Atheists Have No Right to Challenge Religious Traditions and Beliefs?
By Sumit Paul, New Age Islam
25 April 2026
Atheists Cannot Question Religious Traditions in Court: Justice B. V. Nagarathna in Supreme Court Hearing
Supreme Court of India Justice B. V. Nagarathna said that an atheist who does not believe in any religion may not have the right to challenge religious traditions in court. She made the remark while a nine-judge bench led by Surya Kant was hearing petitions related to religious beliefs and fundamental rights, including issues linked to the Sabarimala Temple entry case.
THE HINDUSTAN GAZETTE.COM
This is weird. It means atheists must remain silent on the anomalies and aberrations; superstitions and shibboleths that have plagued all man-made faiths! In fact, much more than a believer, it's an atheist who has a greater and stronger right to question and challenge antediluvian religious beliefs. Just the way, a bachelor knows more about women (and also wives!) than married men and that's why he's a bachelor, an atheist is much more knowledgeable about the moronic beliefs of all faiths than all the believers put together. Because of this greater awareness and knowledge, a person leaves all faiths and becomes an atheist. An atheist is always in a better position to judge the discrepancies in all faiths because he doesn't belong to a particular faith. He's free of all prejudices. He hates everyone equally and is always dispassionate. In the western world, most of the professors teaching comparative religions are atheists and non-believers. Then only can they teach sans any presupposition and prejudice. If a professor has a religion, he'll invariably analyse and judge other faiths with respect to his religion. His religious views are bound to be clouded and turbid. But an atheist professor will treat all faiths equally at conscious and subconscious levels. So, saying that an atheist must desist from challenging religious beliefs and traditions in court is tantamount to curbing his fundamental right and spirit of reason and logic. The problem with India is that more than 98 percent people are believers. Atheists have no place in 'modern' India. Almost all judges are also believers. Even if a judge calls himself an atheist, he doesn't drop his religion and calls himself a Hindu atheist or a Sikh atheist (wearing a turban and retaining the kada!). What an oxymoron!
Readers may have read that the former Chief Justice of India B. R. Gavai recently visited the Bageshwar Dham in Madhya Pradesh along with his family, drawing criticism from sections of Ambedkarite activists and triggering debate in political circles, particularly in Maharashtra. That the former Chief Justice of India visited an outright fraud and a fanatic young Hindu baba is proof that we're pathological believers. Religion is inveterate in all of us. Rationality doesn't appeal to us and atheists are the veritable outliers. Alas, faith is humans' inexorable fate.
Coming back to the main issue, if atheists are stopped to challenge the outdated religious traditions, who else will challenge? Because of such judges, our judiciary has gone to dogs and swines.
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A regular columnist for New Age Islam, Sumit Paul is a researcher in comparative religions, with special reference to Islam. He has contributed articles to the world's premier publications in several languages including Persian.
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