Albert Camus' (Benevolent) Atheism

By Sumit Paul, New Age Islam 07 November 2024 Declaration: The Times of India intends to carry an abridged version of the following write up on Camus' atheism. He was born on November 7. "Albert Camus demonstrated an atheism that was sympathetic to theists. This is remarkably distinct from the “New Atheists” of our time, who argue that theism is dangerous because it opens the door to fundamentalism. But fundamentalism is not just a conviction that one’s sacred text is complete and true, but also a demand that we all believe and act consistently with that text. Camus recognized that this demand for radical consistency is shared by other forms of extremism." Craig DeLancey One of the most intriguing statements in the whole gamut of philosophy and metaphysics is the French existentialist Albert Camus' oxymoronic proclamation that, “I don't believe in god and I'm not an atheist." While it sounds paradoxical, it's pregnant with profundity (and also, profanity to some!). First of all, non-belief in god is a narrow and entirely negative self-description that ignores all the other things you might either believe in or not. Camus was absolutely right more than six decades ago. He died in a car crash on Jan 4, 1960. Though Existentialism is broadly defined as atheistic, it has two schools: Atheistic and Theistic. Nietzsche, Jean Paul Sartre, Camus and Simone de Beauvoir are known to belong to the atheistic branch of Existentialism and the Danish Existentialist Soren Kierkegaard (often considered the father of Existentialism), Karl Jaspers and Karl Rahner were believing Existentialists. In today's religiously surcharged world where every second person is mad about god, religion and all sorts of esoteric beliefs, there are individuals sans any belief in god and religion. They proudly call and project themselves as atheists or non-believers. This has given birth to a weird dichotomy of theists and atheists. Both are obstinate because both theists as well as atheists are pigeonholed. The point is: One can have no belief in any damn god or man-made faith, yet, one remains a believer and not an atheist. Your belief in oneself makes you a believer. It has a streak of positivism whereas an atheist is full of negativity and he denies things because he has programmed himself to defy and deny all things. In today's volatile times, an atheist is as problematic, if not dangerous, as a theist has been. If theism is a label, atheism is also a tag. Moreover, Upanishadic philosophy, Sankhya Darshan, Jainism and Buddhism don't believe in the Creator but don't call themselves as atheistic belief systems. Upanishadic Aham Brahmasmi (I'm the Truth) or Mansoor-al-Hallaj's An-al-Haq is the same. Both don't believe in a conventional or concocted god of the hoi polloi but believe in oneself: I'm the Truth. So, how can Upanishads and Mysticism (Sufism) be called atheistic? Human mind is forever stuck in a too simplistic binary of theism and atheism. Non-belief also has innumerable shades and hues. Atheism closes all doors and possibilities. It's the philosophy of nay-sayers. Human existence doesn't move in binaries and dichotomies. There're shades and sub-shades to whatever is seen or perceived by the senses. So, Camus was bang-on when he proclaimed that though he had no faith in god, he still wasn't an atheist. Like Camus, we all must refrain from all sorts of nomenclature. Remember the famous saying, naming is killing. Though it's difficult for the ordinary mortals to emulate Camus, they can at least learn from him that slotting and pigeonholing individuals is not a good idea. Believers, who're always in a majority and shall remain so, have this tendency to brand anyone an atheist whom they perceive as anti-god and anti-religion. Theists and atheists are equally imbecile. Both are morons and monomaniacs and both the categories are bellicose. Humans need to go beyond the fixed definitions of many words and terms. Ludwig Wittgenstein's Semantic Insouciance is required to define certain words. By the way, there's a beautiful word in English for a person who has gone beyond theism and atheism. He's called an apatheist. …………. A regular columnist for New Age Islam, Sumit Paul is a researcher in comparative religions, with special reference to Islam. He has contributed articles to the world's premier publications in several languages including Persian. ----- URL: https://newageislam.com/interfaith-dialogue/albert-camus-benevolent-atheism/d/133640 New Age Islam, Islam Online, Islamic Website, African Muslim News, Arab World News, South Asia News, Indian Muslim News, World Muslim News, Women in Islam, Islamic Feminism, Arab Women, Women In Arab, Islamophobia in America, Muslim Women in West, Islam Women and Feminism