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On Religion : By Justice Markandey Katju (9th Part)
Justice Katju, an atheist, considers all religions superstitions and advocates for science as the path to truth and progress. This article emphasizes the necessity of transitioning from religious beliefs to scientific reasoning for India's modernization and prosperity, while supporting religious freedom to maintain national unity.
OPINION
Justice Markandey Katju
8/2/20245 min read
On Religion : By Justice Katju
This series of articles which I have been writing was in response to some people calling me a 'controversial' judge. As yet I have written 8 articles in the series, whose links are given below :
https://justicekatju.com/the-controversial-judge-2e4066a69b93
https://thephilox.com/appeal-to-dalits-and-obcs-to-demand-end-of-caste-reservations-by-justice-katju
https://thephilox.com/90percent-indians-are-fools-by-justice-katju-3rd-part
https://thephilox.com/the-british-agent-gandhi-by-justice-katju-4th-part
https://thephilox.com/some-other-foreign-agents-by-justice-katju-5th-part
https://thephilox.com/our-rotten-politicians-by-justice-katju-6th-part
https://thephilox.com/beef-and-pork-by-justice-katju-7th-part
https://thephilox.com/israel-and-pakistan-are-fake-artificial-countries-by-justice-katju-8th-part
This article is the 9th in the series, and pertains to religion.
I am an atheist. I regard all religions as superstitions, and believe that the truth lies in science, which is never final but constantly developing. I believe that there is no such thing as God, soul, angels, fairies, ghosts, witches or other metaphysical entities.
Religion and Science are diametrically opposed to each other. They are poles apart, and it is nonsense to say that they compliment each other, as explained below :
1. Religion says that there is a supernatural entity called God, which is immortal, permanent, all powerful, merciful, all good, etc
Science does not believe in supernatural entities. It does not believe anything in the Universe is permanent. Everything is changing and in a state of flux, in accordance with some laws, which can be discovered by scientific research.
Science holds that there are no supernatural entities like God, angels, fairies, demons, witches or soul ( and therefore there is no such thing as transmigration of the soul, or resurrection on Judgment Day ), and that nothing is permanent, everything is changing, and in a state of flux, in accordance with certain laws which can be discovered by scientific research.
Science holds that the only reality is matter, which is in motion according to certain laws.
Some people ask : who created matter ? The answer is : there is no creator of matter. Matter came from matter, though the form keeps changing.
2. With every step science advances, religion recedes. Thus, people at one time thought that small pox is due to the anger of a goddess ( mata ), but now we know it is because of a virus, and can be prevented by vaccination. People at one time thought that rains are caused by a rain god, Indra, and so if there is drought we have to propitiate that god in some way ( many people in India still believe that ). Today we know that rains are caused by the build up of low pressure areas over a heated land. People at one time believed that Adam and Eve were created by God. Later Darwin proved that men evolved from the apes. The Bible said that the sun goes round the earth ( the geocentric theory ). But Copernicus proved in 1543 that the earth goes around the sun ( the heliocentric theory ). The Bible and the Quran said that God created the earth in 6 days. But Darwin proved that the earth ( and other bodies in the Universe ) evolved over billions or trillions of years.
3. Religion relies on faith and divine revelation.
Science relies on observation, experiment and reason.
4. Religion claims to say the final word, which cannot be changed. Thus, the Vedas, the Quran, the Bible, etc cannot be changed.
In science there is no final word, and scientific theories can, and have been, regularly tested and changed.
For example, Newton said in 1666 that light travelled as particles ( the corpuscular theory ). But in
1678 the Dutch scientist Huygens' propunded his Fresnel principle that light travelled as waves. Much later Max Planck propounded his Quantum theory which said that light travelled as discrete particles. Still later, Quantum mechanics, as propounded by De Broglie, and as developed by Heisenberg, Schrodinger, etc, said that particles can be conceived of as waves ( and vice versa )
5. Religion says that the Universe was created at a particular time by God, with all living beings. But Darwin proved by his theory of evolution, that creatures have evolved.
