The myth of the good atheist

Are there bad devotees? Indeed we can find some very critical, judgmental, and even dishonest people among us. Are there good atheists? Surely. Are all devotees bad and all atheists good? Probably not

Are there bad devotees? Indeed, we can find some very critical, judgmental, and sometimes even dishonest people among us. Are there good atheists? Surely some are nice and good-natured, some are open and nonjudgmental, and many can actually be quite supportive and loyal friends.

Are all devotees bad? Surely not. Many devotees are saints. Are all atheists good? Of course not. Many atheists can be quite cruel. Some are serial killers, genocidal dictators, etc.

Some atheists are quite pious and good-natured, but they represent the top of the pyramid. If we go similarly higher on the pyramid of devotees and religionists, we will find true saints, like our previous Acaryas, persons like Saint Francis, and so on. In other words, the top atheist can be quite a nice and pious person, but the best devotee is a true saint. If we could choose between living with the pious atheist or with the saint, it would be surely more beneficial to live with the saint.

Similarly, many neophyte devotees can be quite hard, heavy, critical, and judgmental. Some are even dishonest or violent. These are people one can have serious problems with. However, if we go to the lower end among atheists, we will find some really evil people, like human sex traffickers, serial killers, violent rapists, etc. If we go deep enough in the atheistic pyramid, this is the type of people we will be dealing with.

Some crazy and cruel religionists do some terrible things. However, if we analyze the situation from a statistical point of view, most of the barbaric crimes are not committed by religious people, but actually by atheists. One can just study the extension of torture and other human rights abuse in the Russian gulags, during the communist revolution in China, in the concentration camps in North Korea, etc. Without even mentioning the holocaust in WW2, and atrocities committed by different groups in the many wars we saw in the past and current centuries. Most people who go to prison for committing violent crimes are atheists (many end up being converted to Christianity or other philosophies while they are there, but this is another story).

If a person believes in God and follows some kind of religious process, this will automatically impose some restriction on what he may do, curbing his most dangerous instincts, since he knows he will have to respond for his acts. He may commit mistakes, but as he advances in his spiritual path, gradually he becomes more enlightened. On the other hand, if a person believes there is no God, no life after death, and no system of karma or divine justice, he can act to the fullest extent of his instincts. This is a path that gradually leads to hedonism, which creates further problems.

These two paths are connected with the material modes. The mode of goodness is connected with good qualities, like compassion, tolerance, charity, etc. One can only show such qualities when the mode of goodness is predominant in his personality. The question is that the mode of goodness is a package, so together with such good qualities comes knowledge, detachment, etc. Such characteristics automatically make such a person propense to follow a spiritual path, which, in turn, helps him to progress further. Most people who are pious but not religious are actually not atheists, but agnostics, who have not found God yet, but who understand there must be a superior force. They are on the progressive path. These are usually open to talking about spirituality and just waiting for some good answers to start their spiritual practice.

The modes of passion and ignorance, on the other hand, are connected with lower qualities, like lust, anger, violence, etc. They are also connected with lack of knowledge, lack of self-control, lack of compassion, etc. Just as a person influenced by the mode of goodness tends to gradually start practicing a spiritual process, persons more strongly influenced by the modes of passion and ignorance are more inclined to believe there is no God, and gradually also show the negative qualities connected with these two modes. This influence gradually covers one's good qualities and makes him more propense to immoral and violent acts.

If we statistically examine people who are influenced by the mode of goodness, we will find a higher incidence of devotees and religionists among them. Conversely, if we statistically study people more strongly influenced by the mode of ignorance, we will find more atheists and pseudo-religionists among them.

Similarly, if we statistically examine people who are seriously following any spiritual process, we will find a lower incidence of theft, murder, rape, etc. amongst them than amongst groups who are predominantly atheistic. We can see that the number of persons professing some religion has been in a sharp decline in Western countries since a century ago, and the rate of violent crimes has been sharply increasing. Religion doesn't make people bad, on the contrary, religion makes people better than they would be without it. A bad person can follow a religion or spiritual process and still be quite toxic, but such a person would be worse without it.

The main problem is that frequently we tend to classify people according to labels instead of understanding who is who. The world is full of people who try to use religion to control, dominate, and cause harm to others. Such persons are not spiritual, they don't try to understand and follow the laws of God, but on the opposite, they try to use God to fulfill their own egoistic process. Such pseudo-religionists are actually more dangerous than an atheist, just like a hidden trap is more dangerous than a trap that can be clearly seen.

We can see that in the Vedic Universe, there is a division between the suras (devotees) and asuras (atheists). Amongst the lower planets, where the asuras live, there is a gradation going from pious atheists down to cruel and violent ones. Similarly, on this planet, we can find a mixture of both groups. That's why we can find both nice and pious atheists, but also very violent and cruel people.

One thing the atheists are often really good at, however, is into marketing their ideology, creating the myth of the good atheist and the bad religionist. To ask if one would prefer to spend the rest of his life on a deserted island with a critical and judgmental devotee, or with a pious and good-natured atheist, for example, is misleading, because it compares the best atheist against the worst devotee, and uses the idea to create an unconscious image of atheists being good and devotees being bad. A correct formulation of this question would be: "Would you prefer to spend the rest of your days on a deserted island with a pious atheist, or with a pure devotee?" or: "Would you prefer to spend the rest of your days in a deserted island with a critical, judgmental and inconsiderate devotee, or with a violent rapist and serial killer?" If we compare the good with the good and the bad with the bad, the difference becomes more clear.

Another way to see this point is that even a critical and judgmental devotee can tell you about Krsna, while even the most pious atheist will not be capable of doing so. Therefore, although the association of the atheist may be more pleasant, the association with the devotee can be more spiritually conductive (at least if the proper fences are maintained).

Once a very saintly and wise devotee commented that at the beginning of his spiritual life, he had a great deal of difficulty living in the temple because many of the devotees there were uncultured and inconsiderate, while his family members were relatively pious persons, although not devotees. One day he decided to leave and go back to his village to continue practicing Krsna Consciousness by himself amongst his family members. His mentor however argued that it would be better for his spiritual life to live with people who are 20% Krsna Conscious (the devotees from the temple), than with people who are 0% Krsna Conscious. He understood the point and decided to stay. Today he says it was a very wise piece of advice.

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