Generation upon generation of humankind has asked these questions. Some of our ancestors, insecure in their inability to accurately answer them by means of simple reason and observation, created a rather convenient answer — “why, the universe is a world created by a superpowerful, all knowing, superintelligent being.” It is easy to imagine how powerful the insecurity was — different regions of the disconnected old world have at some point, attempted to answer these questions by creating some kind of God – Jehovah, Brahma, Allah, Ra. Some looked towards the sky and observed different stars, planets and patterns created by these entities and said, “these bright lights in the night sky — they’re our Gods!” Others observed basic elements of the physical world — wind, fire, water and said, “these elements here — they’re our Gods!” Still others, created God; not from stars and planets, nor from physical elements but out of nothing at all but some really potent imagination! Each time a God or Gods was/were “created” so was religion. All religions had one common theme — subscribe now and you will be saved from eternal damnation!

Remember, these were disconnected times — so, each religion matured and grew locally. Membership to some religions could only be received by birth — these were consumed by human mortality and in a sense, they died with the race that practiced them. Other religions were receptive and even aggresively recrutive. These flourished and exist even today. As humankind discovered advanced science and technology, travel between disconnected regions of the world became possible. Civilizations clashed. So did their religions. The civilizations with advanced technology engulfed the ones with meager technology. In that way, as ironic as it may sound in the context of the raging science v/s religion debate today, civilizations with greater prowess in science and technology were able to impose their religions and Gods on those with less advanced science and technology. Yes, science helped in the propagation of all major religions that exist today.

It is easy to believe in God and have a safety cushion to fall back on all the time – I almost envy you when I think about my dry, lonely, atheist existence. And yet, some would say, it is easier to be an atheist and do what you like without the fear of reproach or judgment.

At this junction, I will ask a philosophical question — are we better off today as a species – as believers or would we be better off without God and religion? Could we have developed the moral codes and structures that have become the basis of human society on our own?

Let us look at the downside first — God and (in effect) religion has become the major cause of death and conflict in today’s world. Hundreds upon thousands of men, women and children have lost their life in wars and other conflicts caused by religion. In that sense, some would call religion the most deadly, fatal, genetic, contagious epidemic — deadly and fatal because it kills so many thousands, contagious and genetic because it has a tendency to spread within society and from generation to generation and an epidemic because almost everyone in the world is afflicted by it. Religion also makes people believe in extremely unlikely, impossible  (sometimes bordering on insane) things and events — what else can make a grown, highly educated person believe in an entity with the head of an elephant and the body of a man, born to another human-like entity with three eyes and a holy river flowing out of his mane – or in a man who was born without the aid of reproduction, to a virgin mother, was tortured and died for the sins of others and then came back to life only to arise and disappear into the heavens.

Now for the upside — without a set of rules telling us what is right and what is wrong, human beings would eventually resort to cutting each other up. Society would not develop and there would be no organization – and yes, another irony here – science and technology would not be as advanced as they are today. Because, humankind can only develop science and apply it to create technology if the basic existential questions have been answered – the questions would eat into our hearts and we would be so obsessed with finding answers that little else would occupy our minds. This obsession would not let us rise above our basic instinct – survival. Deep down, owing to our evolutionary drive to survive, we are dark, evil things. Yes, without religion we would cease to be human and would become cold, terrifying, incestuous animals. It would be interesting to see if we would be able to weave the moral fabric that religion has woven for us over the centuries without the fear of an all powerful entity watching us or without the fear of eternal damnation. With the kind of evil we have demonstrated in every generation within the scrutiny of religion, it makes me shudder to think of how we would behave without it. Oh, how lonely, miserable and insecure we would feel. Oh, how evil and meaningless our existence would be!

Having presented both sides of the story (with an obvious bias towards one), I would like to end by saying something about tolerance. Whether you are a believer or an atheist, Hindu, Jew, Muslim or Christian; it is important to be respectful and tolerant towards each other. I have a simple philosophy – You have an opinion and I have mine. And if anyone of us thinks we have it all figured out, here is the triumphant, unwavering truth – engrave it in your mind and teach it your children – no one does.

No one ever will.

And then, the world ceased to exist. Our solar system collapsed under its own weight. The sun was but a dying white dwarf. The Milky Way, like all other galaxies continued to travel through space towards that ever elusive super galaxy. Space kept expanding. Ever. Forever. What was the universe heading toward? Has this all happened before? Are we merely an insignificant anomaly in an unremarkable iteration of spacetime?