6. Religion says that there has to be a Creator of the Universe, which is God.
Science says that there is no such Creator. The only reality in the Universe is matter ( or rather matter-energy, since matter and energy are two forms of the same substance, as Einstein proved ), and matter is in motion, in accordance with certain laws, which can be discovered by scientific research. If it is asked where did matter come from, the answer is matter came from matter.
If it is said that every thing must have a creator, then that creator too must have a creator. i.e. a super creator, and that super creator too must have a creator, i.e. a super super creator, and so on. This is known as the fallacy of the infinite regress.
7. Religion says that God is all powerful, merciful and all good. If that is so, then why do millions of children in the world suffer from hunger, cold, etc ( as Dostoevsky asked in his famous novel 'Brothers Karamazov' ) ? Why does God, who is said to be merciful, not have mercy on children and give them food, clothes, shelter, etc ?
https://www.johnwijngaards.com/courses/sense/love53.shtml
https://pressbooks.pub/phronesis/chapter/on-good-and-evil/
Why is there so much poverty, unemployment, malnourishment, sickness etc in the world ? If God is
powerful and merciful, why does he not abolish these and give everyone a decent life ?
It is true that some scientists believed in God. But that only proves that scientific and unscientific ideas can co-exist in the same head, and it will take a long time, probably several generations, before unscientific ideas are altogether eliminated
All religions are superstitions and false. The truth lies in science, which is constantly developing.
If India is to progress, we must go over from religion to science
That having being said, I wish to add that I am a strong supporter of religious freedom. This may sound a contradiction, and hence needs to be explained.
As I have repeatedly said, our national aim must be to transform India from a backward country into a modern industrial giant, like USA or China, for only then can we abolish poverty, unemployment, malnutrition, lack of proper healthcare and good education, etc, the great social evils which have plagued us for centuries.
https://indicanews.com/justice-markandey-katju-a-call-to-indian-patriots/
https://indicanews.com/justice-markandey-katju-the-grand-indian-theorem/
Our national aim must be to make India a highly industrialized, highly prosperous country, with everyone having decent lives.
Poverty is the worst thing in life. No one respects the poor. When China and Japan were poor nations, the Chinese and Japanese were called 'yellow races' by the Westerners, and not given any respect. Today China and Japan are modern industrialized nations, and are respected the world over.
So if we also want respect in the world community, we must modernize our country and make it highly industrialized and powerful.
But how can we achieve this goal ? To do so will require a mighty, historical, united people's struggle and revolution ( for there are powerful forces, both internal and external, which will oppose such transformation tooth and nail ).
https://indicanews.com/the-mighty-historical-struggle-ahead-for-the-indian-subcontinent/
https://indicanews.com/justice-markandey-katju-the-coming-storm-in-india/
India has tremendous diversity, several religions, castes, languages, ethnic groups, etc. To wage a powerful people's struggle, as mentioned above, to create a political order under which there is rapid industrialisation and modernisation, it is absolutely necessary that we are united, and not fighting each other on the basis of religion, caste, etc
https://justicekatju.com/indians-must-unite-85c986df9376
https://writerscafeteria.com/guest-blogging/indians-unite-says-justice-katju/
https://indicanews.com/justice-markandey-katju-the-formula-to-make-india-mighty-and-great-again/
Since there are many religions in India, to keep united we must strongly support religious freedom.
At the same time, we should suppress retrograde customs and practices like burqa and sharia, as the great Turkish leader Mustafa Kemal did in the 1920s
These are not the core part of Islam like saying namaz, observing roza, performing haj, etc which must not be interfered with.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fRtTlcFZALc&t=2s&pp=ygUUa2F0anUgbmFtYXogaW4gcGFya3M%3D
Similarly, we must strongly oppose reactionary practices and evils in Hindu society like looking down on dalits as inferiors, or regarding cows as 'gomata'
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74ZSBc9N27Y&t=22s&pp=ygUPa2FqdSBkZWhyYSBkdW4g
Thus it can be seen that there is really no contradiction in what I said