Strictly speaking, atheism is a belief that there is no God. This is a position of a believer and not logical.
LAHORE: This is in reference to the article “Relief from Belief” by Farzana Versey (September 7). Strictly speaking, atheism is a belief that there is no God. This is a position of a believer and not a logical position. This is also not the position of Stephen Hawking or even Richard Dawkins, although the latter chooses not to distinguish between the two, albeit unconvincingly in one of his better known books.
Both these gentlemen are non-theists ie they are people who claim that the existence or lack of existence of a higher divine power cannot be empirically proven. The crucial question is how an individual can possibly exist while knowing that much of what they believe about their universe is actual imaginary.
It is likely that many in our society would agree with what the writer is saying. However by this I don’t mean only believing in the existence of God or in following a religion but rather about the whole belief systems that are constructed by people around their respective faiths. Some are benign and others, like violence against women in the guise of imaginary religious edicts, are deadly. The problem with unfettered belief is that it does not allow a referential frame to the one who does the believing to return to reality.
Danish Qadimi
Published in The Express Tribune, September 10th, 2010.
