WHY ATHEISTS CONVERT TO BELIEVERS ?-by N.S.Venkataraman
Historically, over the last several centuries all over the world , there have been people who are not inclined to believe in the religious doctrines espousing on the concept of God. Such atheists are often decried as rebels and negative thinkers. However, the fact is that these atheists have been hard thinkers , who have been pondering over the question life long about the origin of humans as to where they have come from and destination of humans after they would inevitably pass away.
In the past, millions of people have been wondering about the birth and the death process and they often struggle to get a convincing explanation for these events. However, most of the people have seen only the dead end in the thought process and therefore have focused on the day today life process, even as they know that death would be an inevitable event sooner or later.
At the same time, several religions have sprung up over the last thousands of years , evolving thoughts about origin and end process and have advocated that there has to be a creator ( God) without which the world would not have happened. As people are unable to get a rational explanation appealing to the human brain about the origin and end process , the religions have asked everyone to unequivocally accept the concept of God and surrender to God with the aim of attaining God’s feet after the life would end. Apart from this, the religions also have laid down firm guidelines, as to what would be the best method of leading the life process . Most people have accepted such religious ideas , as the best way to lead a peaceful life and have readily surrendered themselves to the concept of God, whatever He may be and wherever He may be.
While several religions talk about hell and heaven as the possible destination after the life process, Hindu religion speaks about the rebirth and say emphatically that one would keep on taking rebirth until the person would lead a blissful life. Hindu religion goes on to explain about Jeevatma
( individual soul) and paramatma ( God) and say that sustained meditation with total detachment in the mind would enable the jeevatma in individual self to totally merge and identify itself with paramatma and reach what is called as Bliss ( Ananda in Sanskrit ), that would be the end and must be the target of individuals.
On the other hand, the atheists who strive hard to get rational explanation for life process see the scientific developments and advancements over the years such as cloning, robotics etc., as giving them hope that rational explanation would be possible one day or the other and one should look forward to that day , instead of assuming the concept of God as enunciated by religions.
All said and done, while religions provide certain guideline and concept to the humans to lead a quality life, atheists do not have any such ideas to offer. Unlike the religions, the atheists move on towards blind spot in their thought process to find the “truth”.
Ultimately, as the life process goes on and the human body starts withering over the years, in almost all cases, the atheists become restless with their thought process which take them nowhere and may simply conclude that they have no alternative other than reconciling themselves that “there is a force beyond”.
It is not uncommon to see atheists accepting at one time or the other that their thought process to find an explanation for the origin and end has not taken them anywhere and it would be a better option to surrender to a “force”, even if it is unknown in their view.
The question remains as which is better ,atheism or theism and who are betters non believers or believers . In such scenario, when nothing is clear , theism appears to be a better option than atheism , as theism atleast provide some sense of direction , whereas atheism remains clouded in confusion and lack of clarity.
At the same time, it is necessary to caution that atheism need not be decried and atheists should not be criticized, as they are honest and hard thinkers and searchers to find the truth on origin and end of humans. Certainly, atheism should not be considered as due to egoism of atheists. The atheists are not egoists but genuine thought seekers.
