‘religion is a stumbling block to progress’ _ frontline

8/12/2019 Religion is a Stumbling Block to Progress _ Frontline

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COVER STORY

INTERVIEW: NARENDRA NAYAK.

Religion is a stumbling block to progress

By Special Arrangement Narendra Nayak

Interview with the rationalist Narendra Nayak. By RAVI SHARMA

NARENDRA NAYAK, the 62-year-old rationalist from Mangalore who calls himself a humanist, has been in the forefront of over2,000 national and international campaigns exposing godmen and their miracles and debunking superstition.

The founder of the Dakshina Kannada Rationalist Association and its secretary since 1976, he says he is working towards making Indiaan atheist society. He is also the national president of the Federation of Indian Rationalist Associations, which has over 60 atheist,rationalist and humanist groups as members.

Physically attacked on numerous occasions and bombarded by telephonic and mail threats, Nayak had to fight a court case to retainhis job. Unperturbed, he has carried on combating superstition and dogma, trying to create awareness among the masses, the majorityof whom, according to him, are literate but not educated.

Excerpts from an interview he gave Frontline:

What do you think of being an atheist in a country like India where spirituality and godmen permeate everyaspect of life?

Atheism is a conclusion that there is no supernatural power. So rather than considering myself an atheist, I would describe myself as ahumanist. Humanism is more broad-based, it recognises that all human beings are equal and have the right to pursue his or herhappiness as long as it doesnt infringe upon the human rights of others.

India is a land of spirituality

Land of spirituality should be put within quotation marks because all the spirituality that you see has always been in materialisticform. This alleged spirituality is always a vehicle to accumulate material wealth. Take any place where this alleged spirituality ispractised, and there will be materialism. Spirituality in this country is always weighed in terms of the material wealth that is beingmade. The more spiritual the leader, the greater the wealth in terms of land, crores in the bank, other assets, and so forth.

So, would you say that this nexus between spirituality and materialism has been there for centuries?

I have been personally conscious of this nexus for over 50 years. But if one goes by the wealth valued at lakhs of crores of rupeesaccumulated 300-400 years ago in the [Sree] Padmanabhaswamy Temple in Thiruvananthapuram, which is supposed to be a place ofspirituality, we can just as well conclude that this nexus was always there.

This materialism that you talk about is a voluntary gesture from believers. Just as it was in the case of thePadmanabhaswamy Temple.

No, I wont say so. If you give it voluntarily, there should be no force. But here this had to be paid to the king. If you remember yourhistory, there was something called breast tax. A woman chopped of her breast and threw it in front of the king, saying, Here, keep it.I cannot pay the tax. Over the centuries, the blood of the poor has been sucked and put into the coffers of the centres of so-calledspirituality. For many who have looted or cheated the masses, this materialistic offering to the coffers of one temple or another is ameans to ease their guilt and suppress their troubled conscience.

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But most major religions of the world talk of charity. So what is wrong with charity?

Yes. But who channels this charity that comes in materialistic form?

But somebody has to channel it.

If you can give this charity directly to the needy, why do you need these middlemen, priests and places of worship? In Islam you havesomething called zakat. Do you need a church or any other place of worship to channel this charity? These people act as agents ofGod, and they are more dangerous because while God doesnt exist, these agents do. The whole Renaissance in Europe was against theauthority of the king and the Church; the two were always hand in glove. In India today, all the godmen, the political class and the

bureaucracy are hand in glove and it is the common man who is being exploited by these people.

Religion doesnt encourage people to practise debauchery, cheat, misuse funds or be corrupt. In fact, it imploresthe faithful and more so its spiritual leaders to be honest.

Honest to whom?

To the religions beliefs.

What are the beliefs of the religion that he professes? All these priests are the agents of a non-existent God and they are parasites onour society preying on the gullibility of the people.

So are you saying that people will be better off without spirituality?

