I am happier to call myself a non-religious person than an anti-religious man. Because my disbelief in God did not arise out of hatred towards religion, but out of my love for Science.
I actually became an atheist when I was fifteen years old. I was driven towards rationalism after I had realized that rationalistic beliefs are based on scientific understanding of the Universe. Further, I am always more influenced by scientific views than by religious doctrines. And it has become highly impossible for me believe that the Earth is flat and this world is created out of nothing. Moreover, I do not believe that some supernatural power is controlling our life because I have never received any telepathic signals from Him.
Later I studied the World History eagerly to find any evidence of God. After my studies, I came to the view that religions have made no useful contributions to the Human History. Instead of helping the progress of humanity, they turned out to be major progenitors of deadly conflicts among people e.g. The Crusades and The Jihads. Some people argue that religion provides mental peace to the human brain and calms it from any confusion. But, I am not at all convinced by this argument. Yes, sometimes it calms our brain from thinking deeply and also switches off our brain from undergoing the difficulties in learning new things. That is why it threw the humanity into Dark Ages for centuries.
In monoreligious societies of the Medieval Europe, religion resisted any adventure in thought. It incessantly tried to kill both freethought and Sciences. In addition to it, in multireligious countries like India, it has become a source of fierce conflicts which resulted in ghastly massacres. A few months back a Muslim was killed by Hindu fanatics for taking beef. Let us study the case why it happened. Islam allows and encourages Muslims to eat beef whereas Hindus treat cow as a holy animal and worship it besides their thousands of deities. See, one religion encourages eating beef and another religion says it is a sin to kill a cow. This has become the main point of contention between Hindus and Muslims in India. But, how can we resolve this conflict? We can make both these Hindus and Muslims enlightened by imparting the scientific knowledge- the anatomy of both animals and humans. If they understand the Science behind this phenomenon, we can get peace. Until then they will be waging deadly battles against each other according to their 'Holy' scriptures. So, the scientific understanding of the world unites people whereas religion inspires them to kill each other.
Is there a God? I do not think there is any supernatural power which controls our life on the Earth. I never saw any God in my life nor received any communication from Him ordering me to do something or not to do something. I lead my life according to my wishes after understanding my role in the human society. I will treat something good if it improves human life in the long run. The thing which does harm to the human life on this Earth is always bad in my view. So, I never declare something good or bad by referring to holy scriptures. All Holy Scriptures in this world are primitive in nature since they contain the knowledge of primitive sciences. They were written when human knowledge is not so advanced as it is now. So, I see them not as standard books of knowledge but as testimonials to the primitive knowledge of our ancestors. Coming to the question of God, I want to ask my religious brethren some simple questions: If there is a Super Being that is controlling our life, why is He creating so much misery in human life? Why is He not stopping crimes? Why is He causing birth defects in the innocent newborn babies? Why is He letting millions of African kids die of hunger? Is God a sadist?
I do not believe in the afterlife either. If we die, our body chemicals get mixed into the elements of the Earth. There is no such thing called 'soul'. All our thinking and biological functions stop with our death. The material that is called body joins the material surrounding it. No visible biological evidence will be present after a few days. As I said earlier, I do not subscribe to the view that this world is created by the Almighty. If a Super Being created this Universe, where does He live? Many scriptures say this world is created out of nothing. I doubt scientific validity of this proposition. Can anybody create something out of nothing? That is why I strongly believe there is no Intelligent Design behind this Universe. It is just there as it is and consists of matter and its many forms. This matter always changes from one form to another. Out of these changes, all living and nonliving things emerge. This world is a continuum of events. One event results into another and the later again causes another event. We understand these events in the form of cause and effect relation because we are highly rational beings on this Earth. But, there are no such things as the first cause and the last cause. The matter in this Universe is continuously changing. If we are not able to understand some phenomenon in this Universe, we need not attribute the cause of such an event to God. It is the limitation of our knowledge that is hindering our understanding of the event. The primitive did the same mistake as we are doing today. He attributed divine power to every phenomenon that he could not understand. That is why, he worshiped the Sun, the trees, and the rocks as well. But today we find no evidence of God in those things. Let us not do the same mistake. If we are not able to understand something now, we will definitely understand it one day in the future. So we need not attribute the reason to God.
I believe that physical matter is the only reality and all being, processes, and phenomena can be explained as manifestations of this matter. The mind is the function of a physical reality i.e. the Brain. So, you can now comfortably call me 'a Materialist'. But, I will feel happier if you call me 'a Physical Realist'.
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