By Norman Taylor
The invitation to attend the Fourth World Atheist Conference in India was irresistible. I went as the delegate of the Australian Foundation of Atheists, one of 78 from around the world.
There were delegates from 12 countries, including eight from Britain, 26 from the USA, 17 from Norway. There were 330 delegates from India, most from the state of Andra Pradesh, where the Atheist Centre was established in 1940. Some were from Madras, where the Rationalist Association has built up an immense amount of good will over more than 60 years.
The Indian Express, Newstime, Deccan Chronicle and Hindu all provided substantial coverage of the conference. Religion was referred to as the tragedy of mankind and a tyranny which suppresses truth. The difference between atheism and religion is the difference between faith and truth.
The mayor of Vijayawada, where the conference was held, stressed the need to remove blind belief from among the people. The Muslim community was called upon not to be afraid of calling a spade a spade when they see intolerance and belligerence, as for instance in the treatment of Taslima Nasreen and Salman Rushdie.
Humanists, rationalists, free thinkers from Asia, Europe and America highlighted the need to further strengthen the non-religious approach to life. Patricia Largos, the convener of the World Humanist Congress to be held in Mexico in October, said that poverty and misery in the developing countries cannot be eradicated unless people turn their attention from the imaginary other world to the realities of life and strive for its betterment.
At the concluding session it was resolved to work for the welfare of humankind, transcending the boundaries of clan, caste and gender. Indians are entitled to curse religion for its total failure to relieve the suffering of 500 million illiterates and 650 million unemployed.
It was an inspiring and stimulating conference. At 83, I was the oldest delegate but we are never too old to learn.
Afterwards I visited the state of Tamil Nadu, home of Periyar, the great philosopher who is widely regarded as the Socrates of Asia. He lived from 1879 to 1973 and he did his best to prove wrong those who are fond of saying that god will punish those who question his existence. He was immensely well known for starting every speech — and he made thousands — with, "There is no god, there is no god, there is no god at all. He who invented god is a fool; he who propagates god is a scoundrel; and he who worships god is a barbarian."
Periyar advocated equality for women as early as 1925, and it was due to his lifelong efforts that women gained an equal share with men in parental property. He also suggested family planning on economic, social and health grounds, and this was eventually adopted by the government.
The positive side of Periyar's atheism included establishing schools for the poor, supporting labour-union strikes, counselling women in distress and constantly campaigning for women's right to own property, the right to an abortion and the right to remarry. As an atheist he believed that a hospital should be built instead of a church, and that a deed must be done instead of a prayer said.
He was always concerned about overpopulation, which increases fastest in the poorest countries. Vigorous opposition by the Roman Catholic hierarchy to the spread of knowledge about contraception in the Third World is having a disastrous effect. The Vatican has consistently sabotaged efforts to address the population crisis; it has prevented the World Health Organisation from promoting family health programs, and has very substantially slowed the spread of contraceptive knowledge in Latin America and much of Africa.