I have no religion
Last night, on a flight from Chennai to Mumbai, I was seated next to two eight year old girls, who were going for vacation with their families. They were both smart sociable girls, who were conversing with a stranger quite comfortably. One of the girls asked me my religion. Thats when it struck me, how do you tell a bunch of eight year olds, whose mom wears a burqa, that you do not have a religion, that you do not believe in existance of god?
Well, I told them I had no religion. “Are you Christian?” No. “Are you Muslim?” No. “Are you Hindu” No. “Are you Buddhist?” No. “Oh, uncle told naa, he has no religion.” “Why?”
Well… because world with a god will be no different than world without a god. We are guided by our own soul (how I wish I hadn’t used that word) and do not need god to tell us what is right and what is wrong.
“If there are no lights in the air, how can pilot see?” Relief!
For all the readings of Dawkins and Russell and Harris, I was completely at loss of words. How do you explain why god is redundant to a couple of eight year olds?
Niket,
Serious comment first:
What is striking about this incident is the fact that these young kids asked this question in the first place? I remember being rather comfortable when asked about religion by older people in bus or a train. Unfortunate that we live in a society where your religion/race is more important identity than the fact that you are a human being like everyone else.
Argument to the kids:
We are guided by our souls..so God is in us. We are Gods!
I use to keep wondering as to why in hindu mythology there are so many gods? It is said they are 33 Crores (330 Millions of them)!! And it struck to me that it may be because, it teaches that each human being is a god in itself. And hence you are guided by your soul and nothing else ….and so god is in us.
Niket, Swapnil has a good argument on that. Else, how can you explain a god to a kid who are by all means innocent!
First, tell em about the scientific method, ie how experiments, observation and reason is used to learn about the world we live in.
Second, tell them that all the facts we know about the universe today is a result of the application of the scientific method. For example, how airplanes fly, how we measure various phenomenon, why the sky is blue, how we know air, electricity is there though we can’t see it, etc. Tell them about the mathematical laws which we’ve found which model the natural world very accurately.
Finally, tell them that there’s no scientific evidence that there’s any supernatural deity which exists and directly influences our lives. So, what’s the difference between an invisible deity which cannot be detected and no deity at all?
If they insist that they’ve seen god and that personal evidence is enough for them, smile and tell them that you think differently and ditch the topic. Or perhaps, if you have time, you could go into explaining the differences between anecdotal evidence and evidence conducuted via scientific tests.
Seriously, because eight year old kids are very smart and will pay more attention that indoctrinated adults.
There is no evidence to the contrary. How do you prove there is no God?
Also, funny how you believe in the existence of a soul but neither in Religion nor God.
Although, belief in Religion does not necessarily correspond to a belief in God any more than belief in God corresponds to a belief in Religion.
No, I don’t believe in souls. That’s why I said that it was an unfortunate choice of word. The question still remains to date in my mind: what do I tell such young kids about belief or lack thereof in god.
“There is no evidence to the contrary.”
Do you believe in unicorns, or that there is actually a Santa Claus? Or a superman who loses his powers when in contact with kryponite? Can you prove there are no unicorns or Santa Claus or superman? If someone claims something exists, its up to the person making the claims to present the proof. Heck, at least unicorn and superman have specific properties - a physical discription; god on the other hand has none.
And neither do we have a proof that there exists a soul.
This may be just semantics: I don’t claim god doesn’t exist. I claim I don’t have sufficient reason to believe that s/he does.
Well, if someone claims something does not exist, isn’t it upto him / her to prove it does not. It’s about making a claim, existence or lack of it is immaterial.
For instance, if I claim I have no income to pay tax on wouldn’t I have to prove to IT authorities that I in fact have no income and it is precisely why I am replying to a blog at 10 in the morning?
Coming back to your question you can tell the kids you are a man of faith. If they follow it up with another question, you say “the times they are a changin’ indeed”. I doubt whether there will be another coherent question from the kid, except for “huh?”. Then you say “Exactly” and look away.
I don’t see a reason to tell the kids that I am a man of faith. I am not.
The problem with god argument, in fact, is that it is so fluid that one cannot prove that s/he doesn’t exist. The concept of god is not falsifiable. And god is redundant. That is my most basic claim… that even if one exists, s/he is redundant because world without god will be no different than world with one.
Sorry, you are wrong about this. I am not making a claim god does not exist. I am claiming that there isn’t sufficient reason for me to believe god exists. More importantly, I am claiming god argument is redundant.
BTW, do you believe unicorns exist? Or superman? Can you prove they do not?
I agree with Niket on this.
There is nothing supernatural(like superman,god,unicorns etc.) going in this world.
If its there in nature then is natural.