A Comparative Study of the Ideals of P.B. Shelley and Bhagat Singh Lance Ria Department of English, Sophia Girls’ College, Ajmer, Rajasthan, India. Email id: rialance09@gmail.com Online published on 8 March, 2018. Abstract This article tries to comprehend the meaning of atheism which comes from Greek roots a, meaning “without, ” and theos, meaning “God” (Lee 3). Diagoras of Melos is known as the first Atheist. He was a Greek poet who lived in the fifth century BC. The primitive man unaware of the exigencies of nature gave birth to the concept of God out of fear and curiosity. The idea of God is revived, readjusted and enlarged or narrowed, according to the necessity of the time, it has dominated humanity and will continue to do so until man will raise his head to the sunlit day, unafraid and within an awakened will to enlighten himself. The extent to which man will find his relationship with his fellow beings will entirely depend on how he can outgrow his dependence on God (Goldman 1–2). Theism is the theory of speculation whereas atheism is the science of demonstration. If one clings to metaphysics and the worlds beyond, the other is tied to the soil of the earth. Although theism remains static and fixed, atheism expresses the expansion and growth of the human mind. The decline of theism lies in the fact that masses are becoming engrossed in the problems of their immediate existence. Atheism justifies its way when poverty, misery, famine, starvation and bloodshed are on a rise. The presence of an ever loving God is questioned. The human mind is realising that the universe is not the result of a creative fiat by some divine intelligence, out of nothing, producing a masterpiece chaotic in perfect operation but that it is the product of chaotic forces operating through aeons of time, of clashes and cataclysms, of repulsion and attraction crystallising through the principle of selection into what the theists call, “the universe guided into order and beauty.” (Goldman 3) Top Keywords Atheism, Ideals of Atheism, Radicalism, The concept of God. Top |