‘Beyond theism & atheism’

The new millennium witnessed a kind of nonbelief which can be called

monomania

(Obsessive preoccupation with one thing). Theists and atheists both have lived cheek-by-jowl right from the beginning of religion and advent of a belief — irrespective of being rational or irrational — in a supernatural power. In fact, religions have survived because of believers and nonbelievers and their views and counter-views. An equal dose of contrasts and contradictions is necessary for the survival of a faith. Two of the oldest religions Judaism and

Zoroastrianism

encouraged atheists to have their say nearly 3,000 years ago.

Five hundred years before Jesus, Hinduism let atheists thrive and even protected them! Mahavira and Buddha challenged the hegemony of brahmins and questioned the existence of a supernatural power.They were later deified; their atheism was mellowed and rational.

Eastern philosophy consists more of nonbelief than belief as Charvaka’s hedonism, Sankhya’s denial of a creator creating this world, Buddhism and Jainism’s atheistic vein and spirit are quintessential examples of a peaceful coexistence of theism and atheism. This ‘theological even keel’struck a healthy balance.
Critical Analysis
Alas! That balance seems to be waning. British atheist and evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins’God Delusion and American journalist

Christopher Hitchens

’

God Is Not Great

revolutionised the very essence of atheism. Today’s atheism has become argumentative. It’s outright blasphemous, and to quote Edward W Said,“Sacrilege may temporarily shake the fabric of a faith but it does permanent harm to the perpetrators.”In other words, atheism has become monomaniac, thanks to belligerent atheism, which is outright pugnacious, nay repugnant.

Somewhere, this half-baked atheism gave birth to pseudo-intellectuals and schoolboy atheists, whose only objective is to deride anything related to a faith. They don’t understand that if they condemn theism, because of its doctrinal position, their atheism is also an ‘ism’and any ‘ism’or ideology is a specialised prejudice. Atheism casts aspersions on theistic belief system, but itself is a conglomeration of ‘systematic beliefs.’

Then, how can one belief system be critical of other belief systems despite ostensible theological and non-theological perceptions and apparent contradictions? Moreover, improperly inculcated atheism has made its practitioners condescending towards those who believe, forgetting the fact that they (atheists) can be accused of the same degree of prejudicial insistence on their belief system.

Structural Beliefs

It’s time to understand that if one has no faith in any religion, belief system or esoteric phenomena, one must remain silent because silence is a sure sign of wisdom and Self-realisation. Call yourself an ‘apatheist’ instead, who has gone beyond the precincts of theism and atheism. Every individual’s foremost duty is to be an ethical human being.Our theism or atheism can wait….