As a Nasthika Hindu, I stand by @ArminNavabi , @abdullahadam and @Introsmiles . Its easier to fight for your principles than stand up for them . Hats off Gents.

Beloved to me are Saraswati, Chamundeshwari (Kali) and Krishna (we hindus do love our paradoxes don't we). But I stand by the atheists. If you care to, please do go through this thread on why its important that we put this whole thing into perspective.

Before we dive in, I want you to remember that my innards choke bilious green indeed, regarding Armin’s tweet. But as श्रीभगवानुवाच-असंशयं महाबाहो मनो दुर्निग्रहं चलम् ।अभ्यासेन तु कौन्तेय वैराग्येण च गृह्यते ॥.

“CRITISISM IS FINE BUT WE CANNOT STAND FOR THE MOCKERY OF OUR RELIGION”
You want to hurt Armin like he’s hurt you. You want him to understand the pain you feel. He’s Insulted your mother...

.. He holds nothing sacred, well then, doing to his mother what he did to yours surely seems to be a reasonable response, freedom of speech right?

In India It's mournful that we have Blasphemy laws, an ideologically possessed left refusing any sort of truth and reconciliation of Indian History, a complete lack of nuance and intelligentsia of the non-left. I.e. for most part there is no meaningful discourse.

One such vital topic is the role of mockery in freedom of speech. I can assure you; this is a political statement by Armin; I doubt Armin is going out of his way to deliberately insult people.

Its Ironic, I think the Atheists and Ex-Muslims expected a higher standard of us. I’m sorry, but “at least no one is going to behead you unlike other religions” is an abysmal yard stick to measure ourselves by.

Since we’ve never truly had freedom of speech, we fail to empathise or intellectualise views orthogonal to the ones we hold. It prevents us from even dreaming of considering a fundamental truth.

The fact is that Religions are ideologies, and all ideas have no right to inherent respect. As much as it might pain us, Gods, Goddess, Prophets and long dead heroes, cannot be extended automatic respect, nor do they have Human Rights.

But why mockery you ask? It is one of the true tests of an enlightened society. Us Indians would stoutly reject this of course. How can mocking prove fruitful? Its Strange but the only society worth living is a society where your deepest feelings can be trampled upon.

Given that we’ve had to endure centuries of oppression and we feel that the majority sentiments have been cast aside by governments and academia post-Independence. How the hell can trampling feelings be of any help ? Feelings unfortunately often impediment self reflection.

The most important function of mockery is to shatter the sanctity that shield powerful ideologies. The moment we sanctify an idea, is the moment we stop thinking critically about it.

When was the last time any of us has ever heard anything less than the fact that the Vedas are absolutely perfect? Our civilization is superior to all others? That the Indic philosophies are the most profound?

We have failed our ancestors. When was the last time we questioned the Darshanas? When was the last time the average population ever thought to continue to add to the Vedangas or the UpaVedas?

We have stopped questioning the fundamentals. Starting from the assumption that the Hinduism is the best, is a mistake even if that assumption were to be true.
We have failed to drag down our books back to earth and truly critically think of them.

That’s why it seems inconceivable to us that people like Armin do not think a whit about respecting our gods, Gods, worshiped transfixed in the firmaments, so far away from close inspection.

"How is it possible that he is so spiteful to insult something so exalted and holy? He does not understand the Majesty and grandeur of Sanathana Dharma". And so we marshal on, cocksure in our self-righteousness.

What about the limitations and consequences of free speech you say? Well, slander to reputation, mental harassment constituting legal harm and the folly of legislating around feelings is a topic for another day.

It is high time that we clambered out of our Limbic systems and make that hard climb towards the cortices of our brains It’s time for Ambedkar’s catharsis for India. The next time you see Atheists post offensive things, roll your eyes, smirk, wish them well and scroll on.

After all we are Hindus aren't we ? Letting go of anger, hate and attachments is Dharma right?