Godless

Christopher Hitchens has cancer. He says he will be extremely lucky if he lives another 5 years. Christopher Hitchens, if you did not already know, is a world famous atheist. What about this is newsworthy? Well, for starters, he remains a committed atheist even after his diagnosis, and has resisted all pressure to 'convert', or to begin to 'believe'.

I am an atheist. I have been for more than a decade. In my opinion, there are two ways to argue the idea of a 'god', or for that matter, any other belief in the world. You can argue it logically, or emotionally. When a logical argument meets an emotional one, I don't believe that there is any scope for discussion or discovery. One is based on a dispassionate, rational premise, and the other based in the inexplicable realm of feeling. Really, that's like comparing an apple to an orangutan.

When it comes to logic, the atheists have the victory. Neither religion nor faith can really convince us that their side has any basis in logic, whatsoever. It is when people describe their faith emotionally, that we falter. In what possible way can we counter when someone explains to us, often eloquently, what they feel. How can we argue against a person who describes the joy they feel in prayer, or in the firm knowledge they possess that there is someone or something that is permanently on their side?

In this same way, when I find that people attempt to convince me of the existence of their 'god', I have both the logical and emotional explanation. Emotionally speaking, there is no god. When I am happy, or sad, or unspeakably alone, there is no one in the dark, holding my hand. I feel no presence, or light or joy that others describe. And I am completely and utterly happy with that status quo. My mistakes are my own, my conclusions are my own, my vision is my own and my success is my own. No one handed me anything, and no one guided me. No one, and nothing.

Which brings me back to the beginning of this little piece. Why would Hitchens suddenly start to believe once he has been told that he will die? It infuriates me that religious people consider our atheism merely a stance or a phase, one that will fade when truly terrible news, like impending death, is delivered to us. It's as if they do not believe that our belief system offers us a way to cope with the end of life. I believe, when I die, I will be dead. My mother will cry, my best friend will be lost and my brother will claim all my things for his own. And I will be dead. That will be that. That particular conclusion does not fill me with dread, it does not terrify me, and it will not, in the distant (or perhaps near) future, send me running to the church or the temple in search of 'meaning' when I am faced with my own mortality.

So, here's the thing, I am happy to be a passionate disbeliever, to call people out on the utter nonsense that is the idea of a god. And I really do wish you would let me be.

A Letter To The Editor

This morning, the cover of last month's Spectator magazine was pointed out to me. I found it so offensive that I immediately typed out a strongly worded email to the Editor of the publication. The following is the letter, and the image that provoked it.

Dear Editor,

I must admit, until 15 minutes ago, I had not heard very much about your publication. From my cursory research, which basically involved me checking out your website, you seem to be a respectable publication, with a wide area of coverage.

This is the reason I was appalled at the cover of last month's issue of Spectator. For an article written by Jo Johnson, your cover story, you had the picture of David Cameron as a snake charmer. It's not that we as Indians don't enjoy racist stereotyping by our former colonizers, it's that we think you could do so much better. Why go back to the old snake charmer bit when you can use the 'all Indians work in call centres' bit, or perhaps the 'all Indians are cowherds' bit or maybe even the 'all Indians are computer technicians' bit. Wouldn't your article have been much more attractive to the average buyer of your magazine if Cameron was playing cowherd to the stubborn brown native cow??

I haven't read your article. For all I know, Jo Johnson has cast all Indians as saints who have cracked the meaning to life in the article. What I do know is that hook that you have used to get a consumer to buy your publication is an offensive, racist and colonial stereotype. And you should really be ashamed of yourself for propagating the same views that the British believed entitled your country to enslave and exploit mine for several centuries.

Regards