KOCHI: As the nation marks Gandhi Jayanti on Sunday, a group of people adhering to the religious outlooks of Veer Savarkar and Mohammed Ali Jinnah would converge in Kochi for what’s being touted as the “world’s largest atheist conference”.
Sounds ironic, odd? Well, these free thinkers’ are all set to dissect some of the ironies and oddities of our times. Ironies like atheists Savarkar and Jinnah advocating politics based on their religions. Expecting 10,000 participants, ‘Litmus 22’ will discuss topics such as atheism, religion, casteism, politics, society, and scientific temper.
Organised by the free-thinking collective EsSENSE Global, Litmus was first held four years ago in Thiruvananthapuram. Kozhikode hosted the second meet in 2019. Now, the event is making a comeback after two years of the pandemic crisis.
“In the first Litmus, over 3,000 people participated, much to our shock,” says atheist academic C Ravichandran, one of the founding members of EsSENSE. “The next year, the number jumped to 7,000.”
Interestingly, Ravichandran is set to speak at the event on the ‘God is Harry Potter’. “This year, so far, over 3,250 people registered online till Wednesday,” he says. “We are expecting about 10,000 people. Fact-based politics, evidence-based medicine and humanism-based society -- that is our aim.”
Young and brave
Litmus ‘22 features several young faces. At least four to five key speakers are aged between 21 and 26. One of the hot-potato topics for discussion is 21-year-old law student Suraj C S’s ‘Will India become a Hindu nation by 2024?’.
The journey with atheism started with questions, he says. “Books helped, definitely,” he says. “From religious texts to writings of VT Bhattathiripad, all helped me in my conviction. Several teenagers have questions about God, religion, etc. But not many continue the quest to find answers.”
The Pocso debate
Dr Beena Rani S, 50, assistant professor at a B.Ed College, became an atheist after her marriage to Ravishankar. “It was through discussions with him that I started questioning my beliefs,” she says. “You continue your unlearning and learning process by reading and studying more. And that is a lifelong process.”
Beena’s topic for Sunday is ‘Nee anallo kodathy’ (Oh, you are the court, in a sarcastic tone), which is on low conviction rates in Pocso and sexual harassment cases, and probable misuse of laws. “Statistically, several of these cases turn out to be fake,” she says. “But what happens to the accused after they are exonerated? In society, by then, they have been portrayed as a vile person.”
Homoeo doc to ex-Muslim
Questioning homoeopathy led “ex-Muslim” Arif Hussain, 36, to atheism. “I was a homoeopathy doctor. I started questioning it, and used to participate in discussions about the unscientific practices of homoeopathy,” he says.
“I was a believer at that time. That’s when I started thinking about scientific temper and following science. I left homoeopathy and started questioning my own faith. As I started questioning some practices, answers within the religious framework started falling apart.”
Now a clinical researcher, Arif will anchor a discussion on whether religious education is needed. “Many religious figures, too, will participate in the session,” he says. “It will be quite interesting.”