Can an atheist avail the benefit of affirmative action from the Government in India like reserved jobs which is based on caste into which a person is born ?
Indian (Hindu) society was deeply divided by the hierarchical caste system. It originated around 2000 years ago.
A popular American atheist Youtuber who calls himself ‘Amazing Atheist’ proved why he is amazing. He declared his support for Trump in the coming Presidential election.
Martin Hughes has written about it well. He writes:
Not only did he encourage them to vote for Trump — he proudly said that he won’t vote. Which galls me. How the fuck are we supposed to ensure separation of church and state if we don’t vote? And how do you endorse a candidate who says he’ll violate that boundary with statements like, “When I’m President, we are going to start saying ‘Merry Christmas’ again, that I can tell you”? I mean…what?!
Female attendees are very few in atheist meetings in Kerala. Many concerned male atheists are thinking deep about the reasons for lack of participation of females in their “noble” ventures. They are also very concerned about lack of support for male atheist activists from their wives.
Just happened to see a disgusting video frothing with racism by a popular atheist You Tuber. It was deservedly decimated by Martin Hughes and P Z Myers wrote a post about it too (of course that’s how I came to know about the video).
While watching that video, I had a déjà vu feeling. So I tried substituting in parts of the transcript the word Dalit for black.
The video is in the format of a group of blacks questioning the You tuber.
Admit it, you hate blacksDalits !
If I hate anything about
BlackDalit culture, it’s that it’s such a victim culture. Almost a victim cult — “Our Lady of Perpetual Victimization.” Every unfairness that exists in your life is the fault ofwhiteupper caste people or society stacked against you. You might as well tattoo, “It’s because I’mblackDalit, isn’t it?” to your fucking forehead.
When asked about pushing out blacksDalits out of slums to make city beautiful
What would I rather have — a
slumAmbedkar colony filled with thugs who would probablyshootrob me as soon as look at me, or shops, cafe’s, restaurants, and apartments?
“What are you going to do about systematic racism casteism ?”
[
RacismCasteism againstblackDalit people] is not my problem in the first place. What are [the people in the video I’m responding to (Dalits)] going to do to end discrimination against atheists? Right, you ain’t gonna do shit, because it’s not your problem and you don’t give a shit
Yes, I have heard these sentiments from some upper caste “Hindu atheists” in India. Have also heard somewhat similar things from some ex Christians and ex Muslims too. I also know atheists who believe Dalits and black Africans are less “brainy” and it is due to their “genes”.
Yes, atheists can be racist and casteist too, and when they are like that, they are much more toxic.
If in a particular society atheists are very less, the few who do not believe in god may stick together in a group.
But the moment the number increases beyond a critical number they tend to split into various interest groups.
Thus we will have atheist groups which primarily stand for social justice like humanist groups, feminist groups, LGBTQ groups etc. There may be politically Left and Right atheist groups. There may be post modernist or regressive Left atheist groups. There may nationalist or sub nationalist atheist groups. There will also be minority phobic, ableist, racist/casteist atheist groups, anti-feminists atheist groups and anti-gay atheist groups.
When atheism becomes a commonly accepted philosophy why one should stay in the same group as another with very intolerable views ?
The other day one of my atheist friend called me. The conversation went on like this.
Friend: “Doctor, I want you to take care of my son. I am bringing him to your hospital.”
Me: “Hey wait, that may not be a good move. Your city has much better facilities than mine. What happened ?”
Friend: “My son is admitted here for last 3 days with Dengue fever. He is not getting better. I feel the doctors here do not know their job. They are asking me to pray for his recovery. Any one who has studied science should know prayers are useless.”
I ask why your Omnipotent God does not hold a man back when he is about to commit a sin or offence. It is child’s play for God. Why did He not kill war lords? Why did He not obliterate the fury of war from their minds? In this way He could have saved humanity of many a great calamity and horror. Why does He not infuse humanistic sentiments into the minds of the Britishers so that they may willingly leave India?
This was written by Indian revolutionary freedom fighter Bhagat Singh 85 years ago , while in prison facing death penalty. He along with 2 other freedom fighters were hanged in Lahore jail on March 23 , 1931.
The essay from which the above quote is taken is titled ‘Why I am an atheist ‘. It is being shared widely in media, both online and offline, on this day of his martyrdom. Bhagat Singh is one of the most revered freedom fighter in both India and Pakistan.
Bhagat Singh and his friends belonged to a more radical movement than that led by Mahatma Gandhi. They were inspired by Marxian and anarchist ideologies. Singh did not believe in the Gandhian ideology—which advocated Satyagraha and other forms of non-violent resistance, and felt that such politics would replace one set of exploiters with another.
Some critics have said that the tactics and politics chose by Bhagat Singh, if had become mainstream , might have led to much more bloodletting than that actually happened in India’s freedom struggle. That may be true, but no one can belittle his courage, sincerity and efforts for the cause of freedom from colonialism.
Today he is considered by many as an atheist icon. He ends his essay like this.
Society must fight against this belief in God as it fought against idol worship and other narrow conceptions of religion. In this way man will try to stand on his feet. Being realistic, he will have to throw his faith aside and face all adversaries with courage and valour. That is exactly my state of mind. My friends, it is not my vanity; it is my mode of thinking that has made me an atheist. I don’t think that by strengthening my belief in God and by offering prayers to Him every day, (this I consider to be the most degraded act on the part of man) I can bring improvement in my situation, nor can I further deteriorate it. I have read of many atheists facing all troubles boldly, so I am trying to stand like a man with the head high and erect to the last; even on the gallows. Let us see how steadfast I am. One of my friends asked me to pray. When informed of my atheism, he said, “When your last days come, you will begin to believe.” I said, “No, dear sir, Never shall it happen. I consider it to be an act of degradation and demoralisation. For such petty selfish motives, I shall never pray.” Reader and friends, is it vanity? If it is, I stand for it.
