I refer to the letter In defence of atheism and I would like to put across my views on why I find atheism disconcerting.

It is not their denial of God that bothers me but their worship of science, logic and rationality, and as the writer puts it ‘the teachings of atheism are generally of a scientific and logical nature’ and ‘the atheists do not believe in anything without evidence’.

What I understand is that for atheists, every human experience has to be scientifically understood ie, it has to be empirically verifiable.

Putting aside the challenge of having to explain the experience of God scientifically, let’s ponder to see whether all human experiences can be scientifically understood.

Let us take the writer’s own seeking, his/her own sense of disillusionment and the grappling with the evil that exists around us. How is this experience to be scientifically understood? What sort of data, theory and equations ought to be put forward to explain this? If this is not done does it mean that what the writer goes through is not a valid experience?

I do not mean to put down the writer by making this query but to illustrate how, for me as a believer, I find it perplexing and unreal to understand human emotions in terms of formulae, equations and chemical reactions.

To the atheist, human beings are mere material objects and this may be their experience and their reality but this is not so for most humans who experience far more than just the base impulses of life. We need both reason as well as faith. For us life lived by reason without faith is like living on a parched earth.

We cannot deny that both co-exist in us and this is what makes us human. As Karen Armstrong explains in her book The case for God - what religion really means :

‘In most pre-modern cultures, there were two recognised ways of thinking, speaking and acquiring knowledge. The Greeks called them mythos and logos . Both were essential and neither was considered superior to the other; they were not in conflict but complimentary. Each had its own sphere of competence and it was considered unwise to mix the two.

Logos (‘reason’) was the pragmatic mode of thought that enabled people to function effectively in the world. It had, therefore, to correspond accurately to external reality. People have always needed logos to make efficient weapons, organise their societies or plan an expedition. Logo s was forward-looking, continually on the lookout for new ways of controlling the environment, improving old insights or inventing something fresh.

Logos was essential to the survival of our species. But it had its limitations: it could not assuage human grief or find ultimate meaning in life’s struggles. For that, people turned to mythos or ‘myth’.’

Science to me is to understand the world that is zahir , and faith that is which is batin . Therefore to try and measure what is batin using science would be akin to using an external callipers to measure internal dimensions. One is not going to get the right measure that way. Science and faith complement each other. As the late Ayatullah Murtaza Mutahhari had eloquently put it:

‘Science gives us enlightenment and power; faith gives us love, hope and ardour. Science makes instruments; faith constructs purposes. Science gives speed; faith gives direction. Science is power; faith is benevolence. Science shows what is; faith inspires insight into what must be done. Science is the outer revolution; faith is the inner revolution. Science makes the universe the human universe; faith makes the psyche the psyche of humanity.

‘Science expands man’s being horizontally; faith conveys him upward. Science shapes nature; faith shapes man. Both science and faith empower man, but science gives power of discrimination and faith gives power of integration. Both science and faith are beauty, but science is the beauty of the reason, and faith is the beauty of the spirit. Science is the beauty of thought, and faith is the beauty of feeling.

‘Both science and faith give man security. Science gives security against the onslaught of illness, floods, earthquakes, storms; faith against worry, loneliness, feelings of helplessness, feelings of futility. Science brings the world into greater harmony with man, and faith brings man into greater harmony with himself’.

Atheists may not experience this but most of us do and we should not be ridiculed for this; just as those who are tone deaf should not be dismissive of the music that they cannot appreciate.