The future belongs to rationalists: Javed Akhtar

First Indian to receive the Richard Dawkins Award, Javed Akhtar says with time, religion seems to be losing its grip on humanity

It was in 2012, at the Jaipur Literature Festival, that Javed Akhtar, during a post session QnA, praised the gentleman who had just made an impassioned speech for the need for rationality and scientific temper: “If someone asks me to name three great intellectuals in the world, I would have to think about the other two.” The gentleman to whom Akhtar was referring to was Richard Dawkins.

Javed Akhtar first met Richard Dawkins in 2012 at the Jaipur Literature Festival, and that remains their only meeting (AP)

“That was the only time I met him,” says Akhtar, who, on Friday, received a text from Richard Dawkins informing him that he was chosen as the recipient for this year’s Richard Dawkins Award. Akhtar becomes the only Indian to receive the honour bestowed for critical thinking, holding religious dogma up to scrutiny, advancing human progress and humanist values. “For a moment,” quips Akhtar, “I thought that somebody is playing a prank on me because they know how much I admire him.”

Richard Dawkins is an evolutionary biologist, and author whose works have sold millions of copies around the world. “I remember reading God Delusion, his ultimate work,” recalls, Akhtar adding, “He has a unique position in the world. This movement that he started with Sam Harris, Christopher Hitchens etc. is in a very positive direction and it is a healthy change that they are trying to bring about.”

The God Delusion was the first book I read in my life, written by an atheist. There was so much in the book that I used to think about myself, and then there was so much more that I learnt.

Akhtar has always called out the danger that rationalists and free thinkers have faced in India. “I have been an atheist for so many years. I used to think on my own and discuss it with so many people who were atheists themselves. We would talk about this and the need for logical and rational thinking and so on. Back then, I had no idea that there were people who were writing about this. The God Delusion was the first book I read in my life, written by an atheist. There was so much in the book that I used to think about myself, and then there was so much that I had learnt from the book,” recalls the writer.

Rationality, with every generation, will increase. The grip of religion is weakening with time, and it will loosen its grip further and further

According to the 2011 census of India, 2,870,000 people, approximately, 0.27% of the Indian population, had stated that they do not follow any religion. Akhtar says that it is the societal restrictions that hold back many individuals from coming out. People whom he calls “closet atheists”. “There’s no dearth of free thinkers or rationalists in India. I feel they hold back from expressing themselves because of the social pressure they face. They are closet atheists. There was a time when people with different sexual preferences were in the closet. In the exact same way there are a lot of atheists who are in the closet. They have no faith left in them,” says the author, whose debate with spiritual guru Sadhguru has been making rounds on the internet. The debate being, of course, on religion and spirituality.

Akhtar, however, feels that the increasing number of rationalists is only natural. “Rationality, with every generation, will increase. The grip of religion is weakening with time, and it will loosen its grip further and further. So, the future belongs to the rationalists, who’re logical and have developed a scientific temper,” he concludes.

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