OUR REAL WELL BEING WITHOUT RELIGION
Atheists generally argue that what is the need of acknowledging or worshiping God if man is honest,
benevolent, good in dealing etc. Or they sometimes dismiss religion by saying it is false and are meant
to cheat the masses. In this article we are going to address these questions. Many times we come
across the debate where these questions generally haunt us.
First let’s understand what religion is. Religion centers on the existence of a benevolent god by whose grace we can attain a world of eternal happiness. It frequently tells us that the present world is a station, not the destination. By living in the world by god’s guidelines,we can live fruitfully and evolve towards spiritual perfection.
In the handbook of religion and health, published by Oxford University press Harold G Koeing, MD,
Michael E, McCullough Phd and late David B Larson carefully reviewed no fewer than thousand
published experiments that tested the relation between religion and everything from blood pressure
heart disease cancer stroke to depression suicide psychotic disorders and marital problems.
some of the findings are
1. people who attended a spiritual program at least once a week lived average seven years longer that
those who don't attend at all
2. religion youth showed significant lover levels of drug and alcohol abuse premature sexual
involvement criminal delinquency and suicidal tendencies that their nonreligious counterparts
3. elderly people with deep personal religious faith have a stronger sense of well being and life
satisfaction than their less religious peers
4. there are research that showed that one can create improvement in the symptom of disease that
otherwise is can't be medically explained
Dr Herbert Benson in research inference said that the relaxation response that the benefits of religious
belief are grater where those beliefs are deeply cherished, not nominally held. So what are we to
infer from this? is religion an illusion then why is it such a peculiar illusion that the greater our belief in
it the greater benefit is? it could be very possible that religious beliefs are not at all illusion? might
religious belief and practice be harmonizing us with a deeper reality, a harmonizing that helps our
mental and physical health?
Another eye opening statistics is that violence in the aesthetic part of the world is far more than
elsewhere. R J Rummel in the book Lethal J Politics: soviet genocide and mass murder since 1917
documents that the victims of the Marxist government amounts to 95200000. by comparing the battle
killed in all foreign and domestic war in the century total 35700000.this data is enough to break their
argument that blame religion for violence.
An atheist assumes that whatever well being has happened on material level only. and if we stopped
focusing on religion then we can focus more on material being
What atheistic point of view is that we are material being made up of chemicals and we will end up with
death. This point of view might look very liberating but is a limiting worldview where our life does not
have any purpose other than sense gratification. How can such a dreary, draining and depressing
worldview foster well being. A godless soulless worldview makes life meaningless, purposeless and
worthless. Our culture which labels religion as false divert the masses and force them to seek refuge
in their own illusion.
Religion provides a lasting and fulfilling direction for our innermost longing for love. By doing so it
makes our life meaningful, purposeful, joyful. We believe nothing enriches our life as does
bhakti ( loving devotional service). Atheism on the other hand devalues life into a meaningless
accident, a procession of death chemicals. If offers little if any reason for compassion and all reasons
for utilitarianism - use anything and anyone for one's own pleasure. Life is meant for enjoyment and
three is no God to oversee how we get that enjoyment. Such a worldview fosters immortality,
corruption and degradation.
Now I believe the argument is sufficient to speak for itself. An atheistic argument reflects an arrogance
intolerance faith, the faith that conceals its intolerance under the grabs of science, secularism and
social progress. Now the question turns to atheists, can a healthy society be built without the
foundation of religion.?
