Namashkar, Adaab and Welcome.
I'm Aditya, and you're watching The Indian
Atheist.
In this zeroth video, or pilot feature, I
want to introduce the fundamental idea behind
this channel, elaborate our objectives, our
vision, and outline the expectations that
you, the audience of this channel, can have from us; as well as some, that we have from you.
In its essence, The Indian Atheist is envisaged as a celebration of science, reason and critical thinking.
As the title suggests, most, but not all,
of the topics that I aim to cover in the subsequent
videos will be directly associated with the
atheist ethos and aspirations.
Most will also have a distinct Indian context,
or at least an Indian subtext.
India is the second largest country by population,
and it also happens to be the largest democratic nation in the world.
And yet, the atheist voice in India is feeble
at best, despite the country having what I
doubt is a respectable freethinker population, albeit closeted.
I hope that through this channel, we can help the people of my beloved country understand
and maybe even identify with the atheist experience,
without fear of persecution or alienation.
I know on the outset that it's a lofty and
somewhat unrealistic goal, but such are our intentions, nonetheless.
And secondly, although all organized religions, without an exception, operate on the basic
principle of in-group loyalty and out-group
hostility, the precise manner in which these
notions are reinforced in the heart and mind of the believer, the drug-delivery mechanism,
if you will, varies from religion to religion.
In this context, the eastern religious traditions are markedly different from the western brands
of monotheistic religions, and hence a significant part of the defense mounted by the western
rationalists will not be as effective or productive in the east.
For instance, in this part of the world, people don't really care about the creation myth
- not that we don't have one - but we simply don't care - everybody knows it's just a story.
So most of the educated among us are perfectly fine with the theory of evolution by natural selection.
That kind of disarming attitude towards, or outright acceptance of, evolution by a society
that prides itself on being religious can
be overwhelming and confusing to a western
atheist or even to an eastern atheist who
was introduced to atheism primarily through
the western atheist literature, media and popular culture.
A secondary objective therefore is to offer
the western viewers a glimpse into the vast
multitude of religious traditions and beliefs in the Indian subcontinent and clearly distinguish
between what's similar and what's different about our faith systems and what therefore,
if anything at all, can be done to counter
them.
Now I cannot presume to speak for all atheists, but in my case, atheism paved the way for
a lot of other profound changes in my personal constitution.
And I know for a fact that that is the case
with most atheists all over the world.
If you really, truly understand and internalize the guiding principle that is the doubt that
led you to atheism in the first place, then
slowly but surely, that seed of doubt will
begin to germinate in many other seemingly unrelated aspects of your life, and with that
comes the intense realization of how closely intertwined religion is in our day-to-day lives.
This I suspect is especially true of a polytheistic religion like Hinduism.
So as audience, you can certainly expect that The Indian Atheist will not only cover topics
related to a wide variety of the aspects of
atheism and religion in the Indian context,
but will also touch upon issues that have
a natural connection to atheism - for instance,
the scientific method, freethinking enquiry, scepticism, feminism, education, environmental
conservation, the nature of privilege, the
institution of marriage,
the rise of spirituality and the spawning
of spiritual and new-age gurus, media ghettoes,
communalism versus the secular-humanist approach and the strands of politics and governance
that emanate from these thoughts, and even some highly polarizing issues like birth-control,
abortion, homosexuality, death-penalty, and of course the horrendous caste-system in Hinduism
and the associated affirmative action for
the under-privileged or reservation, as it's called in India.
You may also occasionally or maybe even regularly expect a series of generic vlog type videos
on literature, science, mathematics, cinema, music, and architecture.
These things are important because for many of us, they fill the so-called God-shaped hole.
Clarity, precision and coherence in thinking are paramount to The Indian Atheist.
You can expect that we will therefore criticize all instances of careless thinking within our purview.
These criticisms may often be surgical in
nature, and hence will sometimes require identifying
by name the individuals who own the intellectual property rights to some of the most bizarre
examples of sloppy, twisted, perverted and sometimes, quite frankly, dangerous thinking.
Deepak Chopra, Jaggi Vasudev, Sri Sri Ravishankar, Baba Ramdev, Osho Rajnish, Mother Theresa and Zakir Naik.
On The Indian Atheist, their thoughts will
meet our insatiable, unquenchable curiosity
as well as our top-notch, unflinching, no-holds-barred scrutiny.
Curiosity and scrutiny - the double-edged sword of science -
- a pretty handy weapon for when you're fighting against ignorance - wilful or otherwise!
And also note that although this channel is about India, we're not oblivious to the torrents
of stupidity pouring in on us from the outside world.
So rest assured, we'll also do the Jordan
Petersons of the west, just for fun, if for nothing else!
You, the audience, can expect, within reason that everything that I say here will be thoroughly
researched to the best of my abilities, and
backed up with factual evidence, whenever
a significant claim is being made.
If you do not identify as an atheist, or a
secular-humanist however, you can expect that
most of the things I say here will sting.
Sometimes, they'll also make you angry.
And while that anger is not always bad, I
can promise you, that my intention will never
have been to elicit anger.
Rather, my intention will always be, to just
try and make you question your own point of
view, or failing that, at least to make you
see and empathize with mine, just as I will
always empathize with yours - again, within
reason!
Wherever possible, I'll try to pick a clear
side on any given issue and not equivocate
- it seems there's too much of that going
around these days.
But, there maybe some issues, where I might
prefer to sit on the fence - and on a case
by case basis, I will clearly state my reasons as to why I think the fence-sitting was warranted.
Because most of the videos on this channel will be expressly made with my fellow countrywomen
and countrymen in mind, most videos here will have a counterpart in the Hindi or Marathi language.
Atheists or volunteers from the non-Hindi
speaking parts of India who wish to help with
the subtitles in the other Indian languages
are most welcome.
They may write to me on indianatheist101@gmail.com
or simply drop a comment.
As far as what I expect from you is concerned, I expect you, first and foremost, to doubt,
recheck and rethink everything I say, but
at the same time, keep your mind curious and your heart open.
I will not mince words when I'm talking about politics or religion - religions - especially
the one I was born in - because it is the
one that I'm most familiar with: but here's
the good news - you can take all the offense you want.
In fact, please do be offended when I sometimes, for example, criticize the ruling political
party to the exclusion of all else - but note
that the keyword there is 'ruling'.
You have every right to be offended, and so do I.
You also have every right to cause offence, and so do I.
So don't worry about being civil in the comments section.
Say exactly what's on your mind.
Let's put all our cards on the table.
Let's get it all out in the open.
Let us talk and listen to each other - let
us curse, let us frustrate, let us exhaust
each other - let us climb the walls together, if we're climbing'em anyway.
But let us ignore each other no more.
And lastly, if you strongly dislike the position I've taken on the issue being discussed in
the video, apart from battling it out in the
comments, I also expect you to have the discussion
again with someone else, preferably with someone who often disagrees with you, and preferably
in person - face to face.
That's about it, I think.
I hope the rest of the content on The Indian Atheist stimulates your mind, moves your heart,
and makes you change a long-held view or two.
Remember, you're only as young as the last time you changed your mind about something.
Until next time, ladies and gentlemen.
Thank you for listening, Dhanyawad, Shukriya.
