THE WORST SIN OF ALL?

“Now before we get down to business, I want you to pray” said my driving instructor in my first ever driving class. “Oh no, uncle” I replied with a little smile “I don’t pray. You see, I’m an atheist.” The change in his countenance was immediately apparent. Crossing himself, he muttered something about indecent people and blasphemy, and instructed me to start the car with a certain stiffness in his voice. This was not, in any way, a first for me. I’d seen this expression atleast a hundred times, most often in those people who think they’ve got it all figured out. Sometimes, I think I should just lie and say a few words in prayer just to avoid this frostiness, but that would mean that I am ashamed of what I am, a crime which I am most certainly not guilty of.

I would like to explain to such people my beliefs, to explain that just because I choose not to believe in God doesn’t mean I am equivalent to a mass murderer. No, I choose not belong to any particular religion because, in my understanding, religion is ripping the country apart. Of course, there is truth in the fact that religion and a God gives the people something to put their faith into. It eases the peoples’ minds to know that is an all-powerful being who takes care of our welfare. A person who puts his faith blindly into God is someone who is truly happy, knowing that there is someone watching over him. But I simply cannot disregard the number of people who have been killed, the number of people whose lives were shattered in the name of religion and God. Everywhere I see, there are people claiming that their own God is the only “true” God and that the rest of the world are sinners. They take it that they can kill countless people and then walk away free men just because they do it in the name of God. Such fanatics are impossible to argue or reason with.

I am an atheist. I don’t belong to any religion. I don’t pray five times a day, nor do I go to church every sunday, nor do I perform pujas on festivals. I do not abstain from eating beef or pork just because it says so in one of the holy books. I don’t hold anything against homosexuals because “it is not God’s way”. No, I do what I do because I believe that I was born with the capability to distinguish from right and wrong. I don’t need God to tell me to love my neighbor. I don’t have to read the scriptures to know that it is wrong to take away someone’s life. But all this doesn’t matter to those “pious” people who will definitely ascend to heaven after their death. The only thing they care about is that I don’t have a God.

In my opinion, one of the things that ails our society the most is close mindedness. People disapprove of anything they don’t understand or can’t relate to. I’ve noticed that whenever a homosexual couple is shown in the movies, there is always someone who mutters “disgusting” or something equivalent to that under their breath. “Unity in diversity” is supposed be the watchword of India, yet we mindlessly reject all things which we do not understand. We are so sure of our beliefs that we don’t stop to consider those of the person next to us. What if there is no “one true way”? What if there are multiple paths to that destination, whether it be Heaven, Elysium or just a legacy to leave behind? I don’t hold anything against religious people. It’s those self-righteous, close-minded fanatics that tick me off. Sooner or later, they have to realize that theirs is not the only way. All I ask is for the prejudice to stop.