The New “Ten Commandments”

The thing about discovering new books from random genres is that you get to embark into a fresh, unchartered territory, a world previously unbeknownst to you. And I have to say, reading “The God Delusion” paved that way for me. The author, Richard Dawkins is a brilliant evolutionary biologist and has been dubbed as one of the most revered “new atheist” of our generation, as he has dedicated a big chunk of his life being a voice for critical thinking, scientific evidence and reason, amidst a civilization that is still besieged by old scriptures and century old dogmas from an ancient book. “The God Delusion” became my first introduction into the realm of atheism, the beauty of science and a more progressive school of thought.

Growing up, I was raised like any other typical Catholic child — enrolled in Sunday school; immersed in the Bible; having the conviction that Christianity is the truth; devoting my life to the teachings of Jesus Christ, son of the Almighty God; baptized in the Holy Water; anointed with the chrism during confirmation; confessing my sins before the priest; meditating the rosary and attending Sunday mass. I was a subservient disciple of the religion that my parents have stamped on me and in deference to the teachings that have been ingrained in me by my superiors.

“When one person has a delusion, they are considered crazy. When millions of people have the same delusion, they call it religion”.

— Robert M. Pirsig

Religion creates a structure, acting as a unifier of humankind, and is a system of human norms and values which is founded on a belief in a superhuman order. Religion is analogous to “a family” — a group of people with similar beliefs, values and moral codes. And like all families (or most of them, for that matter), they provide you a sense of belonging, protection and community. So it’s no surprise how religion is able to sustain itself by creating an expanding institution after all these years. Thus, to denounce your faith would mean to betray and walk away from your tribe, and endure a lonely road in life, or worse, burn in the fires of Hell after your death since it is a grave sin to annul God.

I can imagine the number of feelings that I’ll bruise from this blog entry, but I’m here to be candid about my thoughts and only hope my readers will put on their lens of open – mindedness on this one.

I always had a sense that the Bible was notoriously incoherent, for it didn’t correlate with the science and history that I’ve been taught in school, or any of the non – fictions that I’ve read. When I questioned about Charles Darwin’s Theory Of Evolution or even, some Christian doctrines, I’d often be left, either with an unsatisfactory answer, or an answer so complicated that it only exacerbated my former confusion. However, like any obedient believer, I was taught to have faith and accept the credo of the church (regardless of the lack in evidence and fallacious claims, no wonder it’s called faith).

“Whatever we cannot understand easily we call God; this saves wear and tear on the brain tissues”.

— Edward Abbey

As a child, you absorb all the teachings of your parents, your teachers, or even your religious leaders, who act as a guide for you to navigate through life. But it becomes a bit tricky when these teachings, be it good or bad, become hardwired into a child’s mind, and is used to justify honor killing, suicide bombing, genital mutilation, misogyny, patriarchy, banning of contraceptive measures etc.

Has it ever dawn on you that, you are of a certain religion only because you were born from a family and parents of that specific religion? Thus, the next question follows: What makes my religion the truth, then? And not the others? Assumed I’m born of a Muslim family, it is out of the question that I’d proclaim Islam as the one, true religion instead. Probably it’s harsh to say, but most of us are victims of childhood indoctrination.

Now, in introspection, some church doctrines are, to me, obsolete and unnecessary. I thank my parents for inculcating in me the love for reading, for books are what feed my curiosity and save me from my inquiries. The shift of moral zeitgeist into a more secular and liberal spirit played a huge role, too, as it allows me to embrace my individuality and think for myself. Books and people of the Internet have become my heroes, especially in allowing me to confront head on, the beliefs that I once strongly adhere to, and to subsequently re-examine it further.

And thus began my little conquest in unraveling my muddled thoughts and skepticism on God and religion, and seeing through the smoke and mirrors that have clouded my critical faculty for many decades. I’ve decided to write in my upcoming blog, about my findings on the subject of God and religion, based on my non-exhaustive readings and research that I’ve gathered from various sources. So stay tuned!

Coming back to the book The God Delusion, I was fascinated by a chapter where Dawkins cited a new ” The 10 Commandments” to replace the previous one by Prophet Moses in the Old Testament. I’ve also researched about other versions of the decalogue from a number of atheists and I find them rather enlightening. Hence, I decided to document them here as my future reference:

The alternative to the Ten Commandments cited by Richard Dawkins in The God Delusion:

1. Do not do to others what you would not want them do to you.
2. In all things, strive to cause no harm.
3. Treat your fellow human beings, your fellow living things, and the world in general with love, honesty, faithfulness and respect.
4. Do not overlook evil or shrink from administering justice, but always be ready to forgive wrongdoing freely admitted and honestly regretted.
5. Live life with a sense of joy and wonder.
6. Always seek to be learning something new.
7. Test all things; always check your ideas against the facts, and be ready to discard even a cherished belief if it does not conform to them.
8. Never seek to censor or cut yourself off from dissent; always respect the right of others to disagree with you.
9. Form independent opinions on the basis of your own reason and experience; do not allow yourself to be led blindly by others.
10. Question everything.

