Atheism for Social Progress<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

Less than two weeks after the tsunami that devastated vast areas of South Asia, more than 500 delegates from across India and around the world descended on the Indian city of Vijayawada for the 5th World Atheist Conference. The theme of the conference was "Atheism for Social Progress".

For three days, from 7th to <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />9th January 2005, some 40 speakers covered the entire spectrum of world issues, from the apparently inexorable rise of religious fundamentalism, through superstition and witchcraft, to politics, education, health care and disaster recovery. Unsurprisingly, there was a heavy emphasis on the problems of India: the exploitation of both rich and poor by the god-men, the lack of rationalism, and the allpervading problem of caste.

The event was enlivened by a full program of cultural events from singing and dancing – including the

premiere of a stunning new ballet Chaitanya Sravanthi – to fire-eating, psychic surgery and demonstrations of miraculous powers by Premanand and his "god-busting" disciple Prof. Narendra Naik.

Conference Opening

The conference, presided over by Levi Fragell, former president of IHEU, opened with a short welcome from the doyenne of Indian Atheism, 92-year old Saraswathi Gora. Levi Fragell spoke movingly of our sadness at the appalling loss of life and wrecked homes and livelihoods following the tsunami, and of his anger that it is always the poor and marginalised who suffer most whenever disaster strikes. Several speakers criticised the ignorant response to the disaster by many religious leaders. For Lars Gule, Secretary General of the Norwegian Humanists, the idea that "God gives comfort" is to mock human reason; that "we cannot understand God’s purpose" is foolish and immoral; while the suggestion that natural disasters are "God’s way of punishing the guilty" – that is, by killing the innocent – was beneath contempt.

In his inaugural address, IHEU President Roy Brown spoke of the need to educate children about the discoveries of modern science and to explain how completely they have changed our understanding of the Universe and our place in it. At some point during the late 20th century it became no longer possible for an intelligent, reasonably well-educated person to believe that our lives are watched over by a personal God. For Brown, the intellectual debate is over, and "we won". The problem is that most people remain ignorant of those discoveries and of their tremendous import, while the forces of unreason are working very hard indeed to ensure that our children stay that way. This theme was echoed later by Frank Zindler of the American Atheists who argued that while "the objective war between science and theology has been won by science" we could still lose the economic and political war now raging. "We must fight to keep the future free".

A souvenir book of the conference "Atheism for Social Progress" was presented by Azam Kamguian, who, on the second day, received a standing ovation for her speech on the plight of women under political Islam.

Withcraft Killings and anti-Superstition work

Police Superintendant M.V. Ramchandra Raju gave a disturbing account of his "Campaign against Evil", his work with villagers in Andhra Pradesh to stamp out the horror of witchcraft killings – a disturbingly common problem in many rural areas.

We heard of such killings from many other Indian states, including Orissa, and many delegates were reminded of similar stories we had heard from Africa. Dr Deepak Girme described the work of the antisuperstition network ANS, with 110 branches, based in Maharashtra. Rationalists tread a difficult path in not opposing religion per-se but merely superstition, witchcraft, and the conjuring tricks presented as miracles by the god-men. The more sophisticated city-dwellers are of course fully aware of the money-making tricks of the god-men – but still pay them money for interceding with the gods on their behalf.

Education is the Key

Mr Soumya Dutta, General Secretary of the Indian People’s Science Movement (the BJVJ) told the conference that of the 80,000 schoolchildren and 20,000 teachers with whom he comes into contact every year, 98% are religious and "over 90% of the science teachers don’t understand rationalism". "Why did such a large proportion of the population support the massacre in Gujarat?" Because we are not rational! But how can we be when our 500 million schoolchildren are taught from schoolbooks full of religious and irrational content? "Unless we can change this we will achieve nothing. We need to show how many happy and successful people practice a non-religious way of life."

