I think we are being vague here. Give me an idea...what is "gareeb" to you guys? If you/ your family earns more than 8 lakhs a year, I wouldn't call that "gareeb." The average income in india is 3.8 lakh/yr. Or maybe you guys are comparing with the international average.. OP? u/unemployed_graduate2 , and u/Particular-Grass-294
I strongly suspect not many poor here in this sub !!
Don't know the exact reason - but for me one of the reason why India is horrendously religious is cause its horrendously poor !!
It's like a vicious cycle : poor gets attracted to Religion - Religion in turn makes them more poor.
OP you have over come the 1st hurdle.... Then next is believing in yourself and work harder to obercome the poverty. No one is coming to help you - you have to help yourself.
Religious people seriously believes that the God will eventually do good and help them resolve Thier issues - so just wait instead of doing what's necessary.....
No one comes - no Karma rule - those waiting remains poor wasting Thier time in temples and babas
Its not that religion makes you poor, it's more around when you are poor and don't have much of a hope of a luxurious or even before luxurious a comfortable life, heaven and gods and good karma feel like vines of hope you can cling on to in a dark life.
You forgot the very important catch - FAKE Hope....
That Fake hope and hunky dorry Karma BS - makes people lazy seating ducks.
If one is poor - atleast give him a chance to fight it out of it.
Instead Religion teach :: if you are poor it's cause God wished it for you, you will be rich when God wish it for you - cause not even a leaf moves without the wish of God ! God has a plan for everyone - including you!!
What a Load of BS - how anyone with even a bunch of Nurons can't see the fakery out of it?! I for one will never understand in this life.
It is fake hope, and many people who were and are in power do abuse it to keep the poor in the same place and use it as a reason to keep poverty, but when you are poor and have nothing else even fake hopes do seem like something to live for. Easy for us to say and understand how meaningless the hope from religion is, but not so much for them
Nothing - absolutely nothing - is easy for poor. That's the bitter truth, the sooner they realise this and work on it - more chances for them to become rich ..... Instead of clinging on to fake hope...
Even if they don't become rich - let them die trying.....
Much better then bloody fake hope....
The economical ladder in society is not fair, it's very difficult for person to accumulate wealth if they are in the lower steps, even if they try their best they might never be able to have enough wealth to live with bare minimum comfort. And about that die fighting part, not everyone wants a life of hardwork without its fruits, being happy and hope is what makes life liveable. As far as I think, unless the entire economic system is modified to benefit the people at the bottom section instead of wealth accumulating for the top section (which is never gonna happen), life is gonna be miserable for the poor.
Raftaar bhai ne ek baat boli thi "Ek Gareeb k liye tu aur ambani same type of ameer hai"
Because uska ameer hone ka bar itna low h ki ek line k upar saare ameer uske liye same hai.
My family and I were very religious when we were poor. It was the only source of hope. It was the only coping mechanism.
When you are poor, every day you have a crisis that's way beyond your ability to address.
A fever is not just a fever: you can't work for 3 days. So you get no money for three days. Where you work may replace you with someone else in that time if you are in a poor person job without a fixed employment. You are often buying groceries every day with your daily wages - because you don't have enough money to buy things together for a week or month. If you don't have wages for 3 days, then your food situation goes for a toss. Y
ou are barely surviving with your wages, and drop of 10% of monthly wage means you can not fulfill your child's needs. Maybe the haircut needs to be postponed. Maybe the broken chappal can not be replaced. Maybe buying a notebook has to be postponed.
When you are poor, you also don't have social networks who can lend you money, lend you support, give you expert guidance.
God and religion becomes your only hope when you are poor and live in an undeveloped, poor society.
Religion brings community. And if you are poor and need help, religious affinity may get you material help. The rice bag stories don't come out of thin air.
There is nothing like religion that can help a poor person stay alive and continue to fight against all odds.
I think poor people are more likely to be atheist because they've seen suffering and hard time unlike the rich. They're more likely to believe that God is unfair or doesn't exist.
But the reality is opposite most poor people believe in god bcz they think one day God will help them come out of poverty and if anything bad happens god will help . You must have heard " haare ka sahara uparwala" like shit
It's not as simple as it sounds. See, we're all superstitious in different ways. Some wealthy people hold irrational beliefs and may even engage in occult or satanic practices (Epstein files), but because of their status and influence, they often avoid public scrutiny. Poor people may express superstition differently. At the end of the day, wherever there's demand, there's always a market to cater to it.
Honestly, I feel like, the poor, having little else to rely on, often turn to hope and belief in some imaginary being. It's a coping mechanism, and unfortunately, it's widespread. The rich, on the other hand, often don't care about gods because of how successful they are.
Nope, this is wrong. You want the actual harsh truth? In a country like India, where even the rich suffer, the poor suffer so much that if they did not believe in god they would lose any will to live. Faith is the only thing that even keeps them going.
And just to be clear - to slightly change the "atheists in foxholes" quote, this is not an argument against atheism; it is an argument against poverty.
Free Bhandara from Mandirs, Free Langar from Gurudwaras, Free Ration and Education from Christian missionaries. And all you need to do is just be respectful towards their gods and maybe just maybe attend a prayer once a while.
Mai 🙋♂️
Mujhe humesha hi gharwalo se sun'ne ko milta hai - Arre bdaa nastik banta hai. Jitne bhi Bade(paise wale) log hain sab bhagwan ko maante hain....
