Religion Vs Atheism

Religion and atheism are two contrasting ideologies that man believes. Religion is older than atheism and it has certain concepts and rituals, which are followed by its followers. At first, man believed in religion in which nature was involved. Early man may have thought that it was God, who makes rain along with lightning and thunder, and when they progressed, they may even think that God had created Earth for them. We have enough archaeological shreds of evidence for the religious ideas and worshiping of Homo Sapiens from the different parts of the world through intentional burials before 300,000 years and also the earliest evidence for the Paganist religious concepts have been found. We have even found the earliest form of Shiva, a god in Hinduism, who was known at that time as Pashupati (Proto-Shiva). The actual concept of religion was developed in the 16th and 17th centuries.

When science progressed a little bit, man understood that rain was happening as a part of the water cycle and it was not God who does it. Slowly, science progressed and man realized many natural facts which were thought to be done by God. But the majority of people could not swallow pure science and they still believed in God that, he or she was creating such phenomena.

From the Vedic age to the present, we developed many religions and lots of people practicing them. Hinduism, Christianity, Islam, Jainism, Zoroastrianism, and even the latest religion had been developed, which see microchips as Gods!

Buddha made Buddhism. Through his disciples, he propagated his own philosophies and he didn’t say to pray to a single person or the Almighty everyone says. He was an agnostic. Before his death, he maintained his ideologies in his disciples but after his death, his disciples turned into many forming three types of Buddhism namely Theravada, Mahayana, and Tibetan Buddhism, and because of this Buddhism lost its prominence.

The same tragedy had happened to Jainism. When Jainism split into two, namely, Svethambaras and Digambaras, it also lost its prominence.

Jesus, a good philosopher was crucified because he was accused that he tried to create his own empire and at that time crucifixion for sinners who were against the Roman Emperor was common. The Roman Governor, Pontius Pilate, who knew that Jesus was innocent, could have helped him. But unfortunately, he stood with the Jewish leaders and he conducted a trial and ordered to crucify Jesus. And Jesus was crucified before his mother, Friends, and other people. It is said that Jesus had suffered for humankind and he washed away all the sins of humankind. On the third day, he had got up from death to life, which people say ‘resurrection’.

But anyway according to common human logic, we could understand a man who died cannot get back to life and I guess that the story of resurrection is a colorful epic created by the Christian priests to declare Jesus as an eternal God. Through that, a great religion rose inside the peoples’ minds.

In the 18th century, there only existed people who believed in God. Because of this, atheism was even questioned.

Religion has tightened its fists and the whole of humankind is trapped inside that. There were many dark centuries when Churches and Brahmins ruled. Human beings even give their life in the name of God. Crusades are the best example of that.

Religions are of three types namely Polytheistic, dualistic and monotheistic. An example of polytheistic religion is Hinduism, which has 333 deities. But it is having a monotheistic view that Brahman is the ultimate power and it is the only one, which forms 333 deities before us and we are the ones to choose any one of the deities to worship, and through them to reach the concept of Brahman.

Zoroastrianism by Zarathustra or Zoroaster is a dualistic religion that has two deities. They are good God and Evil God. The religion says that the followers should help the good God, Ahura Mazda, in his battle with evil God. This Religion also has a good point that there are two Gods for good and evil and therefore the evil people are influenced by the evil God. The question of how is evil coming to this world if there is a God is a Question which most monotheistic religions do big Gymnastics to say, and in dualistic religions, it is easy.

Sikhism is an example of monotheistic religion. People believe in Guru Nanak and his great philosophies about life. Guru Nanak was a rare man who had a different way of thinking. He tried to create a social linking between people to have food from lungar, a common kitchen.

There is also another form of concept, who believes in God, which is known as Pantheism. Pantheism is a concept in which God is given the equal status of the Universe or in other words, we could define it as the concept in which the Universe is thought to be God. The word pantheism was first coined by Joseph Raphson, a mathematician, in 1697. Barunch Spinoza, a 17th-century philosopher made pantheism popular in western culture through his book, Ethics. The word pantheism was derived from πᾶν pan, which means all, of everything and θεός theos, which means God or divine. Giordano Bruno, the martyr of science, the Great cosmologists, and philosophers were also pantheistic. While saying about good Gods, we have to say about Satan worship also. The Order of Nine Angles is one of the famous Satan-worshipping religions which says their own followers violate the social taboos by doing crimes and isolating themselves from society. They are based in The U.K. They propagate their ideas through their own magazine called Fenrir.

Some people also think that Illuminati is also a Satan-worshipping religion or organization. Actually, it was an organization formed in the 17th century, 1 May 1776, Ingolstadt, in Germany for the protection of scientists. The Catholic Church made it a Satan-worshipping organization in the peoples’ minds. This organization was found by Adam Weishaupt. Its actual name is Bavarian Illuminati. This organization doesn’t exist today and many people, especially robbers still uses Illuminati as a tag to steal money from people who think Illuminati is a Satanic organization, and when they join such online groups, these smart thieves drain their money.

