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As far as I understand, there is a popular misconception that rationalism is just a denial of the existence of god and religion in any form. Rationalists are not just propagandists of atheism or crusaders against god. That is a negative view of rationalism. But rationalism is of positive attitude to do good to human beings by promoting ethics, self-knowledge, self-discipline and self-development.

Rationalism is a battle to liberate humanity from ignorance, religious prejudice and superstition. Its main business is to make the discovered truths available to all and induce everybody to draw his own rational conclusions about the meaning, purpose and conduct of life.

The accepted definition of rationalism evolved as early as 1899 is:- It is the mental attitude, that unreservedly accepts the supremacy of reason, and aims at establishing a system of philosophy and ethics verifiable by experience and independent of all arbitrary assumptions of authority.

Speaking of ‘Rationalism�, Gowans Whyte states: “Rationalism�, as an intellectual movement, does not offer a ready-made creed to replace the religious creeds in which most people have been brought up. Were it to do so, it would be attempting to impose the same sort of official authority as the churches and to discharge the free exercise of Individual reason. Its proper business is to make the discovered truth available to all and to induce everybody to draw his own rational conclusions about the meaning, the purpose and conduct of life. Late D.M.K. Chief Annadorai says: “Rationalism does not mean repudiation of basic or fundamental truths and maxims, but the annihilation of dubious modes of thought and action�.

Rationalism is not a system or a faith or a creed ready to be handled like a measuring rod. It is an attitude of mind. It is a movement of ideas. It is not an academic exercise indulged by the learned few. It is concerned with the people and community in all its aspects. Its task is to show the approach of reason to all problems of individual and his social life. It lays down the foundation of a new philosophy of life. It provides an alternative way of life and/ or philosophy for those who desire to throw away orthodox religion and morals based on fear of god. It is not a creed or set of dogmas, religious or philosophical. Its main task is the diffusion of sound knowledge. Since rationalism is mainly an attitude of mind, continuance of that attitude is essential to sustain efforts required for rationalists to keep abreast of the growth of knowledge, for that alone will prevent rationalism from getting rusty and unserviceable. The values that rationalism gathers are not permanent for all time to come.

It calls for a constant and vigilant recasting of morals and other values to suit the changing pattern of society.

Rationalism is not a negative approach:

It is not mere denial of the existence of god, it is a philosophy by itself like Buddhism, Jainism, Confucianism as propounded by their founders. It is a struggle against injustice, inequality and slavery. It is a quest for truth and social reform. Rationalism and humanism are a realistic alternative to theology. It attempts to transcend divisive, parochial loyalties based on caste, race, religion, nationality, creed, class, or ethnicity. It strives to work together for the common good of humanity. It nourishes common moral excellence like altruism, integrity, honesty, truthfulness, reason, compassion etc. It stands for belief in optimism rather than pessimism, hope rather than despair, learning in place of dogma, truth instead of ignorance, tolerance in place of fear, love instead of hatred, compassion over selfishness, reason over blind faith. Rationalist propaganda is the only solution to liquidate blind faith.

Aims and objectives of Rationalism

Rationalism aims at the development of potentialities of the individual with freedom  and independence. Its endeavor is to achieve the ideal of social freedom and to create a new renaissance. It’s main objective is to liberate human thought from the limitations of caste, creed, religion, and nationality. Rationalism promotes an attitude of optimism, which helps to develop healthy and dynamic minds to overcome any crisis. It emphasizes the dignity and work of man as man and his potential capacity to build a peaceful, decent world where there is no exploitation of man and where hunger, poverty and racial prejudices do not exist. Aristotle was the first philosopher who defined man as a rational being. He taught that rationality differentiates man from animal. Animals act from instinct while human beings are endowed with the faculty of reasoning, which governs their conduct and action. Rationalism regards reason as the chief source and test of knowledge. Rationalism holds reason to be a faculty that can lay hold of truth, beyond the reach of sense perception. For example, if democracy is considered to be the best form of government, rationalism demands that it must be shown to the people how this belief stands to reason. Rationalism wants people to learn to govern themselves by reason, as it is a supreme and innate human quality, which can be applied to the shaping of our future.

How Rationalism can neutralise casteism

The Caste-based social system has assigned a hierarchical position to each caste and the result of this feeling of superiority and inferiority based on birth have been deeply embedded in the minds of the people. This in turn has led to the disappearance of the spirit of brotherhood, oneness, and comradeship in our society. Rationalism affirms that humanity is one and indivisible. It emphasizes that, every human being is entitled to equality of status and equality of opportunity in every sphere of life irrespective of his caste or creed. It wages a war on the false theory of superiority and inferiority attached to birth, and declares that the unjust social order of caste must go in the interest of social justice and human solidarity­.

Rationalism can effectively take up the creation of a new social order without caste.

How Rationalism can counter communalism and religious fundamentalism

Religious fundamentalism in India today displays the most incendiary form of intolerance towards other religions. It challenges the very fundamentals of our conception of a secular state. It is thegreatest enemy of national integration in multilingual and multi-religious country that is India. Rationalism inculcates the spirit of tolerance and promotes universal brotherhood. It promotes humanism with a natural and scientific approach to our problems. A rationalist by training and temperament is governed by reason. A man of reason has tolerance and understanding. A man of understanding can never be aggressive in his thought or action. Religious bigotry or religious intolerance has no place in the minds of rationalists. Hence rationalism is the best antidote to communalism and religious fundamentalism.

If the doors, windows, ventilators of our brain are allowed to open, there will be free flow of thoughts and then we will think freely. First, we should make people think. When they think, they start questioning; when they start questioning reasoning commences. One tries to get answers. Newton could give us the theory of gravitational pull by questioning why an apple falls down on the ground instead of going up. Great thinkers like Periyar, Ingersoll, Bertrand Russell and others have not accepted anything for granted. They questioned every statement with a probing mind and realized the truth that there cannot be any supernatural power called ‘god�.

“Reason is the light, the sun of the brain. It is the compass of the mind, the ever constant northern star, the mountain peak that lifts itself above all clouds�.

Any man who stands for progress has to criticize, disbelieve and challenge every item of the old faith. A man who claims to be a realist has to challenge the whole of the ancient faith. Item by item he has to reason out every nook and corner of the prevailing faith. Reasoning is the guiding star of one’s life. Mere faith and blind faith is dangerous. It dulls the brain and makes a man reactionary. Here is what Shaheed Bhagat Singh says, “Study was the cry that reverberated in the corridors of my mind, study to enable yourself to face the arguments advanced by the opposition. Study to arm yourself with arguments in favour of your cult. When I began to study, my precious faith and convictions underwent remarkable modifications.�

When reasoning commences, man arrives at the conclusion that the so-called holy books are not sacred. He no more considers them as holy. He no more considers them as containing the knowledge revealed by certain chosen men of god, Prophets or god’s son or his angels in the language known to them. He no more considers that these chosen men are god’s men or so-called prophets are chosen by god. He comes to know that they are all utterances of so-called god’s men or prophets in their delusion or trance and written by human beings at various stages, at various thinking levels.

Most of them are mystics. Saint Paul was one, Mohammed another, Chaitanya was yet another, Dostoveski a fourth, Ramakrishna a fifth and the list can easily be made much longer. He will come to the conclusion that religions are creations of human imagination. With the view to making people non-skeptic, the so-called holy men and their henchmen propagated that they contain sacred knowledge revealed by god, and therefore not subject to questioning. Most religions of the world do not want reason. Everyman should be allowed to investigate to the extent of his desire and his ability. There is no real investigation without freedom from the fear of gods and men.