Oh! Do atheists have ceremonies? Aren’t ceremonies only for religious people? These are some of the questions asked by people to atheists. Well! Atheists do have ceremonies and celebrate them with all colour and festivity, but with a rational outlook. The Atheist Centre has been in the forefront of encouraging such secular ceremonies.

Unlike in religion, especially Hinduism, where there are fixed rules and so-called auspicious timings for the ceremonies, in atheism and Humanism the ceremonies are conducted for the convenience of the people.

Over the years ceremonies had become rigid and intransigent and people were forced to follow age-old customs and traditions because of sheer force of habit and social pressure.

As religion reigned supreme for hundreds of years and suppressed dissent with social sanctions, it left a mark on all the ceremonies. Right from the birth to the death of an individual, religions prescribe many ceremonies. As India is multi-religious, multi-ethnic and multi-cultural, there are many regional variations of these customs.

The Atheist Centre encourages celebration of life in a rational and scientific way. The ceremonies people follow must be in tune with the changing times and with the aims and aspirations of the people. They must be progressive and promote social change. The hopes of youth must be kept in mind and their innate talents must find expression. Hence ceremonies of different types must cater to the creative urges of every generation to make life cheerful and meaningful.

Naming Ceremony

The birth of a child, irrespective of gender, is a happy occasion for atheists, unlike Hindus, who bemoan the birth of a girl child. In order to break the barriers of caste and religion, atheists in India name their children in a secular manner, connoting a meaning relevant to the time or an event which has no religious connotation. Taking the case of children in the Atheist Centre, Samaram (II World War), Niyanta (dictator), Lavanam (Salt, was born on the eve of Gandhi’s Salt Satyagraha), Vijayam (Victory. First success of Congress in General Elections), Vidya (Education) and the younger generation with unique names such as Sanketh (Information), Vidwat (Knowledge), Saujas (Redoubled Vigour and Youthfulness), Saaras & Tejas (Indigenous aeroplanes developed by India), Olos (Olympics Los Angeles) are some of the names atheists have adopted. Atheists also stress the need for birth registration, which is neglected in India.

Marriage Ceremony

Marriages in India are performed under the Hindu Marriage Act, the Christian Marriage Act, or the Muslim Marriage Act. However, there is a special facility for atheists and the liberal-minded in the form of the Special Marriage Act. The spouses can give “notice of intention” one month in advance in the Government Marriage Registrar’s office and they can marry in a secular way, with total legal validity. It is very simple and cost- effective. Bigamy is prohibited by law and the divorced and widowed are also eligible to marry under the Special Marriage Act without any stigma. Right from its inception in 1940, the Atheist Centre has been promoting hundreds of such casteless† and secular marriages under the Special Marriage Act. These couples are felicitated publicly for their courage of conviction to usher in secular social change.

In pre-Independent India, in the face of stiff resistance by priests and some vested interests, some atheist and rationalist social reformers championed priestless and tradition-less marriages by exchange of garlands by spouses in a public meeting. Mahatma Phule, Ranade and other social reformers in the 19th century encouraged widow remarriages. In the early 20th century, noted atheist reformer Periyar EV Ramaswamy promoted hundreds of “Self Respect” (sweeya maryada) marriages by exchange of garlands in atheist meetings. Even though these marriages had no legal validity, they had social approval. In Post- Independent India, hundreds of such marriages were legalised by the government in the southern state of Tamil Nadu. In other states also, the atheists and rationalists challenged the monopoly of the priestly class in social relations. In another southern state, Andhra Pradesh, Tripuraneni Ramaswami developed marriage ceremonies devoid of priests and religious rites.

During the freedom movement, rationalists, atheists, socialists, communists and the liberal-minded popularised secular marriages by exchange of garlands in public meetings. In the traditional Hindu marriage, Saptapadi (walking seven steps together) and tying of thali (so-called Holy-thread of gold) by the husband to his wife is a must. But in atheist marriages these customs are openly defied, since they treat women as inferior beings. Recognising the importance of liberation to women, many of them did not wear symbolic ornaments or a bindu on the forehead, thus breaking the taboos of the Hindu religion.

Gora and Saraswathi Gora, founders of the Atheist Centre, spearheaded casteless and secular marriages as a movement to break the stranglehold of untouchability, caste, religion and the priestly class. They tried to bridge the gap between precept and practice by marrying their own children first and setting an example to others.

Atheist marriages are celebrated in complete openness. In the case of inter-caste or inter-religion or casteless marriages, the spouses inform their parents about their intention. On some occasions, the marriages take place in the teeth of opposition. But usually parents and relations get reconciled soon and social ostracism for the couple tends to be less.

Death Ceremony

For every religion there is a specific type of ceremony and the main concept of theism is life after death. Atheists, in recognition of the fact that there’s no life after death, pledge for organ, eye and body donation. The body of the deceased is either electrically cremated, or burnt or buried, without any religious ceremonies. The ashes and bones do not hold any significance and no tomb stone is erected in the name of the dead. Post death ceremonies are mainly focused on organizing public gatherings to recall the dead person’s achievements in life. In religions, death ceremonies are conducted on certain specific days, as laid out in the religious calendars and decided by the male priest. In the case of atheist ceremonies, both men and women preside over the gatherings, breaking the religious and gender barriers, thereby celebrating the life contribution of the individual. Some atheists, in the memory of their lost ones, donate money for scholarships to the marginalized communities or meritorious students.

In Hinduism, when the husband dies, his wife is subjected to inhuman traditional practices such as breaking her bangles, removal of thali, forcing her to wear a white sari. She becomes a non entity in the family. Her social position is degraded and for some time she cannot attend weddings in the family. This kind of treatment meted out to widows is regarded by atheists as mental cruelty and is openly opposed. Atheists invite widows to attend marriages, conduct widow re-marriages and demonstrate that widows are in no way inferior to men or other women.

Thus atheist marriages open up avenues to show to others the need for social reform and gender equity. They emphasise all-round equality for women and their female children. With the winds of social change, some of the cruel religious customs are slowly on the wane in some sections of society.

Religious ceremonies prepare people to look for salvation and to so-called life after death, whereas atheist and Humanist ceremonies try to improve the quality of life here on earth. Let us strive make the world a better place to live in peace, joy and harmony. Pleasure lies in pursuit.

[†Hindus marry only within their own caste, and a marriage between two people of different castes is still a social taboo. Ed.]

Dr. Vijayam is Executive Director, Atheist Centre, Vijayawada, India