He also added:

1. Enjoy your own sex life (so long as it damages nobody else) and leave others to enjoy theirs in private whatever their inclinations, which are none of your business.
2. Do not discriminate or oppress on the basis of sex, race or (as far as possible) species.
3. Do not indoctrinate your children. Teach them how to think for themselves, how to evaluate evidence, and how to disagree with you.
4. Value the future on a timescale longer than your own.

Another one is from Christopher Hitchens, who I admire deeply. He is an insightful journalist, a bold contrarian, a polemic and rhetorical orator/debater and is one of my favourite authors. He has written a number of books on highly controversial and sensitive topics, where he disputes God and religion, and debunks the hidden agenda behind many public figures, such as Bill Clinton, Henry Kissinger and Mother Theresa (calling her a “lying, thieving Albanian dwarf”), which consequently resulted in a frenzied pandemonium. Despite his demise after battling with Stage 4 oesophageal cancer, his legacy continues to live on, especially in his contribution to embrace individuality, not to be conformed by the trends of the time and fight for what he believes is true, even if it means going against the tide.

This is Hitchens’s version of the Ten Commandments taken from Vanity Fair:

1. Do not condemn people on the basis of their ethnicity or their color.
2. Do not ever even think of using people as private property.
3. Despise those who use violence or the threat of it in sexual relations.
4. Hide your face and weep if you dare to harm a child.
5. Do not condemn people for their inborn nature (i.e. homosexuality)
6. Be aware that you, too, are an animal, and dependent on the web of nature. Try to think and act accordingly.
7. Do not imagine you can avoid judgment if you rob people [by lying to them] rather than with a knife.
8. Turn off that fucking cell phone.
9. Denounce all jihadists and crusaders for what they are: psychopathic criminals with ugly delusions and terrible sexual repression.
10. Reject any faith if their commandments contradict any of the above.

Here, on the other hand, are the “Ten Non-Commandments” chosen from the winners of CNN’s “10 Non – Commandments’ Contest”:

1. Be open-minded and be willing to alter your beliefs with new evidence.
2. Strive to understand what is most likely to be true, not to believe what you wish to be true.
3. The scientific method is the most reliable way of understanding the natural world.
4. Every person has the right to control of their body.
5. God is not necessary to be a good person or to live a full and meaningful life.
6. Be mindful of the consequences of all your actions and recognize that you must take responsibility for them.
7. Treat others as you would want them to treat you, and can reasonably expect them to want to be treated. Think about their perspective.
8. We have the responsibility to consider others, including future generations.
9. There is no one right way to live.
10. Leave the world a better place than you found it.

It sends shivers down my spine to think that we have learn to accept anything without giving it a second thought, especially in the case of culture, tradition or religion. What was once a culture of inquisitive questioning and constructive debate or discussion during the era of ancient Greek philosophers such as Plato, Socrates and Aristotle, has now become nothing but a loss art. Today, it is considered wrong, offensive or even blasphemous to question the ideology of the status quo.

As of late, I would wonder: Can we live in a world, where we cut out the God, cut out the cumbersome traditions and rituals, cut out the distorted beliefs, and divert our focus elsewhere instead? For instance, on our own personal spirituality (a field that I am interested in venturing next), in addition to believing in facts that is backed by scientific evidence?

There’s so much beauty in the Universe, so can we be dazzled by the constellations that paint the skies, be enraptured by the flowing of rivers streaming from waterfalls, be enchanted by the microcosms of soil bacteria that is invisible to the naked eye, be enamored by the rawness of the wild, and still appreciate them all, even without a supernatural deity or an Intelligent Design in the picture?

“What can be more soul shaking than peering through a 100-inch telescope at a distant galaxy, holding a 100-million-year-old fossil or a 500,000 -year-old stone tool in one’s hand, standing before the immense chasm of space and time that is the Grand Canyon, or listening to a scientist who gazed upon the face of the universe’s creation and did not blink? That is deep and sacred science”.

— Michael Shermer

REFERENCES

Dawkins, R. (2016). The God Delusion. London: Black Swan.

Harari, Y. N. (2019). Sapiens. Random House UK.

Burke, D. (2014, December 20). Behold, atheists’ new Ten Commandments. Retrieved from https://edition.cnn.com/2014/12/19/living/atheist-10-commandments/index.html

Ten Commandment Alternatives. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://atheism.wikia.org/wiki/Ten_Commandment_Alternatives#cite_note-1