In Praise of Atheism
Leo Igwe, as a member of the International Humanist and Ethical Union, has bravely worked for human rights in West Africa. He is presently enrolled in a three year research programme on “Witchcraft accusations in Africa” at the University of Bayreuth, in Germany.
Leo Igwe
Posted: Jan 23, 2012
As an atheist, sometimes, I wonder why it has taken human beings so long to realize that there is no god and that the so-called creator, almighty, all merciful, all knowing, and all-what-again god that humans have worshiped for ages is a fantasy, a figment of human mind and imagination, without any real instance, essence, existence or significance.
Because I think the non-existence of god is so commonsensical a fact and really does not require any mental rigor to understand. God by definition has properties and attributes that make him/her/it unknowable, tenable, and an existential impossibility. They include attributes like infinity, omniscience, omnipotence, omnipresence etc. Just observe nature and you will know that it has no god. And that this city of humanity is a self-regulating entity. So, I regard the idea of god’s existence as the most nonsensical of all nonsense. Yes, the god idea is a lie, complete absurdity. The whole concept of god’s existence is total, absolute and arrant nonsense. The “father figure in the sky” is a mental block to proper understanding of life nature and reality. My only concern is this: why has it taken the world so long to know this. Why are many people still holding on to this illusion in spite of modern civilization, renaissance and enlightenment? Why have most human beings on earth yet to acknowledge this simple fact. That god has no real existence.
The god-idea may have served some good for some people in the past and in the present. There is no doubt about that. But that does not change its epistemic value or character. Does it? That a superstitious belief is comforting doesn’t make it science. Does it? That most people in the world today believe in god does not negate the fact that god is a concept without content. Or better a concept that contains whatever we humans invest on it.
So when I consider the amount of energy, time, money and other resources that believers invest or better waste revering this non entity called god or the number of lives snuffed out over the ages by religious militants, jihadists, suicide bombers and other that kill in the name of one god or the other, I cannot but shudder at the depth and profundity of human stupidity and foolery. On the other hand I cannot but appreciate the wisdom, insight, excellence ad beneficence in the atheistic worldview. The psalmist was wrong for saying that “The Fool has said in his heart, there is no god.” I’m sure that the author of the Psalms, like other ancient writers of the holy books, got something wrong somewhere. What the Fool really said in his heart is “There is god.” Because it requires the suspension of one’s reason and intelligence to believe in the existence of a deity and to spend one’s life time worshiping this transcendental illusion.
http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/5164
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