Atheism

Characteristics of Bhondus

Atheism, India 0 Comment

Bhondus

They have various names – Internet Bhondus, Virat Bhondus. Bhondutva is their ideology and I have found following to be their salient features -

  • Narendra Modi for PM!
  • Ardent Bhondu nationalists
  • Adore RSS and it’s leaders – Golvalkar, Hegdevar, Mohan Bhagwat etc.
  • Savarkar – oh sorry Vir Savarkar – is their father of the nation
  • Like to quote Vivekanand
  • Will defend any and every crook – Asaram, Ravishankar, Ramdev etc.
  • Take immense pride in the stories of past Hindu kings – Shivaji, Maharana Pratap, Prithviraj Chauhan etc.
  • Their hero is Subramanian Swamy – originator of the term Virat Bhondu, who likes to poke his nose in and take credit for anything and everything right from 2G scam expose, Italian Marines’s return to India or NASA’s moon landings!
  • Nathuram Godse is a martyr
  • Absolutely hate Congress and MK Gandhi and Nehru-Gandhi family
  • Want India to be like Israel while dealing with Pakistan
  • Vedas is epitome of knowledge notwithstanding the fact that it won’t even help you make a stone age tool
  • Astrology is science!
  • Cow is their favourite animal and cow urine is their preferred drink, aftershave, fuel, shampoo, toilet cleaner and more. They love cow so much that if you open their skulls all you will find is cow dung!

Clarification: This post is not pro Congress or anti-BJP. I am not a fan of any political party nor do I hate any one in particular. This is just a collection of common traits of right wing bhondu nationalists.

How to differentiate between faith and blind faith?

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A dialogue ensued between me, my mom and my mother in law yesterday

Mom (on some other topic): We don’t believe in old customs.
Me: Good. You should also stop believing in old gods. believe in new stuff, believe in science.
Mom: You should not speak about other’s “shraddha” (faith). You should respect others’ faith.
Me: Ok there was a woman who had a faith that if she sacrificed her step son, he would be re-born as her own son. Should I respect that kind of faith too?

Mother in law joins the dialogue

Mom in law: That’s “andha-shraddha” (blind faith/superstition).
Me: Well yes that’s andha-shraddha indeed, but it was shraddha for her. How do we decide what is shraddha and what is andha-shraddha? How do we differentiate between faith and superstition?
Mom in law: If someone’s getting harmed then that’s andha-shraddha.
Me: ok what would you call when a person stops because a cat just cut his path?
Mom in law: That is andha-shraddha, superstition.
Me: Well, but nobody was getting harmed. Cat went on its way and the guy stopped.

Mom in law: Well…..

Choose Your Path

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I stumbled upon this image and I posted it on Facebook.

Somebody suggested a program should be made from it. What could be a better way to kill some time on Sunday for an atheist programmer? So a bit of jQuery and some image hunting and a program was ready.

Choose Your Path

The time consuming part was looking for images and symbols. And the funniest part was about the magical underwear question. Mormons have something called as temple clothing which is kind of underwear they are required to wear. :)

Religions are a waste

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Couple of days back I was traveling in the train and I saw a middle aged man around 50. He was weary and visibly poor and he was holding a yellow bag in his right hand and had prayer beads inside it. He was reciting something…constantly. I kind of pitied that man. He probably had no hope in life and his only chance was his false hope of divine intervention. What a waste.

Yesterday I saw a man outside a Hanuman temple, he was bent down and touching and retouching the very last step of the temple….again and again.

It’s sad what religion makes people do.

Those actions are meaningless. And that is the sad part. People perform those actions believing it will serve a purpose but it does not. People spend time and money on those actions which is completely fruitless.

Watching a movie, reading a book, going to toilet, chatting with friends, playing with pets, watching birds/sunset all these actions have at least some reason, some benefit, some point. We do it for entertainment, relaxation, gaining knowledge or just to have some good time. And they do serve that intended purpose.

But religious actions, they do not serve the intended purpose. They don’t even cause the placebo effect. You can not cure decreases with prayers. One can not improve the financial situation with chants. Mannat (Asking something from god and promising to give something in return) can not make you successful in exams or solve your marital woes or give you a baby. Those are fruitless actions.

Its is wrong to believe and engage in futile activities because they become more sinister over a period of time. Like the woman who sacrificed her stepson so she could bear a child of her own. That too was a matter of faith and belief. People actually believe they get 72 virgins for killing people who do not share their belief. It’s all matter of faith. And they are all dangerous and wasteful.

Religions and a belief in super natural are a waste of time, money, intellect and human life!

Fortune teller

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On my recent trip to Rajasthan we visited Chokhi Dhani near Jaipur – an artificial Rajasthani village. There was a tarot card reader as part of the village setup. My wife was curious so she checked out her fortune and also got me to do the same. I went along to know what the fortune teller comes up with.

He had a parrot. The parrot would come out and pick one card. The card had some cryptic things written mostly numbers etc. I didn’t get to read it, just got a sneak peek. The fortune teller said following things about me.

