It seems like it’s all too common for atheists finding themselves having to explain the reason why they don’t believe in God, which can occasionally turn into endless debates leading nowhere – where atheists may point out lack of scientific proof or other logical flaws in such conversations, while the believers may counter with how we don’t see/hear many things which exist or that all phenomena cannot be explained by science.

I often found these conversations pointless and exhausting, whether I was a part of them or just witnessing it with others. I’ve never heard of anyone being logically convinced by arguments to believe or disbelieve in anything, yet people seem to keep trying anyway. I’ve always noticed how the default-mode of most people seems to be to believe in some form of religion or God, making atheists seem like the odd ones out –  who are then expected to justify why they do not align themselves with any belief system, sometimes leading to conversations intended to convince them to believe just like everyone else. But I feel like if believers expect people to respect all different faiths, they can at least try to respect atheism as well – even if atheism aligns with non-belief.

I was raised a Hindu, but right from early childhood, I never felt like religious beliefs really resonated with me. Rather than feeling any ‘comfort or belonging’, I usually felt uncomfortable when Hinduism or even spirituality seemed to be imposed on me by the people around me. Still, I was always open to knowing more about various belief systems, even if it was more out of detached curiosity than emotional resonance.

Over the years after school, I went on to learning Hinduism in more depth and also to explore other faiths including Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, “New Age Spirituality”, etc. I found an affinity for Buddhism for its structured nature and meditation techniques for calming the mind, Hindu Vedanta philosophy of Brahman – and even a brief phase with things like Law of Attraction. While there were certainly times when I did feel some kind of purpose, meaning, or comfort through them, such occasions were usually temporary, leaving me more misaligned with practical life than providing any real ‘positives’. Eventually, even after a lot of exploration, reading, joining groups, and giving these beliefs a fair chance, I could not align myself with any of these belief systems – as in the end, all these ideas of “God”, “Religions” or “Spirituality” have all just been created by human beings, in an attempt to create meaning in the seemingly unpredictable, chaotic and meaningless nature of life.

Human beings have created images of God, Religion and Spirituality based on people’s own images, as part of people’s own attempts to give meaning & direction to human lives, decide on and enforce an acceptable code of conduct, create rituals to enable a sense of belonging with people of the same faith, or to make people feel the comfort of having a divine being looking out for them in cosmic ways. And while there may be some aspects of truth in each of these belief systems, or they each may be different roads leading to the same destination – in the end they all seem like incomplete fragments or human fantasies of filling the gaps of what we know with stories based on collective resonance, and not really truth.

I feel like as human beings, we may never be able to fully understand the complete nature of reality or our existence, or why things happen the way they do in our lives – as it is rightly said that these things seem to be beyond human understanding. And as long as we remain unable to truly comprehend or accept the truth of our existence – whether there are indeed cosmic laws governing us, or whether all events in human history are merely random, meaningless coincidences – whether or not any of these faiths are credible is in the end, unknowable.

And maybe I find it better to leave some things unknown, rather than filling the blanks by believing in man-made religions solely for emotional comfort – until either human knowledge evolves enough to find any real answers, or until people get comfortable enough with simply not knowing.

Of course, it’s worth saying that everyone is a believer in something. Like religious or spiritual groups believe in their respective faiths, maybe atheists believe in life being largely determined by our own choices, or destiny being in our own hands. And while there may or may not be divine external forces influencing our lives, maybe we just choose to focus on things within our own control despite these unknowable forces, creating our own purpose or meaning along the way.