1. Is there a God?

No.

2. Don't I have to define God or something?

No. It is really the believers who have to define God. They never do. Most of the time they seem to be talking about a personal God -- one who runs the world by being omnipresent, omniscient, omnipotent, and kind, i.e., a God to whom one could pray, to get specific problems solved, as in:

Lead, kindly Light, amid th'encircling gloom, lead Thou me on!
The night is dark, and I am far from home; lead Thou me on!
Keep Thou my feet; I do not ask to see
The distant scene; one step enough for me.

I was not ever thus, nor prayed that Thou couldst lead me on;
I loved to choose and see my path; but now lead Thou me on!
I loved the garish day, and, 'spite of fears,
Pride ruled my will. Remember not past years!

So long Thy power hath blest me, sure it still will lead me on.
O'er moor and fen, o'er crag and torrent, till the night is gone,
And with the morn those angel faces smile, which I
Have loved long since, and lost awhile!

Meantime, along the narrow rugged path, Thyself hast trod,
Lead, Savior, lead me home in childlike faith, home to my God.
To rest forever after earthly strife
In the calm light of everlasting life.

If even one of these essential qualities (omnipresence, omniscience, omnipotence, and kindness) is lacking, most people will have no use for such a God.

3. What's all this Thou business?

Kowtowing to someone powerful. (Once, in a conversation once with the principal of my college in Madras, I started referring to him as “you”, but fortunately, caught myself in time. Otherwise, I would have caught hell. God bless America, where a Baltimore slum resident can address the visiting Queen Elizabeth as “Hey, Queenie”.)

The ever-so-funny Rick Reilly of Sports Illustrated once wrote about an incident in figure skating: A male skater lifts his skimpily-clad partner, with her rear end in the palm of his hand. Her crotch is at his face level and just a few inches away. And the song breaks out:

“Nearer my God, to Thee”

People react to the presumed awesome power (and their own consequent helplessness) in unusual ways. I know a Tamil family which named its child Pichchai (discard). I have heard of parents naming their kids maNNaNghatti (dirt). The intent seems to be to hide the real value of their child from the all-knowing God, who might otherwise covet it. Some omniscience isn't it, if such a ruse would work? Please note that my sympathies are squarely with these families - I most certainly am NOT laughing at them. Their love for their children and their desire to protect them from harm is most touching and perfectly understandable.

4. Is a personal God justified?

No. The world would be a vastly different place if such a God really exists.

5. Aren't there other versions of God?

Yes, there are. However, they are such that they are likely to have absolutely no effect on anything. For instance, some believers talk about a God that is felt solely as a private experience by each individual. (They even claim that they can specify a rigorous protocol for sensing such a God. Such a God perhaps is a lot like a toothache, another solely private experience. In any case, such a sensation can have no effect on the world, and we are back to a personal God.)

Some also concede that they knowingly invent a personal God, to keep the masses in check. Perhaps this is along the following lines:

Every wisdom Should consist of some nonsense Lest fools should fail to find it wise

6. Why do people believe in a God?

For the same reason they believe in Santa Claus or the tooth fairy: when they are young (and less able to think for themselves), parents (and other people in authority) introduce the concept of a God, and this gets strengthened tremendously from then on (by others and also themselves, when they look for simple answers). Almost everybody grows out of believing in S. Claus and t. fairy fairly quickly, but most people never stop believing in God.

7. Is the above the only reason why people believe in a God?

The above is the rule. The exception is people finding a God on their own. We are all used to other people (especially groups of them) performing rather spectacular things – for instance, building a tall building or a fast airplane, or a heart transplant. Also, we understand and control only a very small fraction of the forces that could have a major impact on our lives. Put the two together, people have invented an anthropomorphic God - the creator and maintainer of all things.

The people who discover God for themselves get a lot of help from others who sustain this habit. A Chinese girl I knew grew up Godless in her native country. In America, some people talked God to her (and helped her in her personal life) and she asepted [sic] Jesus in her life. And started spreading (Church billboard) words of wisdom like

“Be an organ donor. Give your heart to Jesus”

8. When people discover that there is no God, don't they go totally out of control?

No. What a person does is the result of a long history. Discovering that there is no God (a rather painful process) is only a small change in their overall repertoire, the bulk of which remains intact. Thus, if they were law-abiding before this discovery, they will continue to be law-abiding.

9. What if I am wrong?

If there is a God, presumably he (or one of his watchdogs) is reading this piece. He can e-mail us and prove beyond doubt that he exists. (I am of course assuming that heaven has Internet.)

In our town, there was a big sign proclaiming “God Bless America,” from which somebody stole the “B”. Even if God is not quite omnipotent, wouldn't one think that he would at least protect signs like the above?

10. Shouldn't we go on believing in a God even though it is not true, because some benefits may accrue anyway? (“I believe, I believe, even though it is silly, I believe” - A Miracle on Forty Second Street.)

Maybe, but there is always the little matter of intellectual honesty.

11. Is it even possible to take such mythical things seriously?

Think Calvin and Hobbes - the anthropomorphic tiger almost seems real, doesn't it?

12. What exist for sure?

Inanimate matter. Plants. Animals, including humans. Everything else is a property/quality of these. Our languages are so poor that they don't distinguish between entities and properties of entities. Linguistic processes like reification and generalization run rampant.

13. Will I ever pray?

If someone puts a gun to my head.

14. Do I know everything?

No.

15. Am I not offending some nice people by being so bluntly honest?

Possibly. It is a tug of war between intellectual honesty and describing a rather hard-won discovery on the one hand and saying only the politically correct things on the other hand. And on discussion forums like this, the former always wins. If I was worried about offending people's feelings, I should stop posting completely. So should others who correct other people's factual errors in other subjects.

16. Do atheists live joyless, cynical lives?

No, no more than anybody else. If good things happen to us, we beam. If bad things happen to us, we suffer.

17. If you catch an atheist singing a religious song or at a temple/church, is he being a hypocrite?

No.

The songs, for instance, are a part of someone's heritage no matter what his world-view is. There is no need to give this up. We may even adapt well-known songs, as follows, for instance:

O COME! ALL YE FAITHFREE

O come all ye faithfree, Joyful and triumphant, Oh come ye, oh come ye, to meet us all. Come and enjoy us, Born to human species. Oh come let us all've fun, Oh come let us all've fun, Oh come let us all've fun, Humans all.

OK, the lyrics are forced. However, be thankful that I didn't go ahead with my plan of attempting to modify the Latin original:

Adeste, fideles, Laeti triumphantes: Venite, venite in Bethlehem: Natum videte Regem Angelorum:

18. Still not convinced?

I have two words, then – Jessica Santillan.

Dedication

I dedicate this piece to Ashli, Krishnan, Arjun Bhagat, Manjula, Sudeshna, batataburger, Churi, ShanuHere, Justin Thyme, and Abbs. (Apologies in advance, to anyone I have forgotten.)

Acknowledgments

I thank Justin Thyme for his many editorial comments on this article.