Hubert Reeves once said, “Man is the most insane species. He worships an invisible god and destroys a visible nature. Unaware that the nature he is destroying is this god he is worshipping.”

A very pleasant good morning/ warm good afternoon to one and all present here. I Aniket Bhatia, of class X-E, am here to talk about the motion “Is god the monopoly of mankind?”

To begin with, I would like to say that spirituality is just like electricity. Almost everyone uses it, most depend on it but only few understand how it works. All the while you cannot see it until it works in your life. Defining god is tough, as there is nothing particular or concrete in the image of god that I have in my mind. For me, god is and will always be one singular all pervasive power present all around us. But sadly, today we humans have demeaned god to such an extent, that more people now fear him than love him for what he is.

The fact that we fight about which religion’s god is real or more powerful clearly shows the lack of understanding mankind has on this subject. God is way beyond all this, but we humans, with our silly ways and stupid arguments, restrict him to something far less meaningful. And sadly I have to say, the god that we all today think we know, and fear, is actually the monopoly of mankind.

A common man’s understanding of god in restricted to his religion. Unfortunately, religion divides the world. While most religions are very similar, and should be recognized for those similarity, and compared to the lack of values in atheist society, most religious people focus on their differences and exclusivity, rather than the similarities, and possibility that god exists at the center of all religion. There is no reason for religion to divide the world, except that too many people want to claim that their religion is the only one and not accept any other as legitimate, and thus conflict arises. Religion divides the world, rather than unite it as it should. One need to understand that god is way beyond the religious divide that we have ourselves created, and now we foolishly argue and fight over it.

The situation is so much worse now, that we relate having moral values to religion. We don't need religion in order to have good morals. We can have good morals through common sense. For example, I don't need to believe in a higher power in order to understand that it's not ok to murder another human being. The things that are taught and preached by religion are just a bunch of hypocritical statements that are nothing more than showing how sick of a society we have created on our own.

So, let us all elevate our thinking and start loving god for what he is, by acts like respecting the beauty of nature rather than idol worshiping and not indulging in the divide that mankind has created. Let’s leave this stupidity behind and move on towards a peaceful world and a society that lives in harmony.