I have no religion
Last night, on a flight from Chennai to Mumbai, I was seated next to two eight year old girls, who were going for vacation with their families. They were both smart sociable girls, who were conversing with a stranger quite comfortably. One of the girls asked me my religion. Thats when it struck me, how do you tell a bunch of eight year olds, whose mom wears a burqa, that you do not have a religion, that you do not believe in existance of god?
Well, I told them I had no religion. “Are you Christian?” No. “Are you Muslim?” No. “Are you Hindu” No. “Are you Buddhist?” No. “Oh, uncle told naa, he has no religion.” “Why?”
Well… because world with a god will be no different than world without a god. We are guided by our own soul (how I wish I hadn’t used that word) and do not need god to tell us what is right and what is wrong.
“If there are no lights in the air, how can pilot see?” Relief!
For all the readings of Dawkins and Russell and Harris, I was completely at loss of words. How do you explain why god is redundant to a couple of eight year olds?