My experience with an atheist

MY EXPERIENCE WITH AN ATHEIST

Cl. Mario D’Couto SDB

            I remember one occasion (3^rd April 2012) while I was travelling from Nashik to Lonavala, I encountered a family. At first, they seemed normal although later, when the husband tried to get into a conversation with me, I eventually discovered that he was an atheist. For him, he did not care in the least whether God existed or not. He told me that he would always take his family to Shirdi (one of the holy places in India) not for a pilgrimage but rather for a picnic. He was completely influenced by science. Science for him was his only answer and religion was nothing but a bunch of superstitions.  

            The arguments that he put forth were quite valid. For example, he began by stating that the human person evolved from a monkey (an ape) and he substantiated his argument by giving enough and more facts such as the struggle to survive, the climatic conditions, safety from predators and so on which contributed to the growth of the human species, that is to say, from being an ape to becoming a fully developed human being. He also criticized religion for the fact that it has not really helped humankind in anyway. Instead it has led to more bloodshed. Besides this, he also stated that science was responsible for humankind’s progress. Religion on the other hand had so to say “shunted” humankind’s progress.

            Sounds convincing isn’t it? Think again! There is something much more than restricting one’s self to sense experience. At first I tried to tell him that we cannot restrict our lives to just mere sense experience since all of us have a thirst for transcendence; all of us are in search for a meaning in life. I tried to tell him about the fact that behind everything that existed, there has to be a cause. For example, if I were to ask, “What is the origin of our universe?” many secular thinkers (particularly atheists) would want to attribute the cause of the universe to chance. At the most, they may give a very detailed scientific explanation of how the universe came into being. Yet, behind all that, there is a ‘Divine’ force that is guiding everything. What guarantee is there that our planet earth would not collide with another planet? There has got to be something that directs everything.

            Teilhard de Chardin, a French Jesuit priest, had a great interest in science and he sought to bring about a synthesis between science and religion. Concerning man’s evolvement from an ape, it is most likely that the evidence found could be true. But yet, that does not mean that it should disturb our faith. Rather our faith can be strengthened.

            One of the things we need to keep in mind with regard to the understanding of Scripture is that it should not be understood in its literal sense. The Holy Bible was written under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit with a specific purpose – to show God’s plan for humankind. Hence, many of the things written in scripture have a hidden meaning. This is a topic that can be dealt with at length and hence I would like to stop for now although the point that I want to make is that we cannot understand or read the Holy Bible like as though it was some science textbook. It is for this reason that the Holy Bible is called the “Word of God” and not “God’s scientific manual.”

            Thus, just as it is rightly written in sacred scripture, “With the Lord a day is like a thousand years and a thousand years is like one day” (2 Peter 3:8), it is quite obvious that human beings have evolved over time. The sad part is that we were always led into believing that the way human beings looked now was the same way it was at the time of creation.

            In a stunning confirmation of the book of Genesis, modern scientists have discovered that the universe was created in a primordial explosion of energy and light. Not only did the universe have a beginning in space and time, but the origin of the universe was also a beginning for space and time. Space and time did not exist prior to the universe. If you accept that everything that has a beginning has a cause, then the material universe had a non-material or spiritual cause. The spiritual cause brought the universe into existence without using the laws of physics. Hence, the creation of the universe was, in the quite literal meaning of the term, a miracle. Its creator is known to be a spiritual, eternal being of creativity and power beyond all conceivable limits. Mind, not matter, came at the beginning.  With the help of science and logic, all this can be rationally demonstrated.        

            Sometimes, people have criticized religion for being responsible for violence. Many atheists and liberal Christians would want to think that the Church was responsible for the various atrocities over the course of history which include stoning, witch-burnings, the crusades and so on. There is no doubt that today I guess more and more religious are taking up to violence as a means to assert themselves. For example, Hinduism in the past was a peace loving religion but today there is quite a bit of fanaticism in it. As for Islam, I need not mention. Yet it would be wrong to exaggerate that all of them are like that. It is only a particular group of people who are the real fanatics.

