Natural born atheists

Until recently, I thought it was my father who brought me presents on Freeze Day. I was devastated to find out that it was actually someone called Santa and that Freeze Day was, in fact, called Christmas, a day when a vague concept impregnated a virgin woman, who gave birth to a son who died and resurrected three days later.

As I grew up, I realized that all roads lead to some sort of knowledge but the shortest and most correct one goes through Science City.

Religion versus science became in time a Christians versus Atheists debate. Let alone the simple facts that religion comprises a set of dogmas which include the three Abrahamic monotheistic ones, plus tens of other sects, it is obvious that Christianity alone is not the Axis of all Evils. Is it dogmatic? Evidently. Is that bad? Of course. Is deluding people? Yes. Is religion itself entirely bad? No. In fact, numerous studies show that religious groups tend to be more cohesive and co-operant than secular groups.

Joseph Bulbulia and Andrew Mahoney, of Wellington University in New Zealand, came up with the Hand Grenade Experiment which concluded, unfortunately for us, the secular people, that Christianity can trigger altruistic sacrifice, for whatever reason, for fellow Christians. While the secular did not. Yes, religion does seem to be a powerful tool for generating group cohesion.

Similarly, Ali Ahmed at Växjö University in Sweden studied if religious students were more co-operative than the secular students. Religion can, it seems, change behavior, into more positive traits.

During the dark days of history, Christianity had the most shameful periods which culminated with witch hunt, Crusades, and climaxed with the atrocious Inquisition. Two thumbs up to the institution of church which knew how to adapt to modern times and lowered its vehement tone to fit. Vatican’s green light for the most recent Harry Potter film is such an example of Church’s current laissez faire et laissez passer attitude.

The Islam however, although it started as a derivative from the Buddhist and Christian dogmas, it chose to give a more political modern hue to its approach and added a belligerent aspect, as a response to the current political issues. Tit for tat in the name of an unaware god and decided by humans, became their motto.

Will atheism cure religious terrorism? Is there even a religious terrorism? Some claim that religion although not responsible for all these troubles it however severely exacerbated them. Nonetheless, secular societies that promoted the rule of Man as the ultimate god, the Übermensch, were equally as bad and socially unhealthy as the religious ones. Communism and fascism are just secular societies that did not work out.

Some say we are hardwired for belief, while others sustain it is definitely not a part of our nature as we are born atheists, since we have no idea of god at birth, “being therefore unacquainted with theism”. We are naturally born atheists. Later on, as we evolve as human beings and are exposed to these concepts, we stimulate our capacity to grasp these issues which we weren’t even aware of.

An atheist can also be someone who wasn’t exposed to any deity concept and not necessarily someone who rejects it. Is god an innate concept? Or are we born tabula rasa?

Some say religion is needed as it provides inspiration but especially consolation. Indeed, asking some unfortunate Yemeni shepherd, a downtrodden Afghan woman or an orphan in South America, who lives in a shanty town, eating from a garbage bin, to reject a savior deity thus ripping off their last shred of hope that ultimately might keep them alive, and start believing in science, it is both inhumane and irrational.

Is atheism just a fancy trend that only the First World and high class and posh intellectuals should and can embrace? Is religion versus science a genuine and fruitful debate? Can atheism actually become a universal (lack of) religion?

In its incipient phases, mankind needed religion to explain the unknown, therefore as a substitute for what science was to offer later. Afterward, humans needed it as a psychological leverage as it offered comfort, hope and consolation. Later on, it added a moral component of good doing, altruism and a hue of humility to the human race. However, recent discoveries showed that good doing is an innate concept and we can be moral and fulfilled human beings without believing in any particular god.

Did we need religion to know how small and insignificant we are in the great scheme of things? Is there even a great scheme of things?