Does God really exist?

The time to answer that question has come, once and for all. The answer is of great significance not only to quench the thirst of inquisitive human mind but also to see if the religious conflicts that are raging around the globe can be brought to an end. Too many innocent children, men and women are being killed in the name of God! 

Through out our known  history, the question of existence of God has been on the minds of humans. The curiosity to find God has been universal and incessant since ancient times, but the consensus and truce between atheists and believers have been elusive. Don't despair! Hope is around the corner. We are in such incredible times of scientific advances and technology that the decisive answer is within reach, but where will we find the answer? 

For millennia we have been looking up, literally as well as figuratively, in the skies, initially with naked eyes, later with the aid of telescope from the time of Galileo Galilei and more recently with the help of powerful Hubble telescope, but all in vain. We have yet to see a picture of an old man with white beard, in white robe sitting on a golden throne in a far away galaxy, beamed down by the mighty Hubble telescope. Is it because we are looking in the wrong direction or because we are looking for the wrong entity called God? I think it's because of both reasons. May be the reason we have never found an external God is because we have been searching for an objectified or personified entity of human "imagination" which we named God. It's like trying to search for Yoda. Good luck finding him in the Universe. Instead, we may have to look internally into our own brains and minds to understand what God is all about or the mystical experience that we call God. 

The current research in neurosciences is beginning to point to the fact that religiosity is going to be explained by neuroanatomy, neurophysiology and neurochemistry. There is fascinating information coming out of fMRI (functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging) analysis of human brain activity. It is as if the fMRI allows us to see mind to some extent but we have to be very careful about how this new knowledge is being interpreted. Beware of some of the scientists who are scientists by profession but not by principle, especially if they have a selfish financial interest in selling their research by tagging "God" to their findings. The catchy terminology "God gene" and "God spot" in brain are pervading American debate about the Divine. As a brain surgeon I have operated on many brains and trust me! There is no "God spot". I am concerned about using such terminology for many reasons. To use the word "God" loosely in scientific research is to be irresponsible and to mislead people. Besides, if we have not agreed on the definition of what God is in the first place, how can we even begin to look for his, her or it's existence and verify the claim that one has found God.  A healthy dose of skepticism and a little bit of scrutiny will prove that the claims of God in our genes and that humans are hard wired to believe in God are nothing but erroneous interpretation of the research by such God claimers .

 

I believe that the religiosity researchers must define "God" before they claim that they have found one in our genes or brains. Once they attempt to come up with a consensus for such a definition, it will become obvious that the claims of existence of "God gene" and "God spot" are mere marketing gimmicks. 

Possibility of peace in Holy land?

Last weekend, on the flight to and from Dallas I read the book "We can have peace in the Holy land" by Mr. Jimmy Carter. It was an excellent historical account written by the man who has been  part of as well as witnessed the Israeli-Palestinian conflict for many years.  It was heart wrenching to read about the palestinian plight. I quote from the book, "The most emotional event of our entire trip was a meeting with young Palestinians, mostly of college age. The description of their lives and of family members was distressing, and their determination and hope for life brought tears to our eyes. Even though born and raised in Ramallah, Jericho, Bethlehem or Nablus, they and their families often had citizenship rights taken away just because they might have visited or studied elsewhere. Many relatives have been imprisoned for years because of some nonviolent political activity." The recent disproportionate deaths in and destruction of Gaza caused by Israel in retaliation to rocket fire from Gaza left me speechless.  I have always been baffled why, even though Israel is said to be the holiest place for Jews and Christians and one of the holiest places for muslims, there has been unending death and destruction for 4 millennia, since Abraham claimed that God promised him the land of Palestine! ( I saw a map from 4000 BCE that showed Palestine but the word Israel did not come into existence until 2000 BCE.)  How does it deserve the title "Holy land"? By giving 3 billion dollars of taxpayer money to Israel every year, part of which is the taxes I paid as an american citizen, I wonder, at times, if I have to consider myself to be an accomplice to the injustice committed towards the Palestinians.

That evening I was surprised to see President Obama's first interview to be on Al Arabiya. He said that the children of Palestine should have opportunities for a decent life, that the Israeli children should be able to live in peace and Israel will be the closest ally of America. Nothing new from what the previous US presidents have said before, but when he said "I have Muslims in my family", I was stunned. He already made history by being the first African American president, but to claim Muslims in the family as the president of the one of the most conservative Christian country with significant Jewish influence on it's foreign policy, was incredible. 

Does this mean there may be a relatively balanced, rather than heavily favoring Israel, approach in the attempts to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict? I am neither Christian nor Muslim. Jew or Hindu, I am not. I am a humanist who believes, unless America is either neutral by taking the Judeo-christian or islamic religious interests  off of the negotiating table or is equally sympathetic to the Israeli and Palestinian plight there will be no peace. Is 

Mr. Obama's claim of Islamic familial connections with the middle name "Hussein", the counterbalance for Zionists, Jewish as well as Christian? If that is the case there may be light at the end of the tunnel of possibility of peace in the Holy land. I hope it is not just wishful thinking on my part.

It is about time for the Holy land to live up to it's name.

Creator of God; A brain surgeon's story. Documentary film by Vivekanand Palavali. MD at Naperville Film festival

http://www.creatorofgod.com/

Hello,

I am pleased to inform that my documentary film "Creator of God; A brain surgeon's story" will be shown at Ogden theater #4 on Monday, September 21 at 8 PM as part of Naperville Independent Film Festival. If you ever wondered whether God exists or not or if you are a person of peace and weary of global religious conflict then you may appreciate my documentary. If that doesn't interest you, the fact that it won Best Documentary award in two film festivals in the past two months may make you curious enough to see it. If that still doesn't excite you how about the fact that I went to Greece, Turkey, Egypt, Italy, France, Japan and India to film this?. Trust me! There are some stunning images which you will enjoy. On the other hand if you want to come and watch this just to support Naperville Independent Film Festival, that is a good enough of a cause for me.

See you there!

Check out the trailer.