I was plagued by a crisis this week. You see, MTV recently announced this will be the last season of Punk’d. I was flabbergasted. How can a show of such high caliber that brings such enjoyment to so many people be heinously ripped off the air when it is still in its prime? But the more important question is, how can I believe in a God, or some other higher spiritual force, that would allow this to happen?
I didn’t want to answer the question. I have been a part of so many religious traditions this past semester and invested so much into believing in something bigger than myself, that I could not fathom a disbelief in the sacred. Yet, the answer was obvious. No all-powerful being could allow Punk’d, the epitome of human justice coupled with good-natured humor, to be taken from the people who need it most. I didn’t want to have to make this choice, but I had no other alternative. This week, I was not a part of any faith — I was an atheist.
Free from the constraints of dogma and superstitious thinking, I began to see the world in a new light. I sought out my atheist brothers and sisters so I might learn what I was to believe and how I was to believe it.
Searching for a congregation of atheists, I turned to the Internet and found some great sources to instruct me. According to the American Atheists website, “atheism is a doctrine that states that nothing exists but natural phenomena (matter), that thought is a property or function of matter, and that death irreversibly and totally terminates individual organic units. This definition means that there are no forces, phenomena, or entities which exist outside of or apart from physical nature, or which transcend nature, or are ‘super’ natural, nor can there be. Humankind is on its own.”
Hot damn, I thought, there’s the ticket. There were no holy scriptures to read, no prophets to hear and no moral guidelines to adhere to. I had human reason, scientific knowledge and philosophy to help me understand and interact with the world. Those are concepts to be lauded and praised, for we know they exist, and we can prove the truth with them.
It makes sense. All throughout history, humanity — even religion, in its own convoluted way — has sought to gain truth and dispel ignorance. Religion may have solely served this purpose in centuries past, but it is high time people realize that science and reason are the ways to go now.
It is through science that we know about atoms and about relativity. Forget that Buddhism and Hinduism proposed similar concepts centuries ago; those religions hypothesized them, but science has proved them.
In the name of religion, people have halted progressive thinking and murdered thousands of innocent people.
Thank reason we atheists have champions of our cause like Stalin and Mao Zedong.
What I never truly understood during my time as a religious person was how any religion could condemn another as evil or wrong. How could a Christian call a Buddhist a heretic and say he is going to hell, if that Buddhist is good to his fellow man and leads a moral life? How does his concept of Christ affect that?
Acceptance and openness were great things I experienced as an Atheist. We, as a group of reasonable individuals, would never disrespect another person for believing in something different than we do.
I mean, we atheists understand that human reason and intellect, which stem from the synaptic bridges between our brain cells, are all there is. Any belief otherwise is backward and obscures rational thought with ideas of a masquerade of supernatural forces.
My moral compass and ethics have not changed at all since I became an atheist. I am still a good person — I know this because I have logically determined I am. I have read natural philosophy, understood it and applied it to my life. I do not need a God, gods, a priest or a guru to tell me I am right or wrong. I can figure it out for myself. And that ability to figure it out for myself completely fulfills me.
Nicholas Shaman, a senior in the College of Arts and Sciences, is a weekly columnist for The Daily Free Press. He can be reached at shaman@bu.edu
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