Monday, April 26, 2010

Freedom from Religion

What we Indians need is freedom from religion; freedom from its foolishness, from its ignorance, from its zealotry.  We need freedom from a religion’s version of morality, from its archaic traditions, from its blind faith, from its superstition.  We need freedom from its imbecility, its bigotry and its intolerant imposition of values and virtues onto us.   Religious people are free to practice any idiocy in their lives, but they have no right to impose it onto us, by any law or by any decree of the land.

And yet, we are stuck with one of archaic and medieval laws.  Section 295A of Indian Penal Code says:

295A. Deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs.

Whoever, with deliberate and malicious intention of outraging the religious feelings of any class of citizens of India, by words, either spoken or written, or by signs or by visible representations or otherwise insults or attempts to insult the religion or the religious beliefs of that class, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to three years, or with fine, or with both.