Definitely. Countries where the quality of life is at the highest level are the ones where belief in supernatural powers is the least.Countries like Afghanistan, India, Nepal, Bangladesh or those in sub-Saharan Africa, where spirituality/superstition is at its peak, arethe most backward. The reason why countries in Western Europe are most egalitarian is that they are secular. Finland is amongcountries with the highest quality of life; it is also the country that has the maximum number of atheists. Belief in God is detrimentalto people. Religion is one of the stumbling blocks to progress. To believe that prayer will cure your cancer and then, when it is too late,

to go to an oncologist is stupid.But America, which has very influential Christian religious groups, is unarguably the only superpower in theworld today.

America is not a civilised nation but a parasite on the world. It supports so-called democracies by first selling them weapons and thenby sending them huge bills. But even America has a fair share of atheists.

Spirituality/religion is the glue that keeps India together.

No. Religion and caste divides society. You may have a neighbour who is culturally just like you but the moment his religion or caste isdifferent, there is a division. If at all religion unifies, it is only to promote violence against other groups.

Is there hope that the masses will realise the truth behind most godmen?

When you expose the wrongdoings of godmen and their ilk, the states investigative machinery gets into action. And then peoplebecome aware of the manipulation in the name of spirituality.

Many godmen have a huge following. People could not have been forced to attend their meetings?

People want some superstition or the other to hang on to. The Indian middle classes solved their basic needs food, clothes andshelteraround 20 years ago. Now the problems of the great, vocal Indian middle class are a balding head, an advancing paunch andlifestyle diseases. Anyone who promises an easy cure for these, without dieting, without exercises, attracts them.

But over the centuries there have been numerous cases of the sick being cured by prayers/miracles.

No, definitely not. In evidence-based medicine we need statistics, evidence, randomised control trials, double-blind studies before anyconclusions are made on a cure or remedy. None of these is in existence in so-called miracle cures. There may be a few cases ofself-limiting disorders or may be spontaneous remission, which are highlighted as miracle cures. But cases where people soughtmiracle cures and failed are not highlighted.

Godmen and magic? What is the connection?

A godman wants to show that he is superior to you. He wants to demonstrate something that is against the laws of nature. Mattercannot be created or destroyed, but if a godman waves his hand in the air and produces a gold ring or scared ash, you think that it is amiracle. That is how they build up gullibility among the people. If I can produce ash from thin air, I can also cure cancer or if I can

walk on fire, I can cure your aliments. Or if I can keep burning camphor on my tongue, then whatever my tongue says is true. Theseare the messages that go out to the people. The message is while you are ordinary, the godman is extraordinary and has extraordinarypowers. Our flagship programme is to expose this. The older generation of godmen used to walk on fire or produce holy ash. But the

younger generation has stopped this because they know that we will expose them in 10 minutes. So, especially in the urban areas, theyhave taken on new techniques like breathing methods, miracle concoctions, quackery, or just mumbo jumbo using scientificterminology, which on scrutiny makes no scientific sense.

Would you say religion has been used to subjugate the masses?

Yes. It was Voltaire who said that the origin of religion was when the first charlatan met the first fool on earth. The degree of deceitmight vary, but they [godmen] are all cheating the masses. And people are willing to be fooled, not wanting to apply their mindsrationally.

You can be religious and still not believe in mumbo jumbo.

As a humanist I have no objection to the cultural aspects of your form of religion or even mumbo jumbo as long as it is practisedwithin your private space and doesnt impinge on the human rights of others.

How do you go about educating the masses?Educating the masses is a continuous process. Miracle demonstrations are the most catchy, so too are lectures. In villages, thousandsof people turn up and listen with an open mind.


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Today many religious ceremonies that were once the preserve of only the upper castes have trickled down andbecome very popular.

This is because these practices are seen as a means of climbing the social ladder. People imitate many Brahminical religious practicesand say and feel, We are also like the Brahmins.


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‘religion is a stumbling block to progress’ _ frontline

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