I have been always wondering how a man can believe in God, heaven, hell and purgatory when he has no direct or circumstantial evidence to believe. In fact, the early man was right in his belief of God because he was a “Nature” worshipper. He feared elements of Nature and therefore thought he could pacify Nature — thunder, lightning, flood, earthquakes, volcanoes, eclipse, comets etc. — by worshipping them, sometimes even offering human sacrifices, all under special names and different rituals.

However, as man became more intelligent and as his understanding of Nature improved, his belief of God also evolved, thanks to the Prophets who invented their own Gods, their own ideas of entering heaven and avoiding hell, followed alongside by the rituals prescribed by these Prophets.

The so - called educated man living in the present age of reason and science is strangely unable to come out of the spell cast upon him by these Prophets of religions. This in spite of the fact that these Gods, Gods created by these Prophets, could not save these Prophets themselves from wars, violence, disease, old - age and their eventual death — even when they never wanted any of these painful experiences. Yet, the common man came under the spell of these Prophets, except the atheists, whose number is as rare as hen's teeth.

Imagine what would happen if all those who followed a particular religion, say X - religion, are found to be immune to all diseases. Without an iota of doubt they would immediately change their religion to X - religion. The moment one suffers and survives a heart - attack or is afflicted with some incurable terminal illness, he would abandon his religion of birth and embrace the miracle religion X. But unfortunately, no matter to which religion one belongs, one is vulnerable to all kinds of ailments –– a truth, as stark as the ever-blazing sun overhead. The proof is in the patients we see in all hospitals belonging to different religions. If their Gods could cure them, why would they be in the hospital? In fact, the hospital is more than the temple or any place of worship. Indeed the hospital is more than a place of worship — a place of hope and sometimes of survival and good health.

Which is why the wise atheists have said, "Belief is judgment before knowledge." Which means, you are believing in God even before you have the knowledge of God, save those from the dubious scriptural verses attributed to the founders of religions. By merely saying "God is not this, not that," [neti] you are not saying anything about "who or what exactly God is" — negation by itself will not become a proof. It is therefore not surprising when Obama in his acceptance speech at Oslow, after receiving the Nobel Prize for Peace, curtly said that "No Holy War is a just war."

Amen.

By K. B. Ganapathy
Courtesy: Star of Mysore