Many Indians intellectuals who don’t believe in supernatural gods or powers fail to separate their non-belief from the ‘Hindu’ identity. The desire to belong to a dominant cultural group is so strong in us that these so-called ‘Hindu Atheists’ invent the most convoluted justifications for their acceptance of the Hindu label. But does it really make sense to call oneself a Hindu Atheist? What does one truly mean by the word Hindu in this context? The object of this article is to get rationalists and atheists from India who identify themselves as ‘Culturally Hindu’ to question this label with which they are associating themselves.

To make my position clear at the outset, I will state my fundamental claim below. Read the full story

Just a quick post requesting Nirmukta readers to click here and join us on facebook. I have left the group open to all and I hope that those interested in becoming part of the free-thought community in our corner of the world will join. Promoting secularism and science in Southeast Asia are the stated objectives. There will not be much required of you after joining the group, but since getting such a group off the ground is the hard part, please excuse some persistence on my part in getting you to join
I have been having more trouble than I had anticipated with the newsletter, and am considering making it bi-monthly instead of monthly as initially proposed. The good news is that I finally have sufficient material to put together a first issue that will be worthy of Nirmukta! For the millions out there waiting with bated breath, it should be out in the next couple of weeks. There will also be a link to it from the homepage.