Nishtha Shrestha

All of us may have heard the expression, "You came as a god in my life". Whenever we, as atheists, are in a trouble, generally we first think of god. Be it a failure, heartbreak, health condition or even a simple thing as a birthday present, we call upon god to make our wishes heard. We regard god as source of hope for us. What happens if we replace god with a human?
Humans are known as intelligent beings. We have developed frontal lobes that allow us to make decisions and be a master of our actions. If we are as superior as we call ourselves to be, then why don't we try to change the situation ourselves?  The choice of shaping our lives depends on us yet we fall back on "only god can save me now" to escape from hard work and responsibility.
In psychology, there is term called bystander apathy. This is a phenomenon which states that people are less likely to help themselves if others are present. There was an experiment which showed how our helping behaviour is dependent on those around us. The factors that influence our decision to help also rely on elements like race, gender and appearance. We have conditions before we offer help to both family and friends. When we recognise our unfairness, we are able to offer better support to the people in distress. This could eventually reduce the mental health issues that arise due to environmental factors.
Humans are influenced by the environment. All children are the same at birth. It is the upbringing that creates differences among them. If the environment is a vital and it is made up of humans, the power to change it relies on us but not god. It is necessary to teach children to be good humans before getting worried about shaping them to the society's standards.
There may be a group which could infer that people make mistakes and are flawed. But aren't gods flawed, too? There are stories in every culture of how gods have made an error in their judgement. If they can be forgiven, why cannot we forgive ourselves and those around us? Do we need a divine intervention to make us realise the importance of humanity?
For many, god is the image of benevolence and goodness. If god helped them to be cautious of their actions, there would be no harm in this perspective. But we can make an attempt to be kind as well. Currently, media is filled with news of injustice to Dalits, coloured people, females, etc. These are not new issues. However, we have still been unable to give justice to the victims.
It is an idealistic thought to expect everyone to be good. Where there is goodness, there will be evil. This fundamental law of nature cannot be denied. But taking steps to control negativity is a task we humans can do. We need to stop using god as an excuse for our cruelty, lies and deception. If we are mindful of our actions, we lessen the load on the society. Maybe some may need religious leaders to guide them to a better life. However, if these leaders try to shed their god-like image then maybe their followers may understand they need not be a god themselves to be good. The choice is ours.