I had told myself that I will blog when this happens again. The last two times I was disturbed but not disturbed enough to blog, the third time has given me the required push. Let me introduce you to the characters in this story
Mr.Y : My good friend; sworn atheist; reads-practices and advocates Richard Dawkins to everyone
Mrs.Y : Of course my friend's wife, also a sworn atheist, in fact they got married partly because they were impressed by the "atheistic characteristics" of each other.
Not that it matters much, but to set the background, they are both Brahmins, they defied(fought with) their parents and married in (what they thought was) the atheistic style - just signed at the registrars office, exchanged rings and organized a lavish dinner party for friends.
I argued with him a lot to make some concessions for his parents and get married at a temple or at least have a few prayers but he was adamant about upholding his atheistic freedom and argued it was because educated people like him and me give in to pressure from society that 'the myth' of 'organized' religion was getting stronger and 'hurting' so many.
5 years have passed since this argument, He settled in Toronto and we have had multiple more arguments about religion, vedanta and stuff like that. He has always, always maintained that Dawkins is the smartest and that religion is the root cause of all evil. He even ridiculed me when I talked about prayer and stuff but in spite of all that we have still remained good friends who agreed to disagree about religion.
Mrs. Y gave birth to a baby gal recently and Mr.Y sent me an invite for the baby's ayushhomam and punyavachanam. (the prayer for long life of the baby and the naming ceremony respectively) . I 'smiled' and sent them my very best wishes. I would have stopped there and would have not written this blog. But he did a big mistake, one he shouldnt have done - he shared a video of the function with me.
You see , seeing him and his wife pray for the child's good health and long life, seeing them do all the prayers required for the ceremony so diligently, seeing them apply sacred ash on the child got me really disturbed. Normally it wouldn't have mattered cos that's what parents do when they have kids. But this couple who have always maintained that religious people are hypocrites, that religion is evil that there is no God and prayer is stupid and those who denied their parents the joy of having some prayers in their kids wedding - were now all pious when it came to their kid. They paid a good deal of money to fly their mothers to Toronto for the function, hired priests in Canada paying them in dollars for the function but have for years argued with me that spending on religion is foolish and a waste , especially when you can give that money to the poor and needy.
I guess the moral of the story is atheist or theist when people are scared about something( sometimes their kids well being) - they need God(or someone powerful who can support them).
I am not against people being atheistic, in fact in many ways atheism is good(more on that late). But what irks me off(confuses me, astonishes me) is how people can so strongly, passionately argue about a topic for years and suddenly switch their allegiance overnight. Note: This is the third time so far in my life, when a sworn atheist friend of mine has religious done his kids punyavachanam.
Cheers,
--Badri--
Mr.Y : My good friend; sworn atheist; reads-practices and advocates Richard Dawkins to everyone
Mrs.Y : Of course my friend's wife, also a sworn atheist, in fact they got married partly because they were impressed by the "atheistic characteristics" of each other.
Not that it matters much, but to set the background, they are both Brahmins, they defied(fought with) their parents and married in (what they thought was) the atheistic style - just signed at the registrars office, exchanged rings and organized a lavish dinner party for friends.
I argued with him a lot to make some concessions for his parents and get married at a temple or at least have a few prayers but he was adamant about upholding his atheistic freedom and argued it was because educated people like him and me give in to pressure from society that 'the myth' of 'organized' religion was getting stronger and 'hurting' so many.
5 years have passed since this argument, He settled in Toronto and we have had multiple more arguments about religion, vedanta and stuff like that. He has always, always maintained that Dawkins is the smartest and that religion is the root cause of all evil. He even ridiculed me when I talked about prayer and stuff but in spite of all that we have still remained good friends who agreed to disagree about religion.
Mrs. Y gave birth to a baby gal recently and Mr.Y sent me an invite for the baby's ayushhomam and punyavachanam. (the prayer for long life of the baby and the naming ceremony respectively) . I 'smiled' and sent them my very best wishes. I would have stopped there and would have not written this blog. But he did a big mistake, one he shouldnt have done - he shared a video of the function with me.
You see , seeing him and his wife pray for the child's good health and long life, seeing them do all the prayers required for the ceremony so diligently, seeing them apply sacred ash on the child got me really disturbed. Normally it wouldn't have mattered cos that's what parents do when they have kids. But this couple who have always maintained that religious people are hypocrites, that religion is evil that there is no God and prayer is stupid and those who denied their parents the joy of having some prayers in their kids wedding - were now all pious when it came to their kid. They paid a good deal of money to fly their mothers to Toronto for the function, hired priests in Canada paying them in dollars for the function but have for years argued with me that spending on religion is foolish and a waste , especially when you can give that money to the poor and needy.
I guess the moral of the story is atheist or theist when people are scared about something( sometimes their kids well being) - they need God(or someone powerful who can support them).
I am not against people being atheistic, in fact in many ways atheism is good(more on that late). But what irks me off(confuses me, astonishes me) is how people can so strongly, passionately argue about a topic for years and suddenly switch their allegiance overnight. Note: This is the third time so far in my life, when a sworn atheist friend of mine has religious done his kids punyavachanam.
Cheers,
--Badri--
2 comments:
mmm .. i was like this -i never argue too much on this topic as there can be no conclusions. but i fancied myself to be a atheist.
i got married the traditional way and started sitting in pujas after marriage - silently thinking about my ability to hide my actual thoughts and play the part for the family.
and our kid happened. and before she was out, i was praying. i was very clear in my communication to god - i have been a non-believer, even now i dont know whether i believe, bt if you are thre, just make sure my baby comes out and lives allright....
u know, its a no-brainer.
Ramaks,
I know its a no brainer and I am open to the idea of people changing their allegiance, moving their faith etc. It happens and its a sign of us being human.
But what I am complaining about is how people vehemently campaign for their faith(or lack there of) and switch so easily. All I am saying is , if you are not convinced dont confuse others . Add caveats and be honest when you give your opinions to others
--Badri--
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