atheism /'eɪθɪɪz(ə)m/ n. Disbelief in, or denial of, the existence of God or gods.
One of the biggest myths in the world is atheism. Disbelief in God also implies lack of religious belief. Logically one cannot be an atheist and religious at the same time. Anyone who doesn’t believe in God or doesn’t abide by organised religion or a religious cult claims to be an atheist. But is anyone really an atheist? The idea of atheism is restricted to the dogmas of religions and cults. But regardless of one’s religious beliefs, most people do believe in something. It could be God, an object, a profession, a political orientation, politician, “serious” or dark cinema, a sports team, an animal or a human being — practically anything connected to or independent of organised religion.
Most highbrow film buffs (the Hollywood types, the Yuppies, Anurag Kashyap’s aficionados) claim to be atheists, but they have a resolute devotion towards their type of cinema. How could such people be called atheists?
Religious people are accused of never questioning their religion, yet one would never see a highbrow move buff criticise movies like Gangs Of Wasseypur or Neerja. Blind faith isn’t restricted to organised religions. So-called atheists are equally obedient towards their objects of zeal. Most religious people are not fanatical about their beliefs but most highbrow movie buffs are fanatical towards their cinema or television show. Still, fanaticism is only correlated to religion. When sports fans turn riotous, it’s called mental disintegration of over-exuberant fans; but when religious fanatics turn riotous, religion gets a bad name.
Muslims respect other religions even though they consider Islam as the only true religion. They never mock other religions. They don’t stop non-Muslims from observing their respective religions. They don’t spread hate against other religions or atheists. That’s true democracy. That what being liberal means — watching a yuppie TV show doesn’t make you liberal. Now compare that to the so-called atheists, highbrow movie buffs. They ridicule mainstream cinema. They spread hate against people whose cinematic predilections don’t match theirs. They bully those who don’t subscribe to their cinematic diktats. They manipulate ratings on IMDB through fake mass-voting. Yet they are championed as the most broad-minded people in the world.
People misuse religion to control others. But it’s not just religion that gets distorted by control freaks — radicalisation of anything is dangerous. Hinduism is a tolerant, secular, polytheistic religion. Some of the greatest mathematicians and scientists in the world have been Hindus. The very foundation of human rights was set by Christianity. One of Islam’s main purpose was to eliminate racism and class divisions. Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) taught Muslims to be kind to non-Muslims. The main purpose of Sikhism was to eliminate segregation of society on the basis of caste, colour, creed, social status etc. Sikh gurudwaras (temples) serve langar (free meals) to people irrespective of their faith and social status. (On the other hand, people like Karan Johar have only intensified class divisions in India.) What have the radicalised fans of Adolf Hitler, Karan Johar, Tanmay Bhat and Russell Peters done for the world other than spreading hate and xenophobia?
The religious concepts of salvation, heaven and hell are mocked by so-called atheists. Ironically, the atheist movie buffs indirectly promote the same ideology without using the same words. When they castigate people for not watching a certain Anurag Kashyap film, aren’t they implying that such people will rot in hell? (Otherwise what difference will not watching a movie make? It’s just a darn movie after all!) Religious people claim to be better connected to God than non-believers. Similarly, serious movie buffs claim to be better than people who watch cinema for entertainment. They just don’t use the idea of God but in essence they are saying the same thing. Some religious bigots claim that a strict adherence to their religion will get them numerous virgins in heaven. Similarly, serious movie buffs claim that watching so-called highbrow cinema will get them laid on the earth. The only difference is that the movie buffs keep things real, but the trap is the same — making people think that they they will get special benefits over others who aren’t like them.
Most dictators in the world have been atheists. It’s true that terrorists have no religion — some of them are atheists.
One of the biggest myths in the world is atheism. Disbelief in God also implies lack of religious belief. Logically one cannot be an atheist and religious at the same time. Anyone who doesn’t believe in God or doesn’t abide by organised religion or a religious cult claims to be an atheist. But is anyone really an atheist? The idea of atheism is restricted to the dogmas of religions and cults. But regardless of one’s religious beliefs, most people do believe in something. It could be God, an object, a profession, a political orientation, politician, “serious” or dark cinema, a sports team, an animal or a human being — practically anything connected to or independent of organised religion.
Most highbrow film buffs (the Hollywood types, the Yuppies, Anurag Kashyap’s aficionados) claim to be atheists, but they have a resolute devotion towards their type of cinema. How could such people be called atheists?
Religious people are accused of never questioning their religion, yet one would never see a highbrow move buff criticise movies like Gangs Of Wasseypur or Neerja. Blind faith isn’t restricted to organised religions. So-called atheists are equally obedient towards their objects of zeal. Most religious people are not fanatical about their beliefs but most highbrow movie buffs are fanatical towards their cinema or television show. Still, fanaticism is only correlated to religion. When sports fans turn riotous, it’s called mental disintegration of over-exuberant fans; but when religious fanatics turn riotous, religion gets a bad name.
Muslims respect other religions even though they consider Islam as the only true religion. They never mock other religions. They don’t stop non-Muslims from observing their respective religions. They don’t spread hate against other religions or atheists. That’s true democracy. That what being liberal means — watching a yuppie TV show doesn’t make you liberal. Now compare that to the so-called atheists, highbrow movie buffs. They ridicule mainstream cinema. They spread hate against people whose cinematic predilections don’t match theirs. They bully those who don’t subscribe to their cinematic diktats. They manipulate ratings on IMDB through fake mass-voting. Yet they are championed as the most broad-minded people in the world.
People misuse religion to control others. But it’s not just religion that gets distorted by control freaks — radicalisation of anything is dangerous. Hinduism is a tolerant, secular, polytheistic religion. Some of the greatest mathematicians and scientists in the world have been Hindus. The very foundation of human rights was set by Christianity. One of Islam’s main purpose was to eliminate racism and class divisions. Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) taught Muslims to be kind to non-Muslims. The main purpose of Sikhism was to eliminate segregation of society on the basis of caste, colour, creed, social status etc. Sikh gurudwaras (temples) serve langar (free meals) to people irrespective of their faith and social status. (On the other hand, people like Karan Johar have only intensified class divisions in India.) What have the radicalised fans of Adolf Hitler, Karan Johar, Tanmay Bhat and Russell Peters done for the world other than spreading hate and xenophobia?
The religious concepts of salvation, heaven and hell are mocked by so-called atheists. Ironically, the atheist movie buffs indirectly promote the same ideology without using the same words. When they castigate people for not watching a certain Anurag Kashyap film, aren’t they implying that such people will rot in hell? (Otherwise what difference will not watching a movie make? It’s just a darn movie after all!) Religious people claim to be better connected to God than non-believers. Similarly, serious movie buffs claim to be better than people who watch cinema for entertainment. They just don’t use the idea of God but in essence they are saying the same thing. Some religious bigots claim that a strict adherence to their religion will get them numerous virgins in heaven. Similarly, serious movie buffs claim that watching so-called highbrow cinema will get them laid on the earth. The only difference is that the movie buffs keep things real, but the trap is the same — making people think that they they will get special benefits over others who aren’t like them.
Most dictators in the world have been atheists. It’s true that terrorists have no religion — some of them are atheists.
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