This begs definition of the word 'God'. What is God? Unless we are clear that both the atheist and challenger mean the same thing by the term ‘God’, the argument will be at cross purposes. God varies from believer to believer. To some it is a spirit, an energy, to others it is a friend who they actually ‘see’ or ‘talk to’ or at least believe that they do. To some it is a father figure, a guide, a solace, a crutch, a comfort, a habit, a healer. To others God is wrathful and vengeful, punishing those who have not followed his dictates. For many God is an explanation for the world and its yet unsolved mysteries, an answer to the perennial question: from whence did we come and quo vadis. To a lot of others to believe in God, is to play safe. To ensure that there is reward and avoidance of punishment if there is a God and to lose nothing if there isn’t one.

God, at the end of the day defies imagination in his omnipresent, omniscient and omnipotent self, because the human mind is incapable of holding such magnitudes. Hence, we have the anthropomorphic God, one made in our own image and romanticized in the best of our music and art traditions. Any attempt to bring down this anthropomorphic God brings out the savage ire in man who bares his fangs and is ready to draw blood to ‘protect’ his God.

God is a wonderful excuse for the intellectually lazy. Enquiry, exploration, reflection are all difficult and time-consuming tasks. They require patience, hypotheses, study, thinking, deliberation and dedication. To seek no answers but to explain the apparently unexplainable in a single word attributing to this invisible, unknown, unseen entity a name and a personality, is to solve problems instantly. Then there is the basking in this created light, where many simply by virtue of uttering the name, believe that they become part of the reflected glory. This further inures them from more endeavours inflicted by the need to know the truth. God becomes a convenience.

Humans have therefore given God a stature that enables them to rest in his gargantuan shadow, a shadow so humongous that it defies the imagination and protects anyone who comes into its ‘sharan’.  The walls of this haven have been fortified by priesthood and temples, songs, drama, and the entire machinery of culture that make it not only desirable but also good.Thus the definition of good becomes synonymous with this nebulous God  and furthers the convenience of the men who take shelter.

God is so ubiquitous that He/she becomes a habit. (It has always been a He, till now, in keeping with the patriarchal custom of male supremacy.) When one is conditioned to take a name from childhood the ‘oh my God’ slips past ones lips quite effortlessly when in a situation requiring succour.

The other use for God is prayer. Man in his fraility and often self-created misery, be it from greed or lust or anger, often needs someone to call to piteously when in pain and despair. God, who need not answer, except by a serendipitous happenstance, when things take their course, is lauded for his mercy and his generosity. God becomes a private counselor and mentor with no real accountability. When things go well, He is the saviour, when things don’t work out, He is testing us and we have to bow to his Will. Thus, the old lie goes unchallenged.

Humans being social animals are extremely unhappy when they are alone. Therefore, the public God, who is kowtowed to jointly in temples and churches and mosques, becomes a collective reality. There is great solace in numbers when one is bound to a lie. The same people would have great discomfort if one were to suggest they should henceforth worship quietly in their homes. They also carry symbols of their gods in the manner of their clothes, hair, rituals, and feel the need to proclaim loudly their beliefs. This causes conflict when birds of different feathers meet and that is the excuse from mutual bad mouthing to terrorist attacks. In the name of God, evil is perpetuated without shame or regret.

God is created by fear. Fear of being visited by disease, death, loss, pain if one were to forsake it. If these fail, there is the fear of hellfire and brimstone and many religions expound the horrors of the flesh that hell would subject them to. The devil is again an anthropomorphic creation to give to hell a ‘human’ representative in case the whole destination becomes abstract and therefore unbelievable. Mythology does its part in spreading the word of belief with stories and parables.

Another convenient rider thrown into the belief equation is that God must not be challenged. Like the tree of knowledge from which one may never eat, God must not be questioned. This is seen as a kind of virtue. Another very clever way of hiding the unknown from inquisitive eyes. God’s word is also the ultimate word so you may not ask any more questions of it. God said so, must suffice as an answer to end all questions.

If religions were born to unite tribes who were on the brink of destruction, then God becomes a social refree with his ‘thou shalt nots’ and a moral policeman who defines the limits of decency and acceptable standards. Socially, God keeps the peace by making sure the fear of the consequences of sin will make people responsible like nothing else will. Fear of the unknown is the best kind of fear, for we know not what it is that  we fear.

Finally, the symbolic God. God as omnipresent becomes all things in Nature in pantheistic religions. He is the stone, the river, the monkey, the elephant, the snake, the sea. Nature itself being a rhythm, a scientific rhythm has immense grace and purpose and charm. Nature lends itself well to define the niraakara God. Physical symbols are easy to understand. Abstract symbols require a lot of transference to be understood and experienced.

Now that I have kind of defined God, we can understand the atheist better.

Atheism is a rational exercise. It does not carry the emotionality of the theist, or the physicality of the ritualist. It is therefore almost lackluster in its practicality. It is the difference and the rebelliousness of atheism that gives it its glamour. It is therefore easy to judge people who differ and take a separate stand, as arrogant and negative. There is much anger against any breakaways when the God concept has been constructed with such care, for so long and with so many safeguards in place.

Many atheists are rabid. Richard Dawkins is one. Intelligent, rational and rabid. I don’t see any reason for the atheist to overstate his case. Like theism it is a journey that everyman must make for himself.

The other kind of atheist is the ‘betrayed theist’. This one has come to his/her conclusions of atheism based on betrayal by their God. Someone dear has died and so belief has been abandoned. This kind of narrow perceptive atheism will be short lived. All it takes is a small miracle of coincidence for them to go running back to the temple with coconuts. Several films that are made, move the God propaganda machinery towards these kind of stories to convince the believers and to warn those who are likely to stray.

Then there is the half-hearted, non-conformist atheist. This one ends his atheism with a ‘but’ I am an atheist but….. There is doubt and there is fear. This one will switch sides in certain company. Confused and befuddled there is a need to be both. Like bi-sexuals they have their own cross to carry. Like the man on the fence they battle snide remarks from both sides.

Atheism is not a badge. It is the right to believe that something does not exist because there is no proof. If proof is found anytime in the future, acceptable proof that is, objective proof, then there will be belief too. And if there is a God I am sure he is wise and just enough to understand that some of us need proof and that is reasonable.  :)

True Atheism is about freedom and enquiry. It is about listening to anyone who is ready to reason as opposed to blindly believe. It is opposed to anyone who speculates that it is better to believe, which is just an opinon. It does not limit because it is based on the search for truth and true humility in its resolve to surrender to reason.Atheism is not pretentious for exactly the same reason.

The tag ‘atheist’ must not be likened to a theist who is bound by patterns of behaviour, rituals, customs, philosophies etc. An atheist on the other hand is an observer, one who appreciates all efforts at seeking the truth, one who can see beyond what is apparent, one who is willing to deliberate with any belief within reason, one who is willing to change his/her belief if there is enough objective evidence to the contrary.

My apologies to Amit for writing a blog on Atheism instead of writing a preamble for a new religion. Amit, that is an idea whose time has not yet come!