You are in some computer related business.
You are doing the hard work but not getting full benefits of your labour.
You are a risk taker in life.
You will not find the success in your birthplace, you will have to go out.

My wife was mighty impressed. I wasn’t.

Every job today has something to do with computers. My wife also spends her entire day in front of a computer. So is my dad. Not a brilliant guess.
Everyone thinks that he/she is not getting due reward and/or recognition for his/her efforts. The fortune teller guy was just playing on that psyche. Is a kind of ego massage.
He had asked me whether I do job or business. I said bluishness. Every businessman is a risk taker to a certain extent. What’s new in that? He should have been able to figure hat our without asking me about my nature of work.
Go out to find success? That’s just plain Bull Shit! He is advising a course of action to change my future!

But these guys are so professional and they put forth these things in such a manner that you do tend to believe them for a minute. At least it makes you think. They kind of baffle you with the conviction with which they speak. As if they do really know everything about your past, present and future. But when think more about it, the tricks of the predictions and fallacy of their reasoning becomes apparent.

God is taking a country down – Pakistan!

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Salmaan Taseer, governor of the Punjab province of Pakistan was shot dead by one of his guards Mumtaz Qadri. Reason? Mr Taseer was a moderate Muslim and he was a vocal opponent of a blasphemy law under which people (often minority) disrespecting the-one-who-can-not-be-named-drawn-pictured-caricatured-AND-disrespected were sentenced to death.

The killer Mumtaz Qadri is actually heralded as a national hero! In Twitterspace he is referred to as “Ghazi” – a brave warrior! Sure showering bullets on an unarmed man whom you are supposed to guard is a stupendous act of valour and bravery! Somebody creates a Facebook “fan” page for him and 2000 people like him and praise him before the page is removed. He is showered with roses by lawyers – yes lawyers – when he is presented in the court! National hero. Yeah that’s right!!!

People educated enough to be users of Facebook and Twitter and be lawyers are actually supporting a religious fanatic. That’s a dangerous sign for a society!

In the name of God, the most hateful, the most wasteful and the stupidest fantasy of Humans!

Why do theists avoid logical debate about God’s existence?

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I find this amusing. Whenever I try to explain my position as an atheist and ask some logical questions about God, the theists run away. My mom, my wife, friends… they just don’t want to discuss the G word. I often have fun encounters with my mom on the subject. When she tries to thrust some nonsensical religious idea down my throat, I object and question the logic. She wouldn’t answer, or would start scolding me and if I insist, change the topic or just leave the room.

Favorite arguments of my mom to support her belief in God

- Millions of people believe in God, are they all mad and you are the only smart one to not believe?
My answer: Just because majority of the people do something doesn’t make it right. There are 950 million Hindus but there are 1.5 billion Muslims and 2 billion Christians. So Christians are in majority so they must be right in their belief. Why are you a Hindu then? Be a Christian!

- If there is no God who does all this? Who runs the world? Who makes the day and night and gives life?
My answer: Kids in standard four know how day and night happen. Its a natural process, we don’t need a power to run it. Evolution explains life.
Mom: Huh! Evolution?

- Don’t believe. You will go to hell!
My answer: I am not afraid of going to non existent palaces. You can’t go to a place that doesn’t exist can you?

I think theists somehow deep down know that their position is week. I feel every believer is a skeptic somewhere. Theists fear that the logical argument could be true. What if it turns out that there is no God? Oh boy that would be a major blow! After a certain age religion becomes the life support system for the people. Older people especially in India don’t really have much to do except pray and visit temples, mosques, churches. If you take away the religion it will take away the purpose to live for many a people. Pity!

The other reason could be that people genuinely fear that by indulging in a conversation questioning the God’s existence they are committing a great sin and they will have to pay dearly for it. But again you don’t have to fear if you are debating on behalf of God. You are trying to further “his” cause right?

How can an atheist be moral?

Atheism 6 Comments

Often people wonder and ask – how can atheists be morals? A believer’s morality comes from his belief in the book. Where does an atheist get his morality from? What is the base of an atheist’s morals? I had written about this in my first post about atheism. But I will try to explain it in a little detail here.

What are morals?
Dictionary entry says – morals are principles or habits with respect to right or wrong conduct. It is the motivation based on ideas of right and wrong. Knowing what is right and what is wrong are morals and to behave accordingly is morality. Doing something which is right, abstaining from doing something that is wrong.

But right and wrong are subjective terms. As such there is nothing right and nothing wrong for an atheist. Then how do I as an atheist conclude whether something is the right(good) thing to do and something is wrong(bad) thing to do?

The fundamental rule is – If I want to be treated in some way, I better treat others in the same way. Because if I don’t – I will be punished. And if I get punished doing something, it is bad for me to do and hence wrong.

I will try to explain this with the analogy of a murder – killing someone.

As an atheist I think killing someone is not right. It’s not that we don’t have the “right” to kill someone. In the eyes of law we might have rights to do something and not do something, but in nature there is no such thing as a “right” – authority to do something. Anyone is free to do anything. In the law of the land it might be wrong to kill someone but in the law of the nature we have the right to kill anyone, BUT its not right to kill anyone.

