Why I am an Atheist

by Bhagat Singh

I am known as a dictator among my friends.

As far as the contemptible, obsolete, rotten values of our society are concerned, I am an extreme sceptic.

First of all, let us differentiate between pride and vanity as these are two different things.

I totally reject the existence of an Omnipresent, all powerful, all knowing God.

In the Non-cooperation days, I got admission to the National College. During my stay in this college, I began thinking over all the religious polemics such that I grew sceptical about the existence of God.

He used to say, “Religion is the outcome of human weakness or the limitation of human knowledge.”

An incessant desire to study filled my heart. ‘Study more and more’, said I to myself so that I might be able to face the arguments of my opponents. ‘Study’ to support your point of view with convincing arguments.

By the end of 1926, I was convinced that the belief in an Almighty, Supreme Being who created, guided and controlled the universe had no sound foundations.

Man can find a strong support in God and an encouraging consolation in His Name. If you have no belief in Him, then there is no alternative but to depend upon yourself.

Merciless criticism and independent thinking are the two necessary traits of revolutionary thinking.

In India itself, Buddhism and Jainism are sometimes quite separate from Brahmanism.

Then in Brahmanism itself, we find two conflicting sects: Aarya Samaj and Snatan Dheram.

Charwak is yet another independent thinker of...

This is the root of the evil. Instead of developing the ideas and experiments of ancient thinkers, thus providing ourselves with the ideological weapon for the future struggle, – lethargic, idle, fanatical as we are – we cling to orthodox religion and in this way reduce human awakening to a stagnant pool.

But belief, I should say blind belief is disastrous. It deprives a man of his understanding power and makes him reactionary.

Any person who claims to be a realist has to challenge the truth of old beliefs. If faith cannot withstand the onslaught of reason, it collapses.

We believe in nature and that human progress depends on the domination of man over nature. There is no conscious power behind it. This is our philosophy.

I ask why the Almighty created this world which is nothing but a living hell, a place of constant and bitter unrest. Why did he create man when he had the power not to do so? Have you any answer to these questions?

You, the Hindus, would say: Whosoever undergoes sufferings in this life, must have been a sinner in his previous birth. It is tantamount to saying that those who are oppressors now were Godly people then, in their previous births. For this reason alone they hold power in their hands.

Yes, poverty is a sin; it is a punishment!

If by chance these poor creatures heard a few words of your sacred books, Vedas, these Brahmans poured melted lead into their ears. If they committed any sin, who was to be held responsible? Who was to bear the brunt? My dear friends, these theories have been coined by the privileged classes. They try to justify the power they have usurped and the riches they have robbed with the help of such theories.

I ask why He does not fill the hearts of all capitalist classes with altruistic humanism that prompts them to give up personal possession of the means of production and this will free the whole labouring humanity from the shackles of money.

You want to argue the practicability of Socialist theory, I leave it to your Almighty God to enforce it.

Where is God? What is He doing? Is He getting a diseased pleasure out of it? A Nero! A Genghis Khan! Down with Him!

You ask me how I will explain the origin of this world and origin of man. Charles Darwin has tried to throw some light on this subject. Study his book. Also, have a look at Sohan Swami’s “Commonsense.”