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Abstract
Using Bhagat Singh (an atheist) and Khushwant Singh (an agnostic) as primary examples, this paper explores the particular nature of Sikh irreligiosity or rejection of religion. I argue that terms such as ‘atheist' and ‘agnostic’, even when adopted by authors such as Bhagat Singh and Khushwant Singh themselves, cannot fully capture the views they expressed regarding the rejection of key components of Sikhism. The paper further considers the nature of the alternative worldviews advocated by Bhagat Singh and Khushwant Singh, noting those aspects of Sikh tradition they found most troubling, and those that they wished to preserve.
Notes
1 See, for example, the Pew Research Center 2012 report, ‘“Nones” on the Rise: One-in-Five Adults Have No Religious Affiliation.’ Available online at http://www.pewforum.org/Unaffiliated/nones-on-the-rise.aspx.
2 For a survey of various atheist and secular movements globally, see Zuckerman (Citation2009).
3 For an introduction to the Cārvākas, see Chattopadhyaya and Gangopadhyaya (Citation1994).
4 http://tarksheel.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=19&Itemid=27. Accessed July 29, 2014. For a recent study of rationalist movements in Maharashtra, see Quack (Citation2011).
5 See, for example, http://nirmukta.net/Thread-Atheism-in-India-What-does-the-Census-of-India-say.
6 For a challenge to the traditional contrast of Mahatma Gandhi as nonviolent resister and Bhagat Singh as violent revolutionary, see Nair (Citation2009).
7 See, e.g. Nayar (2000, 43).
8 For a fascinating study of the portrait of Bhagat Singh in a hat, see Maclean (Citation2011).
9 See, e.g. the discussion at http://www.sikhsangat.com/index.php?/topic/59178-was-bhagat-singh-an-atheist/, which includes an excerpt from Bhai Randhir Singh's auotobiography. Bhair Randhir Singh was imprisoned in the same jail as Bhagat Singh.
10 Grewal (Citation2008, 36) suggests that Bhagat Singh wrote ‘Why I am an Atheist' before his death sentence was announced, noting the essay was published in The People in June 1931, before the death sentence was announced. However, as Grewal notes, Bhagat Singh's death sentence was announced in October 1930.
11 The essay is available online at a number of websites; references here are to the version posted at http://www.tarksheel.com/articles.php?aid=5&pn=
12 For further discussion of Bhagat Singh's take on Sikh martyrdom, see Waraich.
13 See, e.g. as noted above, http://tarksheel.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=19&Itemid=27. Accessed July 29, 2014.
14 One cannot help but note the apparent contradiction inherent in the title of Khushwant Singh's 2012 Agnostic Khushwant: There Is No God. An agnostic is one who asserts that we cannot know if God or anything material exists; one who asserts that ‘there is no God' is more properly termed an atheist.
15 Khushwant Singh cited Voltaire's version of the watchmaker argument; this ‘argument from design' has a lengthy history, and is frequently particularly associated with William Paley and his 1802 book Natural Theology (reprinted by Oxford University Press in 2008).
16 The Jefferson Bible is available in multiple editions.
17 The American Humanist Association, for example, defines humanism as ‘a progressive lifestance that, without supernaturalism, affirms our ability and responsibility to lead meaningful, ethical lives capable of adding to the greater good of humanity’. http://americanhumanist.org/Humanism/Definitions_of_Humanism. Accessed July 27, 2014.
18 It is worth pointing out that both the major leaders of New Atheism and the best-known advocates of atheism or agnosticism in the context of Sikhism are male.