Me: Unlimited

Originally published in DNA, Mumbai, Monday, October 13, 2008

Atheists — traditionally defined as those who disbelieve in God or religion — have found their voice in the wake of the religious tension riving the globe’s societal fabric.

Across the planet, the number of atheist organisations has increased, and India has been no exception to this trend. The Federation of Indian Rationalist Associations that started in 1997, is an umbrella body comprising more than 50 rationalist and atheist organisations. These organisations believe in the supremacy of humanism above religion, and are committed to spreading this message.

The Science and Rationalists’ Association of India is one such organisation, based in Kolkata, that has waged the battle to make Humanism a viable and legally recognised ideology, and won. The association’s founder, Prabir Ghosh, says, “In 1993, we won the case in court, and now ‘humanism’ can be written, wherever one’s religion needs to be stated.” Elaborating on his faith in humanism, he says, “I have read a lot about religion, and I realised that none of them tell the truth. All religions believe they are the most superior and this results in fights. I then recognised humanism as the most important: Think about your fellow human beings and treat them as equal.”

The Atheist Centre, one of the oldest atheist organisations in India, started in 1940 in Andhra Pradesh. This organisation was started by Goparaju Ramachandra Rao and Saraswathi Gora to initiate social change in rural India, and they also were an active part of the national movement.

Dr Vijayam, the executive director of the Centre, says, “Saraswathi Gora was initially a believer. Once when there was an eclipse, she saw only Hindus hide while Christians and Muslims were moving about freely. She then started questioning old beliefs and that subsequently led to the founding of the Atheist Centre.”

According to Dr Vijayam, religion is only equated with houses of worship. He says, “Only three times in life does religion really holds any importance: Birth, marriage and death. The biggest problems are religious groups and politicians. Everyone became a part of the freedom movement, irrespective of caste or religion. Now we are divided on religious lines and that is the reason for the communal tension.”

He also strongly advocates that State should be separated from religion. This is a view shared by many, including social acitivist, Teesta Setalvad.

“There should be a common gender code that takes the best practices from all religions, and politicians should be completely barred from using religion as a means to gather votes.”

She adds that the spiritual aspect of religion is completely forgotten, with emphasis being laid only on ritual aspects.

Most atheists, however, agree that an increasing number of youth are moving away from religion. Talking of the destruction that religion can cause, Megh Raj Mitter, founder of Tarksheel Sanstha, in Punjab, says, “I have talked to people of all religions, and they agree that humanity is the most important thing. But they still go around killing people. Countlesss people have been killed in the name of religion in India.”

A non-religious State, according to atheists, is the best solution. “Religion should be banned. It becomes uncontrollable. Religion has nothing to do with morality or moral values. If it did, then in a country like India where religion is so important would have no corruption or crime,” says Mitter.

October 18th, 2008 | Tags: Atheist Center, Atheists, India, Interview | Category: Atheism, Rationalism | Leave a comment

Originally Posted on Nirmukta by Ajita Kamal, On 14 October 2008

Randi, popularly known as the Amazing Randi, is a magician of repute who has dedicated the last few decades to investigating paranormal claims. His organization, the James Randi Educational Fundation is world famous for offering a million dollar prize to anyone who can demonstrate genuine supernatural powers. Randi has been on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson 22 times. At this event that was organized by the NYC Skeptics at the Caspary auditorium in Rockafeller University last Friday, the 80 year old Randi was as insightful as ever, leaving the crowd in laughs and amazement. By the time he was through, it was obvious why he is considered one of the leaders of the skepticism/ rationalism movement in America.

Ajita: Mr Randi, are you familiar with India and the problems we have there with con-men and snake-oil salesmen?

Randi: Oh yes, very much. I read reports from India regularly, and… it’s typical of the whole world really. But in some ways it will be more exaggerated in a culture like India with quite a large population, but it’s rather circumscribed, you know…and they may have an ethnic background that lets them be deceived by these things.

Ajita: I know you’ve worked in the East before, like in the Philippines, for example. Do you find any major differences or similarities between the East and the West that could explain how these different people react to paranormal claims?

Randi: Yes, there are a lot of similarities…more similarities than differences, frankly. I’ve always said that it’s very much like cooking. Say you’re in Korea and eating Kimchi, which is cabbage. But we eat cabbage here too! So often the language will be different, the approach will be different, but it’s the same tricks when they’re using deception of various kinds. They took me to South Korea and they said “Oh you will find things here that you have never seen anywhere else”. I turned to my assistant after 15 minutes and said “It’s the same old crappiolla”. It’s the same thing, just a different flavor.

