The atheist community in Malaysia has been receiving disproportionate criticism since the picture of the Kuala Lumpur chapter of Atheist Republic started circulating the social media.

Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Shahidan Kassim took a strong stand by suggesting to 'hunt down' these atheists because apparently being an atheist is unconstitutional and goes against human rights. The minister is of the opinion that people become atheists due to the lack of religious education.

Atheism is like a 'Bogeyman' in a Muslim majority country like Malaysia. Just like Bogeyman, it is human nature to fear something you don’t understand. Moreover, with escalating Islamism is this country, it's no surprise how the public and the religious authority would react to Muslims embracing atheism.

The statement by the minister is not only false but it is also unjust to call on authorities to 'hunt down' atheist like a bunch of terrorists. The constitution of Malaysia, Article 11, clearly states every person has the right to profess and practice his religion and Article 3 mentions Islam as the state religion. Nowhere in the constitution does it say that being an atheist is unconstitutional.

It's funny to think that the basis for the Malaysian constitution is modelled after the British secular and democratic system with separation of state and church as its foundation. We really are going backwards as a nation, aren't we?

I would like to argue that atheism, especially in this country, is not only necessary but it should be celebrated for its promotion of critical thinking and power of reasoning. History has taught us that by going against the mainstream of religious understanding of nature, that human beings have had a previously unimaginable progress in every aspect of human lives and the modernity we enjoy now.

We as a nation should not follow the path of Bangladesh, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia where atheist and free thinkers are being killed for expressing their views.

Instead of dismissing atheists as having poor religious education and morally dysfunctional, we should try to understand what atheism is all about.

Atheism simply means a lack of belief in gods. Atheism is not an affirmative belief that there is no god nor does it answer any other question about what a person believes. It is simply a rejection of the assertion that there are gods. Atheism is too often defined incorrectly as a belief system. To be clear: Atheism is not a disbelief in gods or a denial of gods; it is a lack of belief in gods.

It's interesting to point out that monotheists are themselves atheists with respect to all the other deities except their own. To quote Richard Dawkins; 'We are all atheists about most of the Gods societies have ever believed in -- some of us just go one God further.' Atheism is about defending reason and the utmost love for truth above else.

Our public education has come a long way since the independence. But when was the last time you heard about public school children being taught on critical thinking and rationalization? Many parents nowadays choose to send their children to exclusively religious education centres like Sekolah Pondok or Tahfiz, where even basic formal education is not included. This is one of the main reason why the younger generation in this country are more religious and lack critical thinking more than ever.

There is a difference between thinking and reasoning. Thinking is any type of mental or cognitive process. Reasoning, however, is a much more specific term. Reason pertains to a goal-directed mental process which attempts to acquire knowledge. Whenever you set your mind in action, with the intent of arriving at truth, distinguishing truth from falsehood, you are said to be engaged in a process of reasoning.

Knowledge and the power of reason are the most important value for a man because it stands at the root of all his other values. It is the very thing that augmented the progress of humanity. We must know facts; we must know something about the world before we can determine anything about what is of value to you in the world.

Thus, knowledge is indispensable to our very survival. And it's only through our reason, through our power of conceptual thought, that we can apply our knowledge.

And this leads to an interesting deduction regarding atheism. If, as I have suggested, knowledge is a fundamental value for man, and if the habit of reasonableness is a primary virtue, and if atheism is a consequence of reasonableness, then it turns out that atheism is actually a consequence of being virtuous.

Being reasonable should not be confined to a limited set of variables i.e. religion. Think of the Jihadist committing terrorist acts around the world. Those are indeed horrible acts of violence but no one can say that when the Jihadist were doing it, they knew they were committing evil. Those Jihadist honestly believed they were doing it for the good of their religion. These were not crazy men.

So, within the context of their religion, these are perfectly reasonable men. Therefore the power of objective reasoning is more advantageous and necessary for the human survival. We have been using reason for every aspect of our lives, but it's only when it comes to religion (and medicine) reason goes out the window. Atheism champions reason, the most important virtue of humanity.

So when minister Shahidan Kassim said, "atheist actually don't want to be atheist but it happens because of lack of faith", it proved how little the minister knows of the subject. Many atheists are intelligent and became one after doing extensive research into the matter. In fact, most scientists are atheists. Atheists are quite well versed on religion (maybe even more than the religious scholars) and not just the religion they were born into but also other major religions.

To become an atheist in this culture you must have at least enough independence to question the prevailing wisdom concerning religion, because you are overwhelmed with this in school, by your parents, by your culture, and certainly by the mass media.

Malaysia prides itself on being a moderate Muslim country. This is primarily because of our relative freedom of speech and human rights. This is becoming less and less true with the rise of political Islam. With peaceful atheists becoming the target of religious authority, we have come to a new low in regard to human rights in this country.

We need to create awareness to the fact that to be an atheist is a realistic aspiration and a brave and splendid one. You can be an atheist who is happy, balanced, moral, and intellectually fulfilled. To quote Richard Dawkins again, "Atheism it is something to be proud of, standing tall to face the far horizon, for atheism nearly always indicates a healthy independence of mind and, indeed, a healthy mind.”