India News | Atheists Conference: Non-believers Third Largest Group in World, Says Rationalist NarendraNayak

Pune, Dec 18 (PTI) Rationalist Narendra Nayak on Sunday claimed atheists are the third largest group in the world after Christians and Muslims and said every child was born a non-believer till labels of belief and religion are fed into the brain.

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Speaking at the Brights National Atheist Conference here, Nayak, who is the president of the Federation of Indian Rationalists, said he had realised at the age of 10 or 11 "there is no supernatural power".

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"I am the first atheist I met in my life. I had never met any atheist before I myself turned into one. Every child is born an atheist, but labels of religions and beliefs are put into the brain as one grows up. Your family, surroundings etc put these beliefs in your mind," he said.

"Lot of people are unable to remove these beliefs from their mind but we (atheists) are able to do so. Do not think we (atheists) are alone in the world. Some 18 per cent of the world's population are atheists. The third largest group of people in the world is that of non-believers after Christians and Muslims," he claimed.

Nayak and journalist Alka Dhupkar were felicitated at the national conference, which was attended by Uttam Niraula of Humanists International, anti-superstition activist Avinash Patil, among others.

The Brights, in its manifesto, refutes the existence of any supernatural power.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)