            Thus, what is important is that we need to look at the details before we jump into conclusions. For example, ethnic conflicts have always been misunderstood as religious conflicts as seen between the Protestants and Catholics in Ireland or the Shias and the Sunnis in Islam. This is something we need to be careful about. In fact, quite the contrary, atheism has committed more crimes in history than religion. The lives of Hitler, Mao Zedong and Stalin testify to it.

            Concerning the progress of humanity, many people would want to think that we owe a lot to science for making human living more comfortable. True! But we should not forget that science came from religion. The Renaissance was typically regarded as a reaction against medieval scholasticism. This is because this period was characterized by a ‘fuga mundi’ attitude (running away from the world) where the spirit was considered good and the body was considered bad. Everything during this time was looked upon with adhering to God’s will and if ever a person did not abide with it then he was an anathema (an outcast). However, we should note that the very belief in God enables or enriches the study of science and this is because science is nothing but an exploration of God’s creation. In this regard, it would be worth noting some of the scientists of the Renaissance who pursued their scientific interests on their knees.

            Copernicus, Kepler, Galileo, Descartes, Boyle, Newton, Leibniz, Pascal, Harvey, Dalton, Faraday, Joule, Kelvin, Ohm, Ampere, Maxwell, Planck, Gassendi, Mersenne, Mendell, Lemaitre, Teilhard de Chardin and others are some examples in this regard. A good number of these scientists were clergymen. Gassendi, Mersenne, Lemaitre and de Chardin were priests. Mendell, whose discovery of the principles of heredity would provide vital support for the theory of evolution, spent his entire adult life as a monk in an Augustinian monastery. Where would modern science be without these men? Some were Protestant and some were Catholic, but yet their scientific vocation was distinctively Christian.  

            By far, perhaps one of the highly regarded scientists of all time was Isaac Newton. Besides being a scientist, he was virtually a Christian mystic who wrote long commentaries on Biblical prophecy from both the book of Daniel and the book of Revelation. He viewed his discoveries as showing the creative genius of God’s handiwork in nature. He wrote, “This most beautiful system of sum, planets and comets could only proceed from the counsel and dominion of an intelligent and powerful being.” For Newton, God was not a watchmaker who wound up the universe and then withdrew from it. Rather, God was an active agent sustaining the heavenly bodies.   

            Einstein confessed that “in every true searcher of nature there is a kind of religious reverence.” The example of Kepler shows that the Christian convictions of these towering figures of science were not something accidental to the work. Rather, these convictions were the scientists’ guiding inspiration. Kepler wrote, “For a long time, I wanted to become a theologian. Now however, behold how through my effort God is being celebrated through astronomy.”

            Another thing that the gentleman in the train (whom I encountered) stated was that there was nothing such as spirit or a soul. Human life, for him, was possible because of the functioning of the heart and the body. Death was the result of the malfunctioning of either the heart or the brain or both. Hence, for him death was the end of life. There was nothing beyond it. However, a life with no meaning is no life at all. If we are going to restrict ourselves only to the things of this world, then perhaps we have missed the point of human living. This does not mean that earthly pleasures such as food, relaxation, music and so on are bad. It is just that we cannot restrict ourselves to it or make such things as our ultimate goal. There is something beyond this earthly life that makes our human lives sacred who is the author of all goodness. This is none other than God Himself.

            This therefore brings us to the point as to why we should live morally. We are all moral beings because God’s spirit is present within each of us. That is why each of us has an obligation to do good.

            The unfortunate thing was that since the whole conversation was in Hindi, I struggled a bit to explain, since my Hindi was not very good. Yet, in my own way, I tried to put forth my point. However, despite my efforts, the gentleman was not fully convinced. Nevertheless, we remained cordial with each other. What I like to share from this experience is that sometimes it is good to encounter such kind of people because only when our faith is challenged, then it becomes stronger (provided if it is done in the right way and out of good will). Otherwise, we could become very lethargic spiritually and this could cause us to live superficial lives. Personally, through this experience, I have not lost my faith rather, it has strengthened my faith.