The Positive Atheism of Gora and the Atheist Centre
Disclaimer: Views expressed are solely the author’s and do not reflect the beliefs or opinions of the institutions/organizations cited
I just got back from Vijaywada where I spent the last three days attending Gora’s 120th and Saraswathi Gora’s 110th Birth Anniversary Celebrations Conference hosted by the Atheist Centre from Jan 7th to 9th 2023. The theme of the conference was ‘Secular Thought and Social Action’.
The Atheist Centre was established by Gora (who was Gora?) in 1940 at Mudunur village of Andhra Pradesh. It was shifted to Vijaywada on the eve of India’s independence in 1947. This was the 12th International Conference organized by the Atheist Centre starting from the first one in 1972. While the majority of delegates and participants were from India, there was also representation from Nepal (SOCH Nepal), Germany (European Council of Skeptical Organizations), and the United States (Freedom from Religion Foundation).
A venue steeped in history
The minute I walked into the Atheist Centre I felt right at home because I was greeted by this🙂
I immediately proceeded to take a selfie with the convener of the conference, Vikas Gora, who had been kind enough to invite me. Vikas belongs to the third generation of Gora family torchbearers of atheism and rationalism. You can catch his 2022 interview for Bangalore Atheists on our YouTube channel.
Atheism in India is not a Western import
A message reinforced by many of the delegates was that atheism and materialism¹ in India is not borrowed from the West. In fact, Indian philosophy has skeptical traditions dating back to at least 500 BCE. The Charvaka school of Ancient Indian materialism denies the notions of God, rebirth/reincarnation, and karma. Along with Buddhism, it is one of the many nastika schools of philosophy which reject the authority of the Vedas.
During my visit I interacted with rationalists from across India: Punjab, UP, Maharashtra, and the Southern states. These staunch atheists representing various Indian rationalist organizations² have certainly not been following the likes of Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens. Instead, Bhagat Singh and ‘Periyar’ Ramasamy are their icons.
My point is that atheism and humanism in India is a home-grown movement with grassroots-level penetration and not the Western intellectual import which some people believe it to be.
What is secularism?
Another point emphasised by the speakers was with regard to the meaning of secularism. Whereas in the West the word ‘secularism’ conveys a separation of Religion and State, with religion being confined to the personal space, in India it seems to have taken on a quite different meaning — that of ‘Sarva Dharma Samabhava’ — the idea that all religions seek the same “truth” and are therefore equal in stature.
If secularism actually implies a separation of Religion and State, then how is it possible for the Prime Minister of the nation to preside over the ground-breaking ceremony of a controversial Ram Mandir?
Atheists have exemplary morals
On Day 2 of the conference I was invited to chair a group discussion on ‘Human Rights and Atheism’. One of the panelists, having devoted many years to human rights protection, spoke about the inhuman and exploitative system of Jogini (aka Devadasi)³. It is the Atheist Centre, under its Samskar initiative, which has been campaigning against this evil practice since the 1980’s and helping to rehabilitate its victims.
On Day 3 the delegates were taken on a field trip to witness the various on-ground Social Action projects being run by the Atheist Centre across hundreds of Andhra villages. The initiative which stayed in my mind despite being relatively small in scale, was an old age home for women run by the Vasavya Mahila Mandali. Some of the women have been living here for over 20 years(!) as they have nowhere else to go. Their families have abandoned them after stealing their meagre pensions.
I noticed icons of various Gods on the walls of the home. Evidently, you can benefit from the charitable programs of the Atheist Centre regardless of whether you are an atheist or a believer and regardless of which Gods you happen to believe in.
Of course, there is no denying that religious institutions over the years have also done a lot of humanitarian work. But Gora’s philosophy of ‘Positive Atheism’ should give pause to those who would naively suppose that atheists must be selfish hedonists. It should instead be obvious that our moral compass is completely independent of our belief (or non-belief) in moralizing Gods.
An Atheist with Gandhi
Gora was a Gandhian and Gandhi in turn was inspired by Gora’s work. Like Gandhi, Gora campaigned against caste and untouchability which he sought to remove through inter-marriage and inter-dining. One of his sons and daughters married partners from “untouchable” castes.
Gora’s conversations and correspondence with Gandhi are recorded for posterity in a booklet titled ‘An Atheist with Gandhi’. And even though Gandhi was a deeply religious man, he finally had this to say to Gora:
I can neither say that my theism is right nor your atheism is wrong. We are seekers after truth. We change whenever we find ourselves in the wrong. […] Whether you are in the right or I am in the right, results will prove. Then I may go your way or you may come my way; or both of us may go a third way.
Notes
¹ Materialism is the philosophical position which holds that matter is fundamental and minds are emergent from natural laws acting on matter. Materialists do not believe in a soul, spirit, or atma.
² Tarksheel Society of Punjab/Haryana, Maharashtra Andhshradhha Nirmulan Samiti, Dravidar Kazhagam (DK) from Tamil Nadu, and the umbrella organization FIRA (Federation of Indian Rationalist Associations)
³ Joginis are young girls, usually from a Dalit caste, who are “dedicated” to a temple diety at puberty. They cannot marry, have to beg for a living, and are often sexually exploited by upper caste men.
