Do I believe in God……….a question worth exploring?

Since my childhood, I have heard a lot of discussions in my family on the topic of ‘Existence of God’. This used to be the most hot topic of discussion. Though I used to be a silent listener then but these discussions had shaped my views on God and Religion. I married into a family of strong believers of God. I started following many rituals though I was not convinced internally but still did many of them to be part of my new family (herd mentality to be blamed for here :-)). The session on ‘My relationship with religion and God’ as part of the Critical Thinking Life Classes helped me to see things more clearly. I always believed that God doesn’t exist. I believe that whatever happens has a scientific reason/logic behind it. Each and every event can be logically explained. Spirituality doesn’t need Religion. One can be with their own divine self, can experience growth, can be a good human being, can care for people and environment without taking support of Religion.

As an educator, I definitely feel more responsible in shaping my student’s views on Religion and God. Few questions that I still ponder upon are: How do we equip children with the right questioning skills to ensure that they look for justifications before believing anything? What role can education system/school play in forming belief system of today’s generation?

Fear of death and problem, herd mentality, lack of critical thinking in general, are some of the reasons which don’t allow people to question about the existence of God and certain rituals of their religion. Different political parties, priests and so called God-men take advantage of this paralyzed situation for their own benefit. Today’s generation must be taught explicitly to question all the beliefs that they have brought up with. The amount of money and resources spent on building temples and doing different rituals make me worry. As a school/ teacher, we surely have  bigger responsibility to play in the society………..”The Intellectual’s folly“.