SCHOOL TIMES : Questioning God’s existence

I came across this quote by Robert M Pirsig in Dawkin’s The God Delusion: “When one person suffers from delusion, it is called insanity, and when many people suffer from delusion, it is called religion.”

I spent the rest of the day thinking about it. It has always been difficult to voice my opinion about God in front of people. People tend to scoff labelling it as ignorance and teen thoughts. But nobody around me has really rationalised its existence, as if the truth was established a long time ago.

I have noticed that whenever I question God’s existence, the believers, instead of being enraged, pity me, blaming the West for its ‘negative influence’ on youngsters. It is tiring to constantly remind them that the West is, if it is just United States (where I spent some time), is more religious than they could ever imagine.

Here in Nepal, nobody gets hurt or would try to call me names if I spell out, “I don’t believe in God”, but in the US I would be considered either a Satan worshipper or a lunatic who has lost track of moral values.

Mocking those who follow religion contradicts the spirit of this writing in the first place, nor do I have plans to start an atheist movement. All I ask for is a little bit of room for the ones who choose not to bind themselves in faith.

I read articles or poems in newspapers or magazines written by people my age thanking God for everything in their life. If I were to write a poem in a newspaper saying how thankful I am that there is no God, I wonder how many enraged replies I’d get.

So I ask why I need to explain my belief of ‘no God’ when my peers and elders never explained to me how there is one?

— Neha Pokharel, Class IX, Rato Bangala School