KAMPALA: ‘Heart unto heart’ is a motto that was chosen by the St. John Henry Newman when he was made Cardinal of the catholic church in 1879. John Henry Newman was an extra ordinary man. He was an Anglican Reverend, Chaplain at the prestigious Oxford University, who later converted to Catholicism, served as a roman catholic priest and rose to the rank of Cardinal in the church. He was a prolific academician, writer and theologian. I have chosen his motto as the title of this periodic column on spirituality because it is my hope and prayer that this column shall be an avenue for a heart speaking unto a heart.
The first column is dedicated to atheism…or rather broadly-the question about the existence of God. Wikipedia defines Atheism, as an ‘absence of belief in the existence of deities or a rejection of the belief that any deities exist’.
I have in my 38 years, met two atheists (too many to be honest!); one was my closest friend during my graduate studies many years ago. Tu’s (yes, I was also amused by the two lettered names common with the Vietnamese) was a confessed atheist, but that did not prevent him from being my closest friend. Tu had everything I would look for from a friend-his unbelief in God notwithstanding. So friendly he was, that whenever we would be in the library or break in between classes and it got close to 12pm, he would remind me that I was getting late for my daily mass at the cathedral which started at 12:10pm. An atheist reminding me to go for mass! Did Tu really not believe that there was a God? Or did he know there was a God and just decided not to believe in Him?
The second encounter with an atheist was recently with a former student of mine. This beautiful girl had just finished University and had passed by my office for a chat on the future, prospects and how to get the best out of her potential. Along the way, I asked if she was religious. I would never have expected the answer I received-she flatly said she was not and in fact was atheist. Whereas Tu was from Vietnam, and we met in a foreign land, my meeting an atheist former student in Uganda, was unexpected. After all, Uganda is a godly country-our national anthem is even a prayer to a god! Could it be true that she believed there was no God or she chose not believe in the God that there is?
Perhaps even more important to ask would be, Who is God? This question as much as it appears a simple question is quite complex. In our local dialects, the idea of God is entrenched. The banyankole for example have many names for God- Ruhanga (Creator), Nyamuhanga (Creator), Rubambansi (conqueror), Kazooba (Sun), Nyakubaho (the eternal one), Tataitwe (Our Father). The baganda would call God, Katonda (creator), Namugereka, Liso ddene (all seeing) and others. Am sure other tribes also have descriptive names for who God is.
With our dialects having many synonyms for God, why are we seeing an increasing number of atheists? If we are to define atheists as those ‘lacking belief’, shouldn’t we find out why they lack that belief? Do they lack belief because they’ve never heard of the concept of God? Or do they lack belief because they’ve never heard of any good arguments for God’s existence? Have they failed to properly understand the arguments? Or are they biased against them? Is it possible that the believers/faithful are not doing a good job at it, that people would rather not believe what we believe? Is it possible that people are self-sufficient that they have no regard for a higher power that the believers call God? Are the believers by commission or omission leading to the increase in people identifying as atheists?
In the next column, we shall delve into whether God exists or not.
Anthony Rucukye, an avid commentator on faith and social issues can be reached on; rucukye@yahoo.com