Now, we want to enter atheism. We all know that atheism is the concept that no God exists. They believe that Gods are the imaginations of man. They think with more logic than a theist. The word atheism comes from the Greek word ἄθεος, which means no God. We can recall a famous quoting upon atheism by Ernest Hemmingway in his book, The Farewell of Arms that “Every thinking man are Atheists.”

We can assure that newborn babies are also atheists because they do not know anything about God or any religion.

Atheism also has some divisions such as Agnostic atheists, Agnostic theists, and so on. An agnostic atheist says that they do not believe in any God and they do not know about the existence of God. An agnostic theist believes in a deity, but he is also not sure whether God exists or not. Agnosticism is uncertainty about the existence of God.

Atheism is also a concept which helps a person to understand more science and enjoy the beauty of true facts. The entire person who believes in God paved its seed inside his or her mind and slowly the people around him or her injects his or her mind that there is a God and we must pray to him. The spiritual odyssey of a human child starts like that. Some people will trust it deeply and some will be pantheistic and some agnostic and the seekers reach to complete atheism.

A complete atheist will have a good mind and he will realize that instead of pray, work must be done for the progress of an individual and for the world.

Is there a God or is he dead? This is a question which people ask themself. Some say God is the supreme power that sustains life on Earth, energy on the Sun, and the mystery of the Universe.

The religions were created by man to propagate new ideologies and philosophies. The persons who had created religions may never have thought about their religions misused like nowadays. The religions existing all over the world have many good essences, which tries to light up human minds. But unfortunately, today the priests and the heads of every religious society are just trying to expand their own religion by increasing the number of their followers. No leader of a particular religion tries to accept or tolerate another religion’s faith. Every religious leader proclaims that only their religion and faiths are accurate. So we can’t expect any religion existing today could unite the whole society. So in order to unite society, instead of the faith in religions, we must realize the importance of science and technology. First, we must educate every citizen on the world and must understand the basic principles of existence. We all must develop our tolerance to tolerate all faiths. Paradise and hell are not something that waits for you after your death, but something that we could create in our small world. In my opinion, the world must unite with humanity and equality.

Here we can recall a religion named Din-I-llahi, made by the Great Mughal Emperor Akbar, in 1582. This religion was based on natural logic. This religion is very special because there are no priests, no holy books, no Idols, and therefore no worship in this religion. Those who believe in this religion used to come and interact to debate upon different facts and problems existing in the society. Akbar took the good essence of religions such as Islam, Hinduism, Jainism, Christianity, and Zoroastrianism. In 1575, he constructed Ibadat Khana (House of Worship), in Fatehpur Sikri, to promote debates upon philosophical and religious issues. Akbar never compelled anyone to join his religion and his great lesson for all those of the people was to tolerate everyone’s faith. Birbal, Abu’lFazi ibn Mubarak and so on persons were the initiated disciples of Din-I-llahi.

Religion must not be a log to science because, without scientific development, man cannot acquire the secret of the Universe.

Atheism is a religion that helps people to understand themselves and their positive as well as negatives.

There are many bloodshed stories if we look inside the wounds upon the history of science and scientists. Giordano Bruno, a great scientist who lived in 16th was ordered to apologize by saying he was wrong. He said that Sun and the entire planets are not revolving around Earth, but Earth and the other planets revolve around the Sun. He also predicted the presence of life outside the Earth. This made the Christian Priests shiver with anger and he didn’t apologize for his statement. Thus, he was burned to death. Years after the great scientist Galileo Galilee also said that Earth revolves around the Sun. By hearing this, The Christian church pressured him to apologize and they added that if he is not ready for that, he will be also burned to death. By hearing this Galileo apologized and he apologized. At last of his apologies, he said that, when I apologize too, the Earth revolves around the Sun.

But how can anyone hold up the truths? The truth came out and because of that science is widely accepted and people believe in science. Dr. Mani Bhaumik through his book Code Name God says that a supreme spiritual power exists in the whole Universe and he also holds the science on his other hand to understand the exact principle of the Universe. In Code Name God’s last sentence says his opinion about the existence of God: “It is the power of one source, the order that underlines and enfolds all orders, that unifies all fields and forms, as well as consciousness, and it will not, by now, surprise you to hear my assertion that we call this source by its code name: God.”

Other than God-worshipping religions, we have another type of ideologies in which some people still believe. Sadism is one among them. Sadism is said to be a psychosexual disorder, which makes a man feel happy when other beings are feeling pain due to their cruel sex which is inflicted on them. The person who gets happiness when he inflicts pain sexually on another and the receiver who feels happy when the pain is inflicted upon him are both sadists. In the 19th century, a German psychologist Richard von Krafft-Ebbing found this psychological disease in reference to an 18th-century French nobleman, Marquis de Sade, who followed such practices. To a sadist, pain and pleasure are correlated in that they think that happiness can be brought out through painful experiences. In Eleven Minutes, by Paulo Coelho, the main character Maria, a prostitute experiences a sadist rape by Terence, a complete sadist. Anyway, Sadomasochism is not good to be continued because these persons love to see people feeling pain. In my opinion, such persons must be taken to any wellness hospitals and must be given proper medications.

