''Why I Am an Atheist'' () is an essay written by Indian revolutionary

Bhagat Singh Bhagat Singh (27 September 1907 – 23 March 1931) was an Indian anti-colonial revolutionary who participated in the mistaken murder of a junior British police officer in December 1928 in what was intended to be retaliation for the deat ...

in 1930 in the Lahore Central Jail. The essay was a reply to his religious friends who thought Bhagat Singh became an atheist because of his vanity.

Background

Bhagat Singh was a member of

Hindustan Socialist Republican Association Hindustan Socialist Republican Association (HSRA), previously known as the Hindustan Republican Army and Hindustan Republican Association (HRA), was a radical left-wing Indian revolutionary organization, founded by Sachindranath Sanyal. After ...

, a revolutionary party in the Indian freedom struggle. He was an atheist who believed in

socialism Socialism is an economic ideology, economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse Economic system, economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes ...

, and he wrote several articles on

anarchism Anarchism is a political philosophy and Political movement, movement that seeks to abolish all institutions that perpetuate authority, coercion, or Social hierarchy, hierarchy, primarily targeting the state (polity), state and capitalism. A ...

and socialism for ''Kirti''. He was arrested on 8 April 1929 in connection with the

Central Legislative Assembly The Central Legislative Assembly was the lower house of the Indian Legislature, the legislature of British India. It was created by the Government of India Act 1919, implementing the Montagu–Chelmsford Reforms. It was also sometimes calle ...

bombing case and was sentenced to 14 years life imprisonment. He was re-arrested in connection with the murder of John Saunders, a deputy superintendent of police who was killed by Sukhdev, Rajguru, and Bhagat Singh in 1928 in retaliation for the death of

Lala Lajpat Rai Lala Lajpat Rai (28 January 1865 — 17 November 1928) was an Indian revolutionary, politician, and author, popularly known as ''Punjab Kesari (Lion of Punjab).'' He was one of the three members of the Lal Bal Pal trio. He died of severe tra ...

. In that case, the trial began and he was transferred to Lahore jail. In the jail, on 4 October 1930, Baba Randhir Singh, a religious man and member of

Ghadar Party The Ghadar Movement or Ghadar Party was an early 20th-century, international political movement founded by expatriate Panjabi s to overthrow British rule in India. Many of the Ghadar Party founders and leaders, including Sohan Singh Bhakna, ...

who was convicted in the first Lahore conspiracy case, met Bhagat Singh and tried to incite his belief in God; however, Bhagat Singh did not change his stance. Thereafter, Randhir Singh said "You are giddy with fame and have developed an ego which is standing like a black curtain between you and the God". As a reply to Randhir Singh, he wrote this essay on 5 and 6 October 1930. On 7 October 1930, all three of the defendants were convicted in the murder of Saunders and sentenced to death. On 23 March 1931, they were executed by hanging in the Lahore jail (present-day Shadman Chowk or Bhagat Singh Chowk).

Publication

After the death of Singh, the essay was published on 27 September 1931 in Lala Lajpat Rai's English weekly ''The People''.

Tamil version

On the request of Periyar E. V. Ramasamy, P. Jeevanandham translated the essay to the

Tamil language Tamil (, , , also written as ''Tamizhil'' according to linguistic pronunciation) is a Dravidian language natively spoken by the Tamil people of South Asia. It is one of the longest-surviving classical languages in the world,. "Tamil is one of ...

. The Tamil version of the essay was published in '' Kudi Arasu'' in 1935. According to Chaman Lal, "at one time after Partition, the English copy of this essay was not found anywhere. It was then re-translated from Tamil to English, and some websites still carry the re-translated English version of this essay".

Content

In the essay, Bhagat Singh states that his atheism was not a result of

vanity Vanity is the excessive belief in one's own abilities or attractiveness compared to others. Prior to the 14th century, it did not have such narcissistic undertones, and merely meant ''futility''. The related term vainglory is now often seen as ...

. He mentions that his family were firm believers in God, that he himself grew up as a religious boy who would chant prayers for hours and goes on to explain how despite this he went on to become an atheist. He mentions that his atheism was also not a result of his association with a

revolutionary organization A revolutionary movement (or revolutionary social movement) is a specific type of social movement dedicated to carrying out a revolution. Criteria Charles Tilly defines it as "a social movement advancing exclusive competing claims to control o ...

and that most of his comrades were in fact theists, citing the example of Sachindra Nath Sanyal who was a firm believer in God. An excerpt from the essay reads: He mentions

Mikhail Bakunin Mikhail Alexandrovich Bakunin. Sometimes anglicized to Michael Bakunin. ( ; – 1 July 1876) was a Russian revolutionary anarchist. He is among the most influential figures of anarchism and a major figure in the revolutionary socialist, s ...

's manuscript, ''

God and the State ''God and the State'' (called by its author ''The Historical Sophisms of the Doctrinaire School of Communism'') is an unfinished manuscript by the Russian anarchist philosopher Mikhail Bakunin, published posthumously in 1882. The work criticise ...

'' and ''Common Sense'' by Niralamba Swami to have inspired his own atheism. He also questions theists about the existence of God: Continuing on the above question, he also asks, "I ask why your omnipotent God does not stop every man when he is committing any sin or offence? He can do it quite easily. Why did he not kill warlords or kill the fury of war in them and thus avoid the catastrophe hurled down on the head of humanity by the Great War? Why does he not just produce a certain sentiment in the mind of the British people to liberate India? Why does he not infuse the altruistic enthusiasm in the hearts of all capitalists to forego their rights of personal possessions of means of production and thus redeem the whole labouring community —nay, the whole human society, from the bondage of capitalism? You want to reason out the practicability of socialist theory; I leave it for your almighty to enforce it. People recognise the merits of socialism in as much as the general welfare is concerned. They oppose it under the pretext of its being impracticable. Let the Almighty step in and arrange everything in an orderly fashion." In the end, he also comments on the origin of God and thinks it is due to man's limitation, weakness and shortcoming to face trying circumstances. He differs on the origin of God from other radicals who attribute the origin of God to "the ingenuity of the exploiters who wanted to keep the people under their subjection by preaching the existence of a supreme being and then claiming an authority and sanction from him for their privileged positions." On the subject of origin of life and humanity, he comments, "This is a phenomenon of nature. The accidental mixture of different substances in the shape of nebulae produced this earth. When? Consult history. The same process produced animals and, in the long run, man. Read Darwin's ''Origin of Species''. And all the later progress is due to man's constant conflict with nature and his efforts to override it. This is the briefest possible explanation of the phenomenon."

References

External links

* {{Wikisource inline, Why I am an Atheist 1930 essays Atheism publications Philosophy of religion books Contemporary philosophical literature Memorials to Bhagat Singh