Responding to an atheist - Part II

I've been meaning to write up my position on religion for a long time now. Have always put it off because it is such a tedious as well as intimidating task. When I was impelled to write to a friend in response to his arguments against religion, I thought I would use that as a starting point for myself. Therefore, I shared the first part of that discussion in an earlier post. Here is the second part.

Since this was a private discussion in a closed group, I have left out details of a personal nature. Also, this is a work-in-progress, more to clarify my own thought process rather than a thesis. Do share your thoughts. Thank you.

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I think we should separate the argument into two – the question of God, and the question of organized religion and its associated evils.

To the first, I can only say to each his own - though I am tempted to answer, I think I will pass.

The initial discussion really was around the second question – organized religion and its evils. To that, I can only agree with many of your observations on how dogmatic and intolerant we have become. But I reiterate my point: don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater. The purpose of reason is to separate the wheat from the chaff. If you junk the whole basket, because there is chaff in it, that is laziness, not reason.   

There’s a book I love, by Richard Bach, called Illusions: Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah. Towards the end, the Messiah asks that everything related to him be destroyed. "But the people have to know!," his disciples cry. "What will you do? Write everything down and call it a holy book? Which people will interpret and reinterpret till my original teachings are changed beyond recognition. Which people will then fight over. And all in my name. Destroy it," he says.

That is pretty much your view. That is also similar to the view of a great saint called Ramana Maharshi – he never taught a thing. If someone asked, “I want to know…” he merely said, “Just be quiet and listen to who wants to know.” I love such advice!

So there is no argument at all that human beings fight in the name of religious identity, gullible fellows get fooled in the name of religion and so on. I only reiterate my earlier response – they would fight anyway, with or without religion. Their nature is to divide and possess. The purpose of religion in each person’s life is to conquer this nature – grabbing, me-me-me, want-want-want, mine-mine-mine – to be the best that one can be.  In that sense, organized religion is like a crutch. When the baby is tiny, it needs a walker so it doesn’t fall. A man recovering from a fall needs a crutch. When you can run on your feet, it is difficult to appreciate what a life-changing thing a crutch can be. When you can see clearly with your own eyes, it is difficult to appreciate what an amazing thing spectacles are. Similarly, when being the best that you can be, or at least constantly trying to question yourself and holding yourself to higher standards, figuring out your life and its relation to society, comes easily and naturally to some people - like J. Krishnamurti for example, they then don’t need the crutch of organized religion. Sometimes, people first use an organized set-up and then give it up to journey on their own. Others need a guide for a lifetime, they are not any less for that – it’s just the way they are and just what they need. I always liken my rituals to a multi-stage rocket. One by one, the parts fall off, till all that remains is the actual piece of spacecraft that is meant to orbit the earth/ travel to the moon. However, you cannot get the rocket off the floor in the first place if you didn't have all those parts to start with. A scientist can't begin to explain to a 4-year old child how the rocket needs all the stages while finally only a little box needs to be put in space. That is the problem with explaining religion. 

Just as there are different kinds of belief, there are different kinds of disbelief. Just as belief in god does not automatically make a man good, similarly not believing in god does not automatically make a man just and reasonable. No matter what our belief system, we all need to work on our selves. That is the human journey. Religion helps that journey by marking out well-beaten paths, with markers on the way, complete with food stalls and side entertainment. It is as much for society as it is for the individual traveler. If you are a maverick who wants to explore the countryside on your own, you’re welcome to.  Only, you are not the wiser or better just because you take the road less taken. We all do what we can and must. Our choices are a reflection of our unique needs and capabilities. Just as you hate the believers passing judgement on you, don’t stereotype and pass judgement on all believers. You aren’t living up to your own ideals of love if you don’t have empathy for your fellow man who has different needs of a belief system. The two main advantages of atheism you quoted – that it doesn’t swallow bullshit easily, and that it has no need for religious identity – aren’t exclusive character traits of being atheist. If you can sublimate your quest for ‘all’ identity while still being bound in it, that would be an achievement indeed! Like the great Rabi Thakur, Rabindranath Tagore, who sang melting songs of love and god and wrote scathing social commentary, who wrote a reasoned masterpiece on how not to be restricted by national identity and then retained his national pride. If as an atheist, that is what you are attempting to do, then power to you. But if your only aim is to cry down religion, why you are no better than the people you are crying down.

Organized religion is just like organized society – cumbersome but indispensable. Most people need it.  And the exceptions only prove the rule. In fact, religion gave rise to much of the culture of the world. The word ‘cult’ means worship. It is difficult to figure out where religion stops and culture begins. Value systems, social systems, art and architecture, literature and poetry were all first byproducts of religion. The world’s oldest poems are the Vedas. The world’s most printed text is the Bible. The world’s most awesome buildings are temples and cathedrals and mosques. Religion reflects man’s quest to be the best he can be. Religion is a continuous dialog of man with the universe in different languages through all of time.

Rituals have a context, they serve many different purposes. Some of them are morphed beyond recognition and followed in letter and hence meaningless – like sticking kolam stickers, which only serve to add beauty but miss the purpose of charity and creativity. Similarly, the threshold of the house was always smeared with turmeric, because turmeric is antiseptic and insect-repellant, it kept creepy-crawlies out. Now they paint the threshold yellow thinking it is tradition.

Every religion gathers ritual deadwood over time that it sheds when challenged by time. The daughters of Hinduism – Buddhism and Jainism, rose as a rebellion against a period of ritualism, therefore also changing the mother religion in the process. That is healthy and nourishing all around.

The best way to fix what we don’t like about religion is to actually be in religion and live the moderate life. Every moderate should stand up and say this is not what my religion advocates, I disagree with this hard stance. We don’t. If ISIS militants are killing Yazidis, stand up and say the Islamic soldiers aren’t Islamic. Read your Quran, clarify the position for the rest of the world. If Christian missionaries are threatening hell and fire on the heads of children, call them out – read the Bible and show them how Jesus never asked anyone to convert anyone else. If shadowy Hindu god-men are conning people, stand up and call them out for the frauds that they are. Read your Upanishads and Bhagavad Gita and the hundreds of other tantras and sastras.  Why don’t we speak up? Because we don’t know! We hardly know our religions from say, an Inca tribal cult, except in its broadest and most superficial elements. How many Muslims really know their Quran inside out? And I don’t mean memorizing. We don’t know our religions except to parrot that Hindus celebrate Diwali and Navaratri, Muslims celebrate Bakrid and Ramzan, Christians celebrate Christmas and Easter. We don’t know our religions except to say oh I love my neighbor’s Ramzan korma and X-mas cake and Diwali sweets. We pat ourselves on the back for being secular. And while the so-called moderates are busy playing with the barest trifles of the rich treasures of our wonderful religions, the hardliners are looting the spiritual wealth of all humanity. It is time for the moderates to first delve deeper into their heritage and then speak up. Today, more than ever in the history of the world, there is a great and urgent role for reason in religion. A need to question. A need to go to the roots. A need to really understand. Because, REAL understanding of ONE religion can only – but only – mean real understanding of ALL religions of the world. That is the service we must perform to the hoary line of our ancient seekers and to our future generations (if we don’t kill ourselves off before that).

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