesn’t provide logical explanations, let’s be bold enough to reject it. Let there be no fear at all. Let no reward or retribution dominate your thoughts. Albert Einstein, the renowned Theoretical Physicist, once said, “If people are good only because they fear punishment, and hope for reward, then we are a sorry lot indeed.” Being atheist is a realistic aspiration. One can be an atheist who is happy, balanced, moral and intellectually fulfilled. We just need to understand one basic thing. Atheism is not the absence of morality but the ability to think, reason and act. Is that really an unworthy ability to have? Think about it.
*According to sociologists Ariela Keysar and Juhem Navarro-Rivera's review of numerous global studies on atheism, they arrived at the conclusion that 7% of world population are atheists.
**The definition of theist is sourced from Richard Dawkins' The God Delusion.
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