The Death of a Great Atheist
By - Dean Van Drasek
Goodbye Narendra Dabholkar
In case you missed it, the September 14, 2013 edition of “The Economist”
had a tribute to Narendra Dabholkar in its Obituary section, on page 90. I
had known about him for some years now, as he would occasionally make
headlines over some new act of disobedience or defiance to convention and
pragmatism in India. An Indian friend of mine said that he did not get much
publicity because those who opposed him did not want him to be famous,
and those who supported him did not want him killed. Sadly, the latter fear
proved the more accurate. But perhaps with time, his efforts will be more
appreciated. I would like to think that he spawned within some people a
similar commitment to the truth. If you don’t know about him, I won’t tell
you more here in the hopes that you’ll make an effort to discover him on
your own. It’s only a click or two away, after all.
His life, for me, goes to the heart of what it means to profess atheism. For
many people, atheism is merely the basic definition of the word—a lack of
belief in gods. It doesn’t really cover all things supernatural, nor is it a
profession of any positive belief or conviction. I see this in a lot of the
comments on atheist writings, especially those which try to urge readers or
blog followers to take action (you can see one of my earlier blogs on this
point).
Atheism for many is not Merely a Negative Concept, it’s a
Protestation of what is True
For me, while I don’t believe in any gods, I also don’t believe in any
supernatural action. But for people like Narendra, thankfully his conviction
goes far beyond the measure of personal attitude. He believed in truth, and
shared his understandings with others who would have otherwise suffered
for their misplaced beliefs in fantasy. He had the courage to act, to point out
to others the falsity of their beliefs where those beliefs resulted in their own
disadvantage. Does this sound easy? Let me tell you, it’s one of the hardest
things you can do in life. Let me give you an example.
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