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Scott Adams offers a solution for maximizing your happiness - convert to Islam. Of course, if you follow his blog religiously (no pun intended) then you realize he is half-joking and usually makes such statements only to provoke people into commenting which often gives him fodder for future humorous posts. But within this post, he makes a statement that I found interesting:
People switch from every type of religion to every other type. Muslims become Christians, Christians become Buddhists, Hindus become atheists, and so on. If moving from any one of those religions to any other made people happier, we’d know that by now.
Hindus become atheists. Hmmm…is it possible that Hindus that ‘convert’ are more likely to become atheists than convert to other religions? I know that becoming an atheist is not converting but rather a conscious act of not adhering to any religious belief. So I modify my question, are Hindus more likely to be atheists? Is the transition easier than say, from other rigidly-structured religions like Christianity and Islam? We have the historical incident of Ambedkar-led Dalits conversion from Hinduism to Buddhism. Why didn’t they simply swear off Hinduism? It could have also made the point just as effectively. Perhaps that wouldn’t that have been as easily acceptable to the masses that were converting so Ambedkar chose Buddhism, the paragon of a peaceful religion.
I know this is a leap of faith (again, no pun intended) and I’m just thinking aloud. Any thoughts?
by Patrix | on Friday, November 2nd, 2007 at 3:28 pm | 
Observations, Religion . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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November 3rd, 2007 at 5:28 pm reply
It’s an interesting question. I think Hindus are less likely to covert to other religions because of the lack of a single holy Book in Hinduism. It has made them lazy as far as religious affairs go. I mean, you can do whatever you want to, but unless you active give up your religion, you can remain a Hindu and hell, a good one at that. Hardly the same for Abrahmanic religions. I mean Quran wants to tell you every little thing in the world! Bible is only slightly better mainly because the book Christ (allegedly) wrote was anyway re-written by the Romans.
November 3rd, 2007 at 7:01 pm reply
Hinduism is pretty democratic that way. You could believe in practically anything to be a Hindu.
BTW, is your transition to an atheist complete? Or are you still dilly-dallying in agnosticism? :)
Confused, a PJ from my side, if Christianity, Judaism and Islam were Abrahamanic religions, wouldn’t Hinduism be a Brahmanic religion?
*wink wink*
Patrix you can kill me when we meet some time. :)
November 4th, 2007 at 12:55 pm reply
Confused, True. Not having a fixed set of rules that everyone is expected to follow in order to be called a Hindu certainly helps. So plenty of people who simply do not voice an opinion on their religious views may in fact be atheists but might be considered Hindus by the rest.
Piker, so the magic of PJs is rubbing off on you too, eh? I don’t kill people who come up with smart ones. They just get to be better friends :)
November 5th, 2007 at 11:22 am reply
“Are Hindus more likely to be atheists? Is the transition easier than say, from other rigidly-structured religions like Christianity and Islam?”
I’d say it also depends on the kind of society you are living in and the way a religion is practised there and the level of tolerance people generally have in that society towards others. In the UK for example, unlike in the US, there has been a long tradition of Christianity and the link between church and state still remains, but in practice, the UK has a predominantly secular society. Only 7% of people in the UK are actually practicing Christians. Infact, it is very seldom that you come across people here who say they believe in God and go to Church! Most people are atheists and since it’s a largely liberal state, it hardly matters what the other person is practising unless they or their religious beliefs become a threat to the people or the fabric of their society.
It’d be interesting to study what motivates people to convert to another religion. In a lot of places in India, conversion to another religion mainly happened because of socio-economic reasons.
And well, most people just like the idea of believing in atleast some sort of a God!
November 5th, 2007 at 1:28 pm reply
Sthira, I agree with your statement that most people just like the idea of believing in at least some sort of a God. I guess, it makes me be a part of a large social group or probably even works at letting them believe that their actions are controlled by something other than their own decisions. Some may not like that but a large portion of the population rather be submissive to an external force even if it doesn’t really exist.
November 5th, 2007 at 1:43 pm reply
I do think it is easier for Hindus to become atheists because we don’t have organised religion like the three monotheistic ones, and we don’t have certain “must do’s” to call ourselves Hindu. In fact as you probably know, there is even an atheist sect among Hindus! I find this quite fascinating.
November 5th, 2007 at 3:23 pm reply
Ashutosh, True. But we have done something that would instantly disqualify us from being Hindus at least in the minds of most. Two words. Texas Roadhouse :)
November 6th, 2007 at 10:19 am reply
Haha…indeed! I guess *that* is pretty much a “must do”. Anyway, now that I suddenly realise that I am not a Hindu, I need to disperse my pain in a steak burrito…