Richard Dawkins, an evolutionary biologist and one of the four ‘Gods’ of the 21st-century New Atheism movement, known for its cultish following and radical adherents, has resorted to attacking India and Hinduism. Dawkins, like many celebrity white men whose influence is on the wane, has taken to sermonizing on Indian democracy and launching verbal assaults on the Indian government and Hinduism itself, in a bid to stay in the spotlight.
As the creator of New Atheism, Dawkins consistently denigrates world religions. In his evaluation of religions, he has generally been more critical of Islam. However, in a rare statement, he ridiculed and equated Hinduism with Islam, and surprisingly there was a political slant to his rant against Hinduism. He lashed out at the Modi government and its education policy, specifically the shifting of the evolution topic from class IX to XII, as a pretext to target Hinduism. While understanding the importance of teaching evolution to students in lower classes, using the flawed education policy of the Modi government to mock Hinduism is the deceptive work of an intellectual fraud who lobbies for sinister political agendas.
According to Pew data, 80% of Hindus living in the US believe in evolution, as opposed to only 45% of Muslims. Clearly, Hindus do not have the same reservations about evolution as Dawkins portrays. Interestingly, only 48% of the predominantly Christian population in the United States accepts the theory of evolution. Dawkins’ attempt to critique Hinduism by equating it with Islam, is utterly uninformed and unintelligent.
Furthermore, Dawkins exposes his biases, revealing himself as a racist and white supremacist. Dawkins’ deceit is evident when examining his previous statements. While he dismisses Christianity as benign compared to Islam because “no Christian is blowing up buildings” conveniently overlooking Christianity’s colonial past and its denial of women’s reproductive rights, he boldly proclaims Islam as the most evil religion in the world. However, like a classic religious conservative his concessions and concerns are solely confined to Christianity, which he views as a “bulwark against something worse.”
Even in contemporary developments, the deeply religious Christian societies witnessed a concerning anti-vax movement, while India efficiently vaccinated its massive population without much resistance.
While one could have regarded his concerns about evolution in the school curriculum with some merit if he had stayed focused on that topic, Dawkins instead chose to exploit the situation to denigrate Indian democracy under Modi’s leadership. He introduced references to the Gandhi-Nehru legacy, converting the issue into a political agenda, aligning himself with a trend that some others in the West have also adopted. This bears a striking resemblance to George Soros’s unsolicited advice on India’s economy, democracy, and parliamentary functioning, especially considering the subsequent revelation of connections between Soros’s employees and the Bharat Jodo movement. As an atheist, it is astounding that Dawkins remains oblivious to Gandhi’s religiosity and conservatism. He lacks the qualifications of a social scientist or political commentator to speak on the state of India’s democracy.
In his latest blog post, he deliberately feigns ignorance of the dangers of Islamism and deliberately misrepresents Hindu philosophy and way of life by equating it with a codified religion like Islam. His utterances stem from a deep disdain for the growing influence of Hindus worldwide, who excel not only in the scientific world but also in the spiritual realm, with many Western countries being attracted to Indic religions in the last five decades.