This comment is related to the letter titled "On the nature of Atheism," (The Jakarta Post, April 2) and comments on the issue by readers.

I have been practicing agnosticism, and maybe even atheist, for three months now since discovering my religion has been covering up the dark aspects of its history in the past. But now, I believe "God", in my own conception, does exist and works the other way.

I question why we believe in love and hate. Do they exist? Where is the evidence of that? Do we need empirical evidence for such things? Or should truth itself be written on a stone where everybody can see it?

Atheism and religion, for me, are psychological-based states of mind. We're all looking for safety and security in this life but the world we live in provides something else.

In Faith of the Fatherless, the author suggests Atheist philosophers have unpleasant family lives, especially in relation to the absence of their father figure. Believers on the other hand often received massive religious indoctrination from their parents at a time when they needed attention on other things.

Yes, history had shown that many wars and conflicts were caused by religious apologies, but Stalin, in the name of Communism (and he hated religion) killed thousands of people. So there is no difference.

Why waste our time by engaging in debates about the existence of God? Why not just start a dialogue focused on sharing and bridge the gap between us?

Hikmawan Saefullah

Jakarta

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