Ajita: In Indian culture, religion is often entwined with these offerings that the con-artists sell to the superstitious. For example, Hindu mythology says that the Gods are reborn in human form, as avatars. This belief makes people susceptible to being taken in by these crooks. In your opinion, is criticism of religion alongside that of these con-men a good strategy?

Randi: Oh yes! I think so. The argument is: how different is it? If it’s an irrational claim made with no supporting evidence - all kinds of anecdotal material but no hard evidence, then that will not stand examination.  That applies to religion and it applies to the paranormal. So, religion is just another aspect of the paranormal, really.

Ajita: Most of India’s large population is in the rural areas while most of the rationalists are based in cities. How do we reach out to the rural areas where most of India’s uneducated masses live?

Randi: Well, I’ve seen some very good films, made by the BBC as a matter of fact, about people like Premanand who do excellent work by going out into these areas. That seems to be an effective strategy. But, that’s always been the problem. The same thing happens in Arkansas, for example, with farmers and such…they may believe things that people in the cities would just laugh at. But they tend to believe these things because of the ethnic and the cultural background and the fact that in many cases they have a lot of poverty and they’re looking for magical answers.

Ajita: As you know we have many rationalist organizations in India. Recently we’ve had some success with demonstrations. For example, the Science and Rationalists’ Association of India goes out into the villages and performs the same tricks that the conjurers and swamis perform. Is this a good approach in your opinion?

Randi Talks Skepticism, Rationality, Religion and more.

Randi: I think that’s a very, very good strategy, especially if they say “You must understand these are tricks, this is what you have been fooled by and these people are not to be trusted”. I think you can get through, even to people who are not very skeptical about these things if you do it properly. A man like Premanand, you know he’s a great personality; he’s always had a wonderful personality. So when he does these things and shows the people how it’s done, I’ve seen the crowds go whoa! It just never dawned on them that they could be fooled that easily. He’s a good man, Premanand; a very noble man.

Ajita: Rationalists in India often face grave danger. For example, Prabir Ghosh of the Science and Rationalists’ Association has faced many attempts on his life. How do we continue to do this work in the face of such deterrents?

Randi: This is a problem. It’s true that there are dangerous elements that are out there. People in the rationalist movement in India have said that I should not go there because of Sai Baba who probably has a great hatred for me, because I have criticized Sai Baba. He’s a very poor sleight-of-hand-man. It’s very, very transparent, what he does…and yet he has millions of followers and a lot of money.

Ajita: Did you know that he often conjures up cheap Japanese watches?

Randi: Yes, and these watches have the serial numbers on them that shows where they were manufactured and where they were sold! Now, if you’re going to perform a miracle, why would a miracle watch have a serial number on it? From the factory! It seems so silly to believe in this.

Ajita: Globalization and the internet have helped these con-men sell their products worldwide. So, we have ayurveda clinics and yoga studios popping up all over the world. How do we keep up with the ever-extending reach of these pseudoscientific and often quack concepts?

Randi: Well, we have in this country Deepak Chopra who is selling ayurvedic medicine, and this is something from medieval times and it doesn’t really work. These are medieval teachings; certainly not medieval knowledge- there’s no knowledge involved in it.

Ajita: There was a study that came out recently that confirmed earlier reports of heavy metals, sometimes deliberately added to these so-called medicines.

Randi: Yes, lead and even arsenic at times. Yes, some of these medicines can be deadly.

Ajita: In India, a major obstacle to criticizing the con-men is that politicians are often devotees of the swamis. Do you have any comment on this association between politicians and the con-artists?

Randi: Yes. Politicians know where money comes from, and money will come from people who follow these con-men if the politician is known to be supporting the same con-men. It is both political and for money. (The politicians) know that Sai Baba has a lot of money and his followers have a lot of money. They know that if they go to see Sai Baba and they are well received, they will get a lot of votes and they will get a lot of money.

Ajita: What advice would you have for a young paranormal investigator starting off in India?