Why? Why as an Atheist I think it is not right to kill anyone?

If I want to be treated in some way, I better treat others in the same way. If I don’t want someone to kill me, I better not kill someone else! If your survival depends on killing others, then yes it is right to kill because you’ve gotta survive as much as the other one needs to. So in a such a situation, the Darwinian rule of Survival of the fittest prevails and The stronger, fitter one services.

When it comes to survival both the atheists and believers think it is right to kill. Look at terrorists, they kill innocents because they think it is right. It is right and they have a right – given by Allah. There have been crusades in past, Christians killed because it was a question of survival (of their faith). Killing is otherwise wrong. But when it comes to survival even gods permit it!

Under normal conditions – when its not a question of your survival – some of the right things become wrong. Like a murder. For a believer, murder under normal circumstances is wrong  – according to his holy book. As I mentioned above under normal circumstances murder is wrong even for an atheist. Why?

Law of the nature – every action has an equal and opposite reaction. If I slap someone I will get slapped back (Unless the one whom you are slapping a Gandhian!). If I rob someone’s house, he will catch me and beat me to death. If I harm someone, he will harm me. Cause and action, Action and reaction. That’s the base of an atheist’s morality.

As an atheist I know what is wrong and what is right, not because it is written in some book. Because I know if I do certain things, the consequences will be bad for me – these things are wrong. If something does not harm me, or benefits me – without harming someone else in a way that it has bad consequences for me – then its right! Simple. This does not mean that whatever is beneficial for me is right as well. Cheating somebody or robbing someone is definitely beneficial for me, but it is not right because if I get caught, the consequences will be bad for me. So it is wrong. Even if I don’t get caught, what I am doing is something I won’t like to happen with me. So what is bad for me is bad for others. You harm someone, you will be harmed in return. The “if” condition here is dangerous. It’s a risk. In normal circumstance (when its not a question of survival) the risk is not worth taking. There’s lot at stake. So it’s wrong!

But this means that certain things which are wrong for believers even under normal circumstances like gambling, earning an interest (for Muslims), Eating certain type of food (Pork for Muslims, beef for Hindus, non-kosher food for Jews), consuming alcohol, homosexuality, abortion, wearing certain types of clothes etc are not necessarily wrong for atheists. Some atheist might have certain objections to certain activities like I don’t like the idea of homosexuality but I am okay if someone around me is loving a person of the same sex. I don’t understand their psyche – I feel there’s some loose screw somewhere in their head, but I am just fine with them. I don’t hate them. It’s their individual preference. And I certainly don’t think it is wrong to be a homosexual.

So that’s my morality. An atheist’s morality. And most of my morals are not different than those of the believers. Its just that they don’t understand why something is right and something is wrong. They follow it just because it is written in the book. I know what is right and what is wrong and I know the reason WHY!

It’s the law of the nature – the law of the jungle that forces an atheist to act morally.

Holy books provide a proof that god doesn’t exist

Atheism 1 Comment

Judaism, Christianity and Islam all originated from the common geographical area. Bible makes reference to Judaism and Moses and Quran acknowledges existence of both Moses and Jesus. However none of these three religions make any reference to Hinduism or Buddhism in thier holy books. It’s a proof that these books are not a word of god. They are written by humans who had no knowledge of the existence of religions and cultures outside the limited geographic area in which they were living. Hindu scriptures talk about various avatars of god including the forthcoming avatar of Kulki. Why is there no mention of Jesus or Mohammed? If Jesus and Mohammed are indeed son/messenger of god (as proclaimed by their respective books) then Hindu books should have carried a references to them. After all that is also claimed to be the word of god! So Hindu scriptures are as false as the books of any other religion.

The very basis on which today’s religions stand – the holy books – fail to pass even a simple test then what remains for today’s religions to prove the existence of the god? The book says there is god. The book says I am word of god. How do I believe that whatever the books says is true? The only way to believe the writings of a book as true is to verify the writings against facts. The book needs to be testified for its authenticity. Just because a book says, I am true, belive in me, we can’t believe it to be true. The claim should be verifiable. There are lots of things in the holy books which are scientifically impossible and unverifiable. If the claims of a book can not be verified, it can not be taken as true. If a book can not be taken as true then whatever is said in the book becomes false! So if false book says there is god, then it means in reality there is no god! Because had there been any god and indeed he had written or inspired the writings of these books then those writings must have been 100% accurate, verifiable and true! Which they are not. So no god, no book of god.

Egyptians, Romans, Greeks all had their own gods in ancient times. They don’t follow them any more. We all know that they were just characters of folk lore. With changing times, as people became more intelligent, hey shunned the old godly figures. Nobody worships Zeus, Artemis, Poseidon, Isis or Anubis today. They have become part of mythology, not a religion. Same thing will happen to today’s godly figures – Jesus, Mohammed, Ram, Krishna etc. May be 200 years. I guess (and hope) that in the next 200 years religions and gods would be a part of history (That is if human race doesn’t itself become part of history at the hands of some nutheads starting an atomic war for the sake of some almighty god)

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