Atheism
It is important for the readers to be clear about the meaning of the following words before they read the article.
- Atheism: “disbelief in the existence of a god or gods”
- Agnosticism: “a belief that it is not possible to know whether god exists or not”
- God: 1 “(in Christianity, Islam and Judaism) the being or spirit that is worshipped and is believed to have created the universe”
2 “(in some religions) a being or spirit who is believed to have power over a particular part of nature or who is believed to represent a particular quality”
There are lots of people out there who have been brought up in some religion or other, are unhappy in it, don't believe it, or are worried about the evils that are done in its name; people who feel unclear desire to leave their parents' religion and wish they could, but just don't realize that leaving is an option and henceforth can carry on their life as an atheist.
This article is intended to raise consciousness - raise consciousness to the fact that to be an atheist is a realistic objective, and a brave and splendid one. You can be an atheist who is happy, balanced, moral, and intellectually fulfilled. That is the first of our consciousness-raising messages. We also want to raise consciousness in other ways too, which we'll come on to. We believe that there exists an atheist in every intellectual human and our objective is to uncover that person to thyself.
Imagine a world without religion, how would it be?
There would be no 9/11 tragedy, no India partition, no godhra train massacre, no ayodhya crisis and many other inhuman acts.
There might also be people who feel that agnosticism is a reasonable position, but that atheism is just as narrow as a religious belief.
Maybe you think it is obvious that God must exist, for how else could the world have come into being? How else could there be life, in all its rich diversity, with every species looking uncannily as though it had been 'designed'?
The answers to the above questions are in your intellect but your presumption that a supreme being/power exists obstructs you from reaching a rationalistic conclusion.
If you feel trapped in the religion of your upbringing, it would be worth asking yourself how this came about. The answer is usually some form of childhood indoctrination. If you are religious at all it is overwhelmingly probable that your religion is that of your parents. If you were born in the U.S. and you think Christianity is true and Islam false, knowing full well that you would think the opposite if you had been born in Afghanistan, you are the victim of childhood indoctrination.
Being an atheist is nothing to be apologetic about. On the contrary, it is something to be proud of, standing tall to face the far horizon, for atheism nearly always indicates a healthy independence of mind and, indeed, a healthy mind. There are many people who know, in their heart of hearts, that they are atheists, but dare not admit it to their families or even, in some cases, to themselves. Partly, this is because the very word 'atheist' has been assiduously built up as a terrible and frightening label.
The Atheist view of life is progressive and optimistic, in awe of human potential, living without fear of judgement and death, finding enough purpose and meaning in life, love and leaving a good legacy.
Truth is very powerful and you may not have the strength to resist it. God is just an intricate delusion. The dictionary supplied with Microsoft Word defines a delusion as 'a persistent false belief held in the face of strong contradictory evidence, especially as a symptom of psychiatric disorder'. When one person suffers from a delusion, it is called insanity. When many people suffer from a delusion it is called Religion.
The supposed unattainability of knowledge for or against the existence of gods is sometimes seen as indication that atheism requires a leap of faith. Common atheist responses to this argument include that unproven religious propositions deserve as much disbelief as all other unproven propositions, and that the unprovability of a god's existence does not imply equal probability of either possibility.
It is time to break the shackles of religion or God and ignite our minds with the spark of rationalistic thoughts...
AWAKE!!! AROUSE!!! ACHIEVE!!!
The Riddle of Epicurus*
Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent.
Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent.
Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil?
Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God?
*Epicurus was an ancient Greek philosopher
FAMOUS ATHEISTS
Scientists
Thomas Edison
Blaise Pascal
Ferdinand Magellan
Annie Wood Besant
Stephen Hawking
Albert Einstein
Charles Darwin
Galileo Galilei
Writers
Mark Twain
George Bernard Shaw
Oscar Wilde
Andrew Carnegie
Isaac Asimov
Salman Rushdie
Bertrand Russell
