IndianAtheist.net is a site about atheism in India as it exists right now, in the 21st century. It is a growing collection of essays and commentary on matters pertaining to religion and religiosity as they manifest in the real material life of the Indian people.
Religion after all is not a topic discussed solely in classrooms teaching philosophy of religion and theology. It is something everyday people discuss, have views on, and make decisions on the basis of in their real lives, both personal and public.
We believe atheism shouldn’t be any different. We don’t think different standards should be applied to the believer who often follows his religion without even reading his own scriptures, and the atheist who simply says he is not convinced of the truth of religious claims.
Our definition of atheism in a political sense is one encompassing multiple secular views, including separation of religion and state, equal treatment of all citizens regardless of their religious or gender identity, and a commitment to the scientific method as one of the ways to make life better for everyone.
In a somewhat broader philosophical sense, we subscribe to the definition of atheism as provided in the Oxford Handbook of Atheism:
The Oxford Handbook of Atheism is a pioneering edited volume, exploring atheism – understood in the broad sense of ‘an absence of belief in the existence of a God or gods’ – in all the richness and diversity of its historical and contemporary expressions.
In the Indian context, we include multiple supernatural explanations of the universe in the same category as gods. These include the doctrine of Karma, a divinely sanctioned Jati / Varna / Caste system, astrology, and babas and guru figures possessing magical or supernatural powers.