By Fr. Sebastian Athappilly
The pity of our time is that relatively few people ask existential questions related to God, faith, the purpose of life and the reality of death. Our choice to allow ourselves to get stuck in the noise of this world does not let us listen to our existential questions. Or, we suppress these questions for fear of getting disturbing answers that would perhaps challenge our preoccupations with this world and its pleasures.
Yet, whether one wants it or not, one will have to leave this world for another realm, sooner or later. This unavoidable end of our sojourn here will confront all of us, without exception. In the face of this inevitable reality, one may come face to face with the question of the meaning and purpose of life.
The way a believer in God sees this life is qualitatively different from that of a non-believer. This world, the believer recognizes, is not absolute or permanent. The transitory nature of this world is too obvious to be denied or ignored. For a believer, this does not pose a major crisis, for faith assures her/him of a life after death and a loving God who is in control of the whole of history. But if the destiny of human beings is mercilessly placed in the stars or in sheer chance, there is no ground for trust, but only mere chance. Despair and a feeling of total void may also come from this. All what one does and achieves is finally dust and ashes.
Atheism provides no source of any lasting joy and hope. Atheism blames theism for many cruelties, and at times even for lulling people into ‘false’ comfort in their sorrows and suffering. It caricatures religion as the opium of the people, which can also be equally applied to atheism! Atheism has no solution to the inhuman behaviour of tyrants or to glaring social injustices—which it itself has contributed to abundantly. Atrocities committed by atheistic ideologies and politics all over the world cannot be forgotten. Atheism claims to be an advocate of human liberation, but, in fact, it is just the opposite—by fostering dictatorship and totalitarian systems and by opposing freedom of worship and expression. By denying any avenue beyond this world and any spiritual/religious value, it confines humans in the walls of time and history and reduces them into mere victims of materialistic goals. In the name of a utopian future it sacrifices people for the sake of the selfish interests of its proponents. By rejecting God and His sanction, the ideologues of atheism intend to establish their own domination. By reducing the purpose of life into mere this-worldly well-being, atheism leads people to a sense of complete void and despair in the face of death. Atheism propagates a utopian ideology by promising to build heaven on earth at all costs, with the illusory ambition that integral salvation is fully possible through human effort alone, without God’s help. It has no means to bring about internal conversion or to promote peace and reconciliation through love and forgiveness. By saying ‘no’ to God, atheism has also said ‘no’ to human beings. It does not contribute anything to affirm and safeguard human dignity. Theism, in contrast, sees the dignity of humans not in what they have or the work they do, but in what they are—namely, children of God, called to share His life and love.
In order to vainly justify its stance, atheism brings in the lame argument that the existence of God cannot be proved. At the same time, atheism has not proved the non-existence of God. In branding theism as a form of wish-fulfilment of those who suffer here in this world, atheism forgets that it is itself a wish-fulfilment to avoid any sanction for evil deeds—accountability to a just God. Atheism claims that theists have invented the concept of God for consolation in face of the suffering here; at the same time, however, it forgets that religion and theism also have their demands from believers to lead a morally integral life, which atheists do not find at all comfortable. Precisely because of this demanding aspect of religion, many atheists do not want to believe in God. Atheism is attractive for many of its adherents because it demands nothing; on the contrary, it allows everything!
While atheism cannot provide, and has not provided, from its own principles why someone should be heroically unselfish for helping a fellow human being, theism has the reasons and motivations for such deeds of love and has actually produced innumerable inspiring examples in history.
(The author is a Catholic priest. He is the author of The Delusion of Atheism)
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