In the name of god, religion and blind beliefs, Amen!

This Tuesday, the 22nd of July, Asia witnessed the longest solar eclipse of the 21st century. As the so-called educated modern urban young India enthusiastically got ready to watch the most spectacular phenomenon in the universe, there was this bunch of parents in a remote village in Karnataka busy digging graves (they called them pits) for their special children to make the best use of the super natural power manifesting itself during the eclipse. Children with physical and mental ailments were partially or completely buried in mud for three long hours. The parents believed that, by doing so, the kids would get rid of their disabilities.

Somehow, the news was not really shocking for me. This is not something new or unheard of, in India. This is just one of those several incidents where innocent and ignorant people perform all kind of weird rituals, thanks to millions of gods and thousands of religions/castes/communities in a truly diverse nation.

You can throw your month old baby from temple top, you can bury your kids alive for several minutes, you can offer human sacrifices in pursuit of treasure, you can walk on fire, you can build religious institutions and make money, you can become a god-man/god-woman and fool around with people, you can kill people in communal clashes, you can mass hypnotize people and make them believe what they see or hear is the ultimate truth, you can play cheap political games, you can pass an order to perform pooja at all temples in the state and pray for rains!, you have every right to hate a complete nation or race, you can throw stones at guilty, you can assault and sexually abuse women and children. All this and much more in the name of God and Religion.

When someone gets to know that I’m an atheist, first question he/she asks is, ‘oh did something happen in your life, because of which you lost faith?’ I just smile and say ‘No, nothing personal :-)’. Having been brought up by my maternal grandparents who were a pious and god-fearing family, I have played my part of being a good, religious, weekly-temple-going kid. As I started getting to know the world around me, I could see so much of hatred that I started questioning myself if it is really necessary to follow a religion or believe in something that you cannot perceive. Thanks to my dad who let me follow, rather ‘not follow’ what I did not believe in. My mom’s effort to persuade me will continue forever.

I was having this interesting conversation with Ken where I was trying to explain why I believe in what I believe. I was under the impression that he will not be able to completely understand my justification considering the place where he comes from. I thought, in his country, they followed one religion, believed in one god and most importantly valued human lives. But, I was surprised and also saddened by his response. He said, ‘It’s not just in India, my friend, it’s all over the world’

I am aware of the other side of the story too. I do understand the positive aspects. I like visiting temples and churches when they are not packed, though I don’t pray, because I like the ambience. I do respect swamijis who talk sense and who are trying to do their bit to the society. I have nothing against people who believe in God. I respect their feelings, beliefs and actions as long as they do not harm anyone around.