Randi: I would say, read a lot. There are a lot of books out there- things published by Prometheus press, for example. There are some very good books- books written by Joe Nickel, I’ve written a few myself you may have noticed, and I think there’s good information out there for you to have. You’ve got to really study up on these things. And get to know some conjurors- some of the jaduwallahs (yes he really said “jaduwallas”) and what not; people who are trying to be honest and not trying to convince people that they have supernatural powers. They will gladly confide in you. Look at Premanand, he’s done very, very well with that! You must understand Premanand is a man that I practically worship. He’s a king in my estimation. He’s a wonderful, very noble gentleman, and he deserves all the respect he can get. Indians should be very happy for having a man like that, but they need more Premanands.

Ajita: I’m sure he’ll be very glad to hear that.

Randi: Oh, he knows that already. I’ve expressed it to him many times; I adore the man. I’m very, very, very fond of him.

Ajita: James Randi, it’s been a pleasure talking to you.

Randi: Thank you; it’s been a great pleasure.

James Randi is the founder of the James Randi Educational Foundation. This interview was recorded on Friday, 10/10/08.

Photographs taken by Salvatore Barra

October 15th, 2008 | Tags: Atheism, Interview, James, Magician, Nirmukta, Randi, Science, Skepticism | Category: Atheism, Rationalism, Science | Leave a comment

Now, once again, a passionate argument has erupted over the theory of evolution as pitted against creationism.

The war between science and religion is part of the intellectual drama of the modern West since the Renaissance in Europe. We in the Orient may wonder what the fuss is about, but western civilisation has seen many battles, with science and rationalism ranged on one side and God — or at least religion — ranged on the other. Out of that struggle have come some great scientific discoveries, though their path to common acceptance was not easy.

Now, once again, a passionate argument has erupted over evolution as pitted against creationism, where one set of people swear by Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution, and another in support of Genesis, the first book of the Old Testament. In the US this debate has been settled in favour of evolution, at least where text books are concerned, though large swathes of the country still support creationism. Across the Atlantic it has been reignited in a virulent way.

The director of education in the Royal Society of Science, Reverend Martin Reiss has said that creationism should be taught along with evolution in a class room. He feels that children from religious backgrounds would want to know both. You would think this is the end of civilisation, going by the ruckus this has caused. The Society agreed with him but many members have objected and mounted a counter-campaign, forcing Reiss to step down. Meanwhile, the Church of England has drafted an apology to Charles Darwin for deriding and opposing his theory of evolution. The Anglican Church of late has shown very progressive inclinations. On the other hand, the Roman Catholic Church, which has acknowledged its error for persecuting Galileo, feels that it does not make sense to apologise for past errors.

Are religion and science antithetical to each other? Going by the Indian experience, text books tend to favour scientific explanations, but religious beliefs are never far away from our lives. It means that religious views do not colour science lessons, and on the other hand science is not used to debunk religion. Even if there are differences between worldviews expressed by one set of people and another, people tend to carry them along. There is the feeling that religion and science belong to different spheres and can co-exist. At the very least, creationism versus evolution is not a subject for heated conflict, though given that the role of religion has increased in public life in India, there is no saying how it will pan out in the future. Perhaps mankind is still searching for answers — just consider the fact that the huge, multi-billion dollar experiment to find out how the universe came about was called by scientists as the hunt for the ‘God particle.’

Original Article

September 22nd, 2008 | Tags: Answers, Charles Darwin, Creationism, Darwin, Evolution, God, Science | Category: Atheism, Science | Leave a comment

Original Source

Breaking a mirror means seven years bad luck. So does spilling salt or meeting a black cat. We’ve all heard such silly-sounding superstitions. Of course why anybody would believe that stepping on a crack could break your mother’s back is a mystery. But according to an article in the Royal Society journal Biological Sciences, superstitious behaviors are a natural product of evolution.

Imagine an animal living in an environment where, over the course of a day, he might hear some rustling in the leaves or maybe in the grass. Now, movements in the grass could signal a predator attack, whereas the breeze in the trees is probably just the wind. Still, the animal has a choice: he can ignore all this rustling and go about his business, or he can run and hide.

The most logical response would be to hide only when he hears the grass move. But what if it’s hard to tell whether the noise came from the grass or the trees? “I could’ve sworn that was the trees” could be his final thought. So the animal learns to bolt at the sound of the breeze, because it could foretell certain doom. That better-safe-than-sorry attitude is essentially a superstition. One that that cautious critter will likely pass on to his young. Knock on wood.

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—Karen Hopkin

September 19th, 2008 | Tags: 60-second, Evolution, Popular science, Science, Superstition | Category: Atheism, Rationalism | Leave a comment