Re: explaining the facts of life to a 5 year old

Allan Adler wrote:

> Question: The Bharatiya Janata Party in India forced certain Buddhist
> temples to install certain idols that the BJP thought were important to
> have (it reminds one of the Roman Emperors who wanted to install idols of
> the Emperor in Jewish temples). What is the policy of the BJP towards
> atheists?

I doubt if they have a policy. IMO they're just a bunch of no-hopers
blurting out whatever they want to blurt out. (Thats common to all
Indian politicians - the advantages of a democracy!). The right wing
(which is mostly the BJP) are known to have quite a few nincompoops
who're dangerously close to fascism but while they do have a tremendous
noise quotient their actual support base is minimal and dwindling.

>>From what I know about Hinduism, there's this concept of "Karma Yoga"
where a person attains nirvana but just performing his duties and
leading a life of moral probity - no religious obligations required.
This is not very different from atheism as I understand it. Moreover,
Swami Vivekananda (a major BJP favourite) has said that it is important
not to place religious beliefs on blind faith alone, and that rational
conviction is far more important. He even goes on to say that atheism
is far better than religion based on blind faith.I personally feel that
Hinduism is more of a way of life than a religion and hence atheism is
not inconsistent with it.

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