A blind believer in god may ignore this aspect. He may think it unnecessary and unwarranted. But for a researcher of philosophy it is a must. God should not exist out of blind belief. He should not be recognized as god by mere ignorance. Moreover for rational human beings, particularly to the researcher; god should not exist by mere hearsay or ignorance or blind belief.
What for god?
Why god?
Which is god?
One who conducts a research about the philosophy of god must know the answer for such queries and that too in detail and in a manner quite convincing.
Every human being is rational - Man is endowed with reason to think deeply. It is for ascertaining the truth in its proper perspective. As such a man should not degrade himself as a mere animal, he should eschew blind beliefs. Man has involved himself into a number of difficulties by misusing his rationalism. He has created gods to find relief from his vexing problems.
What for a ruler and the ruled?
Why a rich man and a poor man?
Why high low castes?
What for a toiling worker and a lazy fellow?
What for a slave and a master?
What for a beggar and a lord?
Now you think over all these. What for god? Don’t you think that god is created only to protect all these? Apart from this what has god done to man? Did god do anything good to the humanity so far? Do we need such a god to protect the evils only?
Who is responsible for the absence of peace, love and satisfaction or contentment in the society? Who is responsible if men endowed with rationalism die in disgust and worries? Is it not due to the belief in god?
If we attribute foolishness as the basic reason for all these, what for a man is gifted with rationalism? Could it be said that man is endowed with rationalism to act foolishly, to believe foolishly and behave foolishly?
Man is said to have rationalism; yet all the bad qualities are in him, all the worries he faces, all the defects and drawbacks in him, his hatred towards others, his betrayals are not found in the case of other beings, which are considered to be devoid of rationalism.
Why should a rational man display bad qualities, which are not seen even in wild animals? Is it because of the creation of a god? Is it because he believes in a god? Is it because he has misconceived great powers in god? If we are not able to study and find out what exactly is the reason for this state of affairs and suggest a solution; what else is the purpose of rationalism?
What for a god? Was god recognised by man in a natural way? Did others make man recognize and believe him? If god was not created by others, how is it that he is not seeable for all? Even to those who profess to have recognized him, he appears in many ways and in different forms. Why should gods’s functions, powers and behaviours too differ in many ways?
If god was a created thing, why was he created? For what reason was he created? Did the creators of god succeed in their attempts? Did god solve the problem or fulfill the reason for his creation?
Whether he came into being or was created by others; how is it the people are able to do against his wishes and dictations?
God is said to be all powerful. He is said to be everywhere. He is said to be controlling anything and everything in the world. If all these are true, tell me anything that god has done so far in the name of god, it is the man who does everything. Not only that, man is able to disrespect and ignore god and yet do many things. Things which are not useful and helpful to society are also taking place! We are not able to see everything done perfectly, to the satisfaction of one and all. There is nothing that takes place without the efforts of man. There is nothing in our life to be proud of god. Is it the hard work of the man that is able to do laudable things? If the world is safe and humanity is sound it is on account of the efforts taken by men. Everything is protected and safeguarded by the efforts of man only. We could say that even gods are safe because of the efforts of man.
(From the book: Collected Works of Periyar E.V.R. - Translation of a speech in Tamil delivered by Periyar E.V.Ramasami at Salem Arts College in 1949)