A great example of the sadist religious group is Opus Dei, which is a religious group that believes in Jesus. Those who believe in Opus Dei wear a chain full of thorns in their thighs and beats themselves using a whip. They think that God will only give them Paradise if they only rape them and slay others who do not believe in God.

The religions we see nowadays are mixtures of other religions’ concepts. For example, the Paradise-Hell concept actually comes from Zoroastrianism. But now it had become a part of most of the religions. Likewise, the monotheist Christians or Islams believe in several saints, which makes a polytheistic background. The Devil is the concept of Dualistic religions and people from different religions believe in that. All these causes the mixing of religious prospects and this type of belief system is known as religious syncretism and according to Harari, it is the largest religion in this world.

There was a time when the religions had tied all the human beings in a dark world. The light of reality was far away from the believers. The Gods were thought to be angry when the believers do not offer him enough prayers, sacrifices, and special pujas. The priests made a social structure to the society, by making themself the rulers of the society. Atheism was being questioned and the scientists who told the truth were brutally murdered. They said to the people that they are to be treated first because they are the middle-man between the great God and the believers. All must accept the laws and orders created by them. What the priest says is the truth and whoever tries to argue with him will be punished to death.

They made lots of money by squeezing the pockets of the believers. They converted many people from different religions with and without their will. The church was becoming a big social power. Their power lasted for lots of years and they tried to make the world under their control.

In India, Brahmins, who were the priests were in the first position among the classification of castes. According to the order of positions, the caste was delivered into four- Brahmanas (priests), Kshatriyas (Rulers), Vaishyas (traders), and Shudras (Farmers and slaves). Brahmanas were the people who had supreme power. They enjoyed their life by making all other castes under their domain. Nobody dared to protest Brahmins, because those who protested were killed or silenced. They cut the fingers, put the fingers in boiled oil of those low castes who even touched the Vedas. Those poor low castes, who even accidentally heard the Vedas, were punished by closing their ears forever using melted metals. There were many cruelties taken place. And after many years only people realized the hollowness of such deeds. I thank all people including the great leaders and persons who take part in the renaissance movements that happened in India, which helped to eradicate the Caste system.

Now, let us come back to our main theme: Religion Versus Atheism. Religion is a concept where there is an eternal power that sustains this Universe and atheism denies that concept and quotes boldly that there are no such powers.

Let us have to look at the structure of a religion.

Faith or belief in God is the foundation of every religion and no religion exists without belief. The second essential factor in religion is the unquestionable facts about the existence of God. We can also describe the second factor as the heart of religion. The Follower strength and the growth in followers is the best indicator to identify the growth of every religion. According to the latest surveys, Christianity and Islam are in the first and second positions. The third position is for atheists and agnostics. The fourth is Hinduism and Buddhism in the fifth position. At the top, we know that the concept of God, or the eternal power reigns.

In the case of atheism, there are two structures because agnostic atheism and complete atheism varies each other.

Figure 1 shows the structure of agnostic atheism and Figure 2 shows the structure of complete atheism.

The Figure 1 and 2 believes that there are no Gods. Both have the same foundations. But on the next step onwards they are different. Figure 1 is not sure about the existence of God and if anyone asks a person, who believes in Figure 2, he will answer, ”I do not know, and if I believe there is no God.”

Figure 2 believes strongly that no God exists. Figure 1 upholds mobile atheism and Figure 2, complete atheism.

Mobile atheism is a division in atheism when people have no faith in God, but uncertainty about the existence of God. Mobile atheism can also be referred to as agnostic atheism.

To be an atheist is not just a person who does not believe in God, but a person with a light in his mind, who has a long sight to the future and the proper analyzing capacity of the historical incidents and thereby propagating his own ideas and philosophies about life and how to gain a strong, sustainable development in the future. A good atheist can speak about science and reality but he cannot compel his ideas on another person.

Atheists and spiritualists should not be rivals, even though they have different prospects. They should work for each other to gain progress for humankind.

Some say that there is God, who had created this Universe and the God, or the supreme power may not have the power to alter the diseases spread out in the society and that power cannot create any physical changes in any persons. If he could, there will not be any hospitals but only temples or churches and no doctors, only priests. We do not know whether there exists a God or not. The greatest success for the religion is that there are no scientific answers to the question, ‘Whether a God exists?’ Until the real answer comes, we could only splash in the pool of human assumptions. A person, who believes a God exists, and when he or she prays to him or her, he or she could gain psychological satisfaction, then, what is the problem? It is a true fact that faith in ourselves or in a supreme power gives us self-confidence and relaxation. Until the existence of God or the non-existence of God is scientifically proved, let us wait patiently.