Theism vs Atheism: A Quick Discussion

Recently, I was involved in presenting the ideology of theism in a group discussion on a social media platform. The group consisted of a bunch of atheists and two active theists. That means I am the second one. The atheists lacked decorum. So I had to guard the beliefs which I was about to present. It's mainly based on Hinduism. And thus, I presented this:

Around 4000 years ago, there lived contemplators and logical thinkers. They were highly intelligent people - hyper-intelligent. They questioned the logic, science to find answers to the question: what is reality? They found the answer. It is pure consciousness or higher intelligence through which they experienced eternal bliss. They interacted directly with this very consciousness, or higher intelligence or the energy that has created cosmos: cosmic energy. They experimented with this energy using metaphysics by mystic arts. So you can imagine their level of intelligence. They understood the fact that in order to have such cognitive wisdom, one has to surrender self: ego, pride and all the worldly desires in order to have absolute focus. It's like what we say today: Science requires sacrifice. This immense knowledge was passed to next generations orally. But over time, as years passed, that human intelligence dwindled and the science and knowledge of this wisdom surpassed human comprehension. The great thinkers wanted this wisdom to be imparted to all of mankind. It was too complex for a common man to understand. So, the great thinkers began documenting the science in the form of Vedas and Upanishads. Vedas describe science and Upanishads describe the philosophy. Both of these are systematically structured and well articulated. It is this discipline of wisdom that came to be known as Hinduism. In Vedas, different forms of energies are symbolized (Like Batman symbolizes justice). They are given different names that came to be known as Gods in recent years. The rituals and customs are in fact scientific methods that need to be performed to attain pure consciousness. Vedas and Upanishads are written in Sanskrit - an ancient Indian language, which a small population knows today. And unfortunately, these rituals are followed blindly just because of faith in them, without knowing the real essence of it. The paintings/pictures of Hindu Gods what we see today are drawn by the imagination of a common man to reach out to people. The pictures depicted do not match exactly what's in the Vedas. The term Hindu implied a geographic, ethnic or cultural identifier for people living in the Indian subcontinent around or beyond the Sindhu (Indus) river. So it's not named after a person as in Buddhism, Jainism or Christianity.

There was a short Q&A session after this.

Q: Who were those thinkers?

A: I don't know (even though I knew the answer). 

Q: What happened to them?

A: They were mortals. They died. 

Q: So what is Hinduism, if not religion? 

A: Hinduism is science and philosophy of life.

One atheist was adamant and shot me with a question that if I don't know who they were, how could I believe what they have written? I said: History is hazy; many facts are either lost, tampered or destroyed. Then I was easily outnumbered. I just gave up because of two reasons: It was never my intention to convince them. The opposition was adamant in just launching attacks. Finally, the discussion digressed because I couldn't corroborate my beliefs. It never reached an end.

Next day I got in touch with the other theist. I shared what I had felt about the discussion.

Me: Even though I have thick skin, I am quite sensitive. I respect others, so I expect the same respect in return. You might have observed I never use a foul language even in case of disciplining someone. What I see is, the problem with atheists (especially in the group) is that they are never open to the thoughts, ideas shared by us. They are like racehorses: their eyes are set to look at only one direction. That's because they are adamant (you remember the person clearly said that) They are adamant perhaps because deep inside they feel insecure. Insecurity shows when they sense a threat of getting convinced (or converted) to what we say. See, when they preach atheism, I listen because I just want to learn. That's it. There is no way I will set foot in that direction. I won't go against my faith.

Other Theist: I understand. And that makes sense. I might be at an advantage in that I've been both sides of that fence. But the return from atheism to theism was a powerful one for me, and they won't sway my beliefs very easily either. I wish more in that group would engage us in the reasonable and logical discussions the group title promises though, but I'm afraid they've gone rather rigid in their beliefs. Their "faith" in their doctrine is so strong 😁 None of the things they claim are proven facts, and fortunately for us, the onus is on them to prove that God does not exist, rather than on us to prove that he does.

There was yet another day of debate. A debate between religion and science on war crimes. Atheists said that wars are fought today because of religion. They blamed religion for oppression against humanity. They proclaimed that science is harmless and it works for the betterment of humanity. I objected. Be it science or religion, there are always two sides of the same coin. For instance, man discovered nuclear science (fission and fusion) to produce energy. The same science is used in making bombs that destroy mankind. Scientists think they are so creative. But all they bring along with them is death and destruction. There is a gross misuse of science and religion as long as the mind is corrupt.