Did you hug someone last Friday?

Two things triggered this article. First, my surprise discovery that the first Friday of June for the last four years has been observed as ‘hug an atheist’ day in America. For the first time, this was celebrated in India on Friday and atheists from across the country gathered at ‘hug points’. Second, a Gallup Poll last week suggested  that over three quarters of Americans believe that religion is losing its influence on American life. Also, relevant to this context is that late last year an Indian author settled in the US, Hemant Mehta, released his book “The Young Atheist’s Survival Guide”.

The premise of his book rests on the fact that nearly a third of Americans under the age of 30 have no religious affiliation, the highest in any recorded generation. In this growing segment of “nones” are many young atheists who have faced prejudice in high school and in their communities for standing up for their constitutional right of freedom from religion.

Hence, the self-help book. ‘Hug an atheist’ day has somewhat the same premise. It started out in response to a national ‘hug a Jew day’ or ‘hug an xx day’ as the Facebook page claims, and also because atheists are one of the most distrusted groups in America, and the hug day was meant to soothe their bruised self-esteem while expressing solidarity.

Back home, a quick online survey revealed that at least 25% of Indians know that they are atheists and another 15% think they are, but they are not sure. The believers are a healthy 60%. But the interesting point of the survey was that none of the believers had any prejudice against the atheists. Rather than label them as immoral or cynical, they in fact felt that belief or non-belief is a personal choice, and they tended to describe atheists as logical, practical and open-minded. The healthy observation was the tolerance expressed by a majority of the believers towards atheists.

Both the Gallup Poll and the hug day premise are relevant contexts for American society and American atheists. So then the moot point is do we, in India, really need a ‘hug an atheist’ day as a symbol to drive away prejudices where none exist? I am all for earmarking days for certain issues that are not getting the attention they deserve. Their significance is far more symbolic than much concrete action. In a vast country like ours, with such diversity in population, symbolism has its place. But let us not make it a travesty of embraceable causes.

I was disturbed on reading a reply by a foreigner on the Facebook post of ‘hug an atheist’ day happening in India. The reply was enthusiastic, but unwittingly revealed the ramifications of using such platforms in an injudicious and irrelevant manner. It went something like this: “I didn’t know that India was so progressive. We constantly hear about people being murdered over their atheism in the East that it’s refreshing to know that not all countries are like that. Bravo India!”

You may say this is not a negative reply. The truth is that we have always been tolerant.
The Rig Veda, the oldest of the Vedas, deals with a lot of scepticism when dealing with the fundamental question of a creator God. Little did the foreigner know that atheism is valid in Hinduism. Americans know that Woody Allen, Brad Pitt, Daniel Radcliff, Keira Knightley are all atheists or agnostics, whereas we do not even know or care even if personalities like Pandit Nehru, Bhagat Singh, Javed Akhtar, Vijay Tendulkar, Kamal Haasan, etc, have also been self-proclaimed atheists.

We have other demons to fight. Other prejudices can benefit from the energy galvanized from such groups for issues which are far more debilitating to the fabric of our society. These walks/days/groups are nothing but an idea that needs testing for its vitality. It can only tip over to a movement if it connects well with the local thinking and cultural mores and is relevant to the context. SlutWalk’s adaptation into a Besharmi Morcha is a fine example of a universal issue being made relevant to the Indian context. But why adapt? Why not create our own ‘relevant issue’ days? Would love it if India started a movement that became a virus all over the world. Any ideas?

(The writer is a managing consultant at The Key Consumer Diagnostics Pvt Ltd, a Mumbai-based qualitative research company)