Corona and God

God is one of the topics of discussion these days because the Corona disease makes people aware of their inevitable vulnerability. God is a safety valve for most people. However, a lot of religious centres which claimed to work miracles in the name of God(s) have shut down and I expressed my amusement over that in certain places like Facebook. One of my friends, who is otherwise very sensible and humorous, objected to my amusement arguing that if there is no God there would be utter chaos in the human world. Some people would even become cannibals, he said.

Though I have written much about my views on god and related affairs, I’m going to discuss some points once again for the sake of my friend.

1. I live a life of morality. I follow a very personal code of ethics which has a lot in common with socially and religiously accepted codes of ethics. But I don’t need a god to uphold it. I am good not because I am afraid of punishments from god. I am good not because I want the rewards in heaven after my death. I am good because I am intelligent enough to understand that goodness is what I should cultivate around me for my welfare as well as the welfare of others. Welfare is good, no one will dispute that. Knowing what is good, why would I choose evil? That’s simple logic. That logic is the foundation of my moral codes.

2. Being good out of fear of punishment and/or for the rewards waiting somewhere is extremely childish. Freud and many others saw religion as infantile. Shouldn’t we grow up into adulthood and take charge of our own lives instead of shifting certain responsibilities to an entity out there which we have empowered with all kinds of supernatural prowess and magical powers? I choose to look at my life without leaning against silly crutches invented by feeble minds.

I know that I am just another little creature born here because of a simple, natural biological process. I am a mere accident, just like anybody else, that happened at a moment in the eternal flow of time. If the accident had happened a moment later or earlier, if one chromosome was different there, I would have been a different person. I might have been religious too! This accident will end too just like any other creature in the natural process called death. And that’s the end of me. Except that I may linger on in the memories of a few people who chose to love me (in spite of me?).  In other words, I know, or I believe, that there is nothing waiting for me after death. I am neither afraid of eternal punishments nor concerned about eternal rewards. I choose to be good, nevertheless. I am mature enough, intelligent enough to make that choice.

3. My amusement about religious centres that keep making endless claims about the miracles they perform day in and day out continues unabashedly even in the time of Corona. Even more in the time of Corona, I should say. If they were really performing those miracles, why not perform a few more miracles when the world is facing a serious threat? Work a miracle and heal the sick. Why not? Don’t give me the oft-repeated argument that we can’t order God to perform miracles. I have seen priests and pastors and many others ordering God about as if He was their footman.

4. What is God’s will? Is Corona God’s will? Is the death of a three-year-old innocent child God’s will? Are the detention centres in various states of India God’s will? Is the brainlessness we see in India today in the name of religion and culture God’s will? I have infinite questions, my dear KK (that’s my friend who triggered this post). Maybe the next time we sit over another Bacardi party we can discuss this further, though I’m not inclined to do it because I know that reason and religion have nothing in common. Nothing, KK. Nothing at all. Faith is the antithesis of reason.

To conclude, I trust my rational faculty. I trust my imagination. I trust my intuition too. But when it comes to faith, I would rather trust the gossamer petals of the roses in my garden, the winks of the distant stars in my heavens, the protean music of the waves in the Arabian Ocean…