Among the more easily recognisable delegates to the conference were the black-shirted members of Dravidar Kazagham from Tamil Nadu. This organisation, founded by Periyar, has 500,000 members and runs programs of social action throughout the state. Their leader, Dr Veeramani, gave an inspiring speech in which he reminded us of our duty "not to remain silent" but to protest whenever and wherever we encounter irrationality.

Moving Personal Experiences

Many speakers had interesting and informative stories to tell, some deeply moving, such as a 10-year old street child, Sonja, rescued from a life of begging by the Manavatavadi School, who spoke of her life before her rescue. "My grand parents are witch doctors. The spirit of Kali enters into my granny. She could heal all problems of the people with the help of Kali. It was a good business..."

B.S. Saini spoke of his work as a Human Rights lawyer and the heavy price he has paid – being beaten up and tortured while in police custody on no fewer than eight separate occasions. The police, it seems, are among the most flagrant abusers of human rights in India. Overall, while it might be said that some of the speeches could perhaps best be described as Atheist sermons, all of the speakers had something original to contribute.

The conference received very good coverage from the media, with several TV channels reporting on the conference. Several of the main speakers gave radio interviews, and both the Telugu and English- language press reported daily on the events. It was noticeable that cameras were very much in evidence whenever one of the charming young lady delegates spoke.

Suggestions for Practical Action

It is always easy at conferences to dwell on problems rather than solutions. But one of the important aspects of this conference was the opportunity it gave many of the delegates to exchange ideas and experiences and come up with proposals for practical action. Many of the suggestions would be relatively inexpensive to implement and are of relevance not only in India but throughout Asia, Africa and North and South America – wherever superstition is rife.

Many speakers agreed that education is the key, and we heard some excellent proposals on how we might begin to attack this problem, starting with a systematic review of school text books and their scandalous subliminal advertising of religious world-views. Why not set up independent commissions in every state to monitor the impact of religion on education? Find some bigtime names from the world of education to support the venture and then take the text books to pieces. Involve the media, publicise the most outrageous examples of religious bias, and start national campaigns to have the worst offending text books revised.

Another idea we heard was for travelling science exhibitions. Each would have a series of videos in the local language, showing how things work, and what we really know about the Universe and our place in it.

These are surely some of the most fascinating discoveries of all time, and what child would not be enchanted to learn of the sheer scale of the cosmos, of deep time, of the evolution of the stars and planets, and how life, and we ourselves, evolved. What child would not be fascinated by an exhibit showing how the brain works – and to learn that our minds, our selves, our personalities are simply features of our physical brains. At the same time, the exhibition could explain that there is absolutely

no scientific evidence for the existence of a spiritual world separate from the natural, physical world that we all inhabit.

The need to emphasise the positive message of atheism was emphasised by many speakers; that atheism is not simply a negative belief but a spur to positive social action.

Conclusion

In his concluding remarks, Roy Brown emphasised the responsibility we all share to be pro-active in working for social change. Everyone can play a part. "Write, lobby, campaign, agitate for social reform. Hold the politicians to account. Don’t sacrifice your lives to the cause, there are too few of us to waste our talents in that way. But we can dedicate our lives to making this a better world for all. We are already half way there because as rationalists we are no longer trapped in the misery of guilt and superstition, and are able to see the world as it really is. All we need to add is determination for us to become really effective".

For many of the delegates this was their first visit to the Atheist Centre in Vijayawada, but every visitor, whether first timers or old friends, left deeply inspired by seeing at first hand the wonderful work and the dedication of the Gora family and their myriad staff and helpers. The faultless organisation of this highly successful conference was just one more example of their professionalism.

Following the tsunami on 26th December IHEU launched an appeal on behalf of the victims in South India, and at the end of the conference, Roy Brown presented a cheque from IHEU to Arthik Samata Mandal, the disaster relief and rehabilitation organisation run by the Atheist Centre. A total of USD 70,000 has been collected by IHEU (See separate report on page 7).