Perhaps most of us don’t know the fact that Jawahar Lal Nehru, the first prime minister of India was an atheist. His views on religion were:
‘The spectacle of what is called religion, or at any rate organized religion, in India and elsewhere, has filled us with horror, and I have frequently condemned it and wished to make a clean sweep of it.’
‘I want nothing to do with any religion concerned with keeping the masses satisfied to live in hunger, filth, and ignorance. I want nothing to do with any order, religious or otherwise, which does not teach people that they are capable of becoming happier and more civilized, on this earth, capable of becoming true man, master of his fate and captain of his soul. To attain this I would put priests to work, also, and turn the temples into schools.’
Shaheed Bhagat Singh, the hero of freedom struggle in India was an atheist too.
Religion played a great role in ancient world, be it Roman, Egyptian or Indian culture. The priests used the religion as a tool to control the power of kings by fearing him in the name of God. But as they say, the old order changes giving place to new, or else a good custom should corrupt the world; the religion whose aim was to give happiness to people became a hurdle in their happiness, specially when the two cultures clashed. Few of examples are:
The partition of India. Kashmir problem. Sikh riot. Babri demolition. Godhra-Gujrat riots. Attack on America. Afganistan bombings. Mumbai attack. Israel palestine conflict. Nazi terror.
Atheistic schools are found in Hinduism, which is generally considered a theistic religion. The anti-theistic philosophical Carvaka School originated in India around 6th century BCE. It is classified as a heterodox system and is not considered part of the six orthodox schools of Hinduism, but it is noteworthy as evidence of a materialistic movement within Hinduism.
Other Indian philosophies generally regarded as atheistic include Classical Samkhya and Purva Mimamsa. Samkhya, though a school in the Orthodox (Astika) variety of Hinduism, denies the existence of God or any other exterior influence. However, unlike other atheist schools of thoughts, it did not deny existence of all things transcendent. The rejection of a personal creator God is also seen in Jainism and Buddhism, both of which originated in the Indian subcontinent.
There is hardly any benefit to be religious, we don’t need to religious to be happy. Shouldn’t this be the best time we say good-bye to religion, as we did in case of many heart threatening ritual like the Sati Pratha.
Let’s tread on the path shown by Saint Kabir, to love humanity rather than any religion. To Hindus Kabir was a Vaisnava-bhakta, to Muslims a Pir, to Sikhs a Bhagat.