If my cognitive abilities haven’t been able to crack one thing, it is this: if the non-violent propagation of non-atheism is non-sinful (read: if the non-aggressive advertising of a religion is alright), why is peaceful preaching of atheism unholy?)
The laws of the street food business tell us that propping up a fake competitor next to your stall ensures that revenues don’t stray to real rivals. Which is pretty much what the anonymous genius behind www.GodlBlock.com aims to do: save religion from going bankrupt by warning us against the ‘By God’-swearing devouts.
In a world dominated by ultra-cautious parents and pedagogues, the web filter GodBlock claims to block “religious content” by “testing each [web]page that your child visits before it is loaded, looking for passages from holy texts, names of religious figures, and other signs of religious propaganda”. Fundamentalists, GodBlock informs us, are the reason for this “mess” of ‘too much religion’ too.
That the need for a sub-pious soul to come out of the closet and save others from an overdose of religion proves that some kids do need to be told that those arrowheads kissing each other before blasting into thin air in Ramanand Sagar’s Ramayana and the oodles of blood in Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ may not bear any resemblance to reality. Or do they?
{{/usCountry}}That the need for a sub-pious soul to come out of the closet and save others from an overdose of religion proves that some kids do need to be told that those arrowheads kissing each other before blasting into thin air in Ramanand Sagar’s Ramayana and the oodles of blood in Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ may not bear any resemblance to reality. Or do they?
{{/usCountry}}For the disciples of atheism, the prasadam may come in the form of the time they will save by not having to forward those ‘Pass this Jesus Saves/Sai Baba/Wahe Guru message to 8,324 people’ e-mails.
On the other hand, the ingenious creator of GodBlock may be testing the mood of the non-believers by not making the filter instantaneously available for downloads. As of now, he only wants us to fill his daan peti to help him lay the foundation stone of his temple of rationality.
Living off religion is sassy. But contributing to it by working against it? Now that’s positively Nietzscheian.
rajiv.arora@hindustantimes.com