Wednesday, July 2, 2008

A Theism

Atheism is rejection of 'theism' or as i would call it, belief in an alternate 'theism'. Atheism is not new to India or the Hindu religion itself. Neither is it the prerogative of people from the sub-continent. In Europe and the western world, atheism seems predominant within the scientific society or within societies that established political and government structures centered around Communist and Marxist philosophies.

In India too, today, the Communist are large preachers of the atheist theory. In Tamil Nadu, where i come from, atheist philosophies have been propounded by the Dravidian movement to counter the Brahman influence within the erstwhile congress party. The Dravidian party also provided my first indulgence with atheism and interaction with atheist philosophy. Thanthai Periyar from Tamil Nadu was alive when i was born and have some vague memories of news surrounding him.

Recently i also met a staunch communist in my family (family as we malayalee's call it, my brother-in-law's father-in-law !), who is self proclaimed atheist, while his wife and everyone else in the family are staunch believers. He has no problem in living with these believers, while he upholds his principles. It was an interesting experience, and i pulled up courage to ask him, who he called out to, in times of crisis or need. He didnt, was his answer.

While i am not an atheist, i dont condone this philosophy either. I think there is some rationale and meaning to it all. Come to think of it, we did evolve from a monkey, so then why is our god not looking like a monkey (well with an exception to Hanuman). Instead we have turned mortal philosophers into god, be it Krishna, Buddha, Mahavira, Jesus or Mohammed. All of them were born into this world and also died. And then there are stories about their immortality. Well about 200 years from now, people will find it difficult to believe that a half-naked old and fragile man was able to bring a mighty empire to its knees. Am sure stories told then will include magical staff, bullet-proof shawl and dhoti and also a powerful drug that he manufactured at the beach which was used later to overpower the British. Phew !!! What a story !!

So the long story short. Who is god ? Did god create us ? Or did we create god ? If there is no god, then how do you explain the fact that 'faith' has such a remarkable effect on people ? If God didnt come down and preach to us and show miracles and prowess, how does one explain these ? If we created God, why did we stop at one, two, twenty or hundred ? Why didnt we create a billion of them ? And if there is a god, why does he allow people to be killed in his name ?

4 comments:

Ravi said...

CK, the evolutionary biologist E.O.Wilson has proposed that the power/strength of faith is due to evolutionary advantages. While I am neither a fan of Wilson (or Dawkins, who might argue that the God meme is selected for) nor an ultra-Darwinist, I have thought the same. The power and success of religion stems from its utility (IMHO) in short-cutting the complex reasoning that would otherwise be required to generate moral norms and behaviour, without which the species would wipe itself out.

Just a quick and random thought from an atheist ;-).

Ravi said...

One more thing... I have the [unlikely!] hope of one day writing something substantial (if it is within my reach) on the Dravidian revolution. Though it is represented today by the likes of Jayalalitha, in its day it was a ground-breaking phenomenon (in my opinion) that has not gained the attention it deserves in historical analysis.

ck said...

hmmm!!
Scientist usually have an explanation for everything.
On second thoughts, so do philosophers.


On you earlier comment - I agree. The original principles and concept behind the Dravidian revolution is completely ignored.
First and foremost is Political. Congress and other parties, dont want to credit this
Second is Classist and Casteist - Brahmins and other upper caste/class still see this as 'koothadi' gumbal (because the dravidian momemnt used drama, cinema and arts to gain popularity.

Hindu Atheist said...

Well said. I base my beliefs on evidence. There is a good probability (not absolute certainity) that there is no God. If some one wants to hold any form of God belief, thats fine with me. What bothers me more is the slippery slope people enter once the God hypothesis enters the brain. Whole world of super natural crap gets a free pass .. astrology, vastu, rituals. Even the educated fall for this crap. That's exasperating.