Atheism: The Emancipation Of The Human Spirit

More often than not, the philosophical stance of atheism is often juxtaposed with visions of gloom and doom: Given that the word "Atheist" is originated from the Greek word, Atheos: a, which means, 'without', & theos, meaning 'god', atheism's position as a default position of non-belief does sound a bit discomforting, especially for fence-sitting atheists and agnostics who may find little or no solace in what seems on the surface to be a huge emotional void.

Theists often muse over this quaint little attitude of atheists: Wouldn't the disbelief or non-belief in an omnipotent, omniscient and omnibenevolent God be a rather despondent ideal, given that we live in a world that is essentially full of uncertainties? There is so much that we have failed to comprehend, that wouldn't it be a better preposition to seek the solace of a deity, real or otherwise, than be in a precarious position of non-belief, which seems bereft of any hope and meaning with regards to our very own evanescent existence?



The Theistic World View


For the purpose of discussion, I shall stick to monotheism as a representative of Theism and its adherent, Religion.

The theistic disposition is simple: This life that we cling onto is a spectral of a supreme deity 's supposedly perfect Creation. He creates us in his very image, and as such we own our very existence to his good grace. If we break his rules (which, rather unfortunately, were written by desert mules of a bygone era in the form of some rather insipid, erroneous scriptures), we are supposed to be punished for eternity in a specially designed barbecue pit, delightfully labeled as "Hell" by pious fools who claim that an eternity of roasting awaits the infidel foolish enough to defy belief. Of course, if you are a pious enough fool who has nothing but dumb faith in the belief of his supernatural abilities, you get to stay in the deity's designated residence, Heaven, for the rest of eternity.


Note that, in a theistic worldview, death can, and will be transcended: It is alleged that every human possesses a non-materialistic entity known otherwise as a soul, which, we are led to believe, has the ability to exist ad finitum.


In short, your afterlife is an ultimate choice between two extremes: An eternity of masturbating the Invisible Father's alter-ego and singing tawdry Christian hymns (Considering that I tend to fall asleep singing Christian hymns, this sounds a lot more hellish than heavenly to me. Any infidels share my sentiments???), or spending eternity in the fiery BBQ pits of hell, fueled by the fat globules of obscenely obese Reverends in the portly shape of Fall-well (As well as spending time with the likes of Marilyn Monroe and some really hot babes).

If one is to believe in such wishy-washy fairy tales, then I must admit, such a future (if indeed the atheist has any noteworthy future to speak of), is really bleak indeed.


A More Realistic World View: A Creator-less Existence

The truth, however, is far more emancipating than this depressing juxtaposition of unbelievers in relation to our existence. Most atheists do not believe for a second that an omnipotent, omniscient and omnibenevolent God can create something so awful an existence in the first place.

If we are to take a closer look at the universe, the universe does not bear signs of any form of "intelligent design" (An unintelligent phrase coined by Creationists to provide the grave image of God with a distinctly intellectual quality). Stars, such as our life-giving sun, will in time swell and collapse under its own gravity, creating gigantic black holes so dense that everything within its vicinity, including light, gets sucked into their vortexes. Asteroids hurl through space at such potentially devastating speeds, that one such massively destructive rock managed to destroy almost all life on Earth millions of years ago. Our very universe is currently expanding at an incredible rate towards oblivion, so much so that when it reaches the end of its lifespan, another "Big Bang" event reminiscent of the same event that created our Universe in the first place could very well spell the end of our universe's existence.

Life on Earth, as we know it, is hardly the stuff of intelligence. One particularly insightful person remarked that "Life is one giant restaurant. You either eat, or be eaten." Animals are constantly immolated by stronger, nastier counterparts with sharp claws and talons, and if this is the work of a benevolent Creator,I'd be better off worshiping the image of Hitler and his frenzied Nazi Party.

With the existing knowledge and evidence human civilization has garnered and continues to pile up at this point of time, the Atheist's position is sweet and emancipating: We, as human beings,are so insignificant in the grand scheme of the Universe, that atheists appreciate that we have survived sheer odds to make it so far in the passage of Time. We know, and believe that this is the only life we have in this spectacular, albeit imperfect existence, and that we strive to live the fullest possible life within our means. We are uninhibited by the fear of hell, nor are we driven to perform good deeds based merely on the imagined rewards of heaven (which is hardly enticing, in my view, unless you consider grovelling and prostrating in front of a male alter-ego the equivalent of sexual ecstasy).

Now, which religious creed can offer such pure, unadulterated emancipation, other than mere Atheism?