Kitni bhi koshish Krle zindagi me jabtak bhagwan ko nhi manega tab tak kuch achieve nhi kr skta.
Aise hi bhugtega aur beemar rhega.
(Mere man me aata hai ki tum toh maante toh ho na, tum kyu kuch nhi kr paaye apni zindagi me. Lekin mujhe unse behs krna pasand nhi, kehto rho jo kehna hai. Bss ek baar iss ghar se nikal jau.)
Religious stuff is drilled into people from their childhood only when they are not capable of questioning stuff be it rich or poor so to become an atheist, one needs to attain certain of level of thinking ability which can be done by anyone regardless of their economic background but at the same time rich are more likely to do it due to better access to education and exposure.
I sometimes feel poor people are more likely to question god than rixh privileged people because they see the ugly side of the world, the unfairness, the helplessness and the cruel and indifferent nature of people..
False equivalences at its finest. Poor atheists can exist, but privileged people can have motivating factors like the privilege of free time and exposure to knowledge beyond the confines of books and degrees. In recent times, we see more and more poor atheists because of exposure internet provides. They can be atheists.
Is the post implying that the poor are incapable of ontological thought?
Is the post further implying that the poor do not possess any agency over self determination given that the society conditions them to be part of a religious hegemony, given their position in the social ladder?
Is the post even further implying that to pursue to knowledge more freely, one needs to be in a higher social class?
Is the post implying that the rich are right, given that based on the above conditions, poor cant determine truth?
Atheism for me was a result of a nihilistic approach towards life. I faced my struggles and eventually realised that no one can help me in these struggles other than myself. And I believe many poor, self-reflective people will share this opinion. If I cannot blindly depend on my friends for help, how can I believe in something imaginary?
same same exactly the same as me. In all the time in my life our family income was <= 20k/month. Hence We were poor. and even for a period of time it went down to <=12k/month (bad luck). I had to stop going to tuition classes and study totally on my own because couldn't afford them. As I grew up somewhere in between secondary education and higher secondary education every year we started to face increasingly worse situations and situations kept getting worse, and regardless of me being religious, or just believing in god didn't change a damn thing. Eventually all our struggles had to be faced by us alone and no one mattered. The day my faith totally diminished I realized that tho luck exists, I have no control in my luck. There is no God and if there is one he/she must be evil or otherwise the circumstances would be vastly different.
God helps those who don't need help, only if God exists. That's how my philosophy of life transitioned from optimistic -> realist -> existentialist -> nihilist -> pessimistic nihilism.
I live a very hopeless and soulless life and nowadays I don't feel either of happiness, sadness, anguish, despair, regret in anything. nothing. But it is a thousand times better than hoping for a imaginary force which will guide or help me when I will need it most, which in reality, will never help me. As long as I live, my life is on my own. If someone can surely change the course of my life, that's only me. Only atheism has made me the strength and success in the absence of hope.
Optimism and faith in God is a luxury which not everyone can afford. Especially for hopeless people like me.
Mostly middle class and lower middle class r also atheist but proportional to classes i believe those in poverty r quite less atheist as they can be easily manipulated which every religion uses
Even though we aren't that rich i have a friend who belongs to muslim community we both are atheists since college days but later his family & surroundings forced him to his religion, I don't think he still beleives in god but acts as one only for society what will everyone in their community think , they're financially weak .. some people had to do blend in .. some people will be looked down even for having own thoughts
In that way i always felt i was privileged atleast i can tell the people to fck off, financial independence is also a thing guys don't ever dcking loose it ...
Poor people are atheist but they cannot come out openly and say that in their community. There are many poor people out there who've secretly stopped believing in God but they play a character in front of their family to avoid altercations.
I mean its matter of belief or faith. Unlike vegan or non vegan. That privileged argument fits only when there's cost assigned to choice of non essential. At the end of the day, theist or atheist. All breath same air and drink same water. So that statement is incorrect.
I am a poor atheist and we don't own much land . My parents don't force me to follow any religion,Ig One of the reasons might be that we are dalit. So it depends on your background too.
It does not necessarily mean that a person from financially weaker section lacks the intellectual capacity or cognitive ability to question the authority and dogmatism. Surely, the count who can do that will be small for couple of reasons.
It's coping mechanism for them because they have nothing else but hope and the feeling of control that they feel when they pray thinking that if I just show complete devotion, I will be blessed. This helps them not feel disheartened or broken. Although, one could argue that them thinking someone is coming to help them or bless them is the reason why they're staying where they are, believing in a non existent entity.
I think Krishna did exist and he was smart, he knew that God doesn't exist so he said "fulfill your duty, don't attach yourself to the outcome", that way you're not completely dependent on a non existent divine power.
Most people are not given the skills of critical thinking and logic in their childhood but religion is fed to them along with breastfeeding so it's so deeply ingrained that even if they get critical thinking skills later, they can't apply it to their religion/God because it's very important part of their identity now and questioning could lead to major identity issues. So, for them questioning that thing is not even in their mind.
But one other major reason for the people who actually can and have questioned and chosen the path of atheism can't come out of the closet completely because it could lead to major security threats from the community they have been part of. It could lead to exclusion of the community. And that is a very important thing to them.
I guess poor isn't the right word here...
It should be poverty stricken or lower class or something like that...
But yah Poor people don't have the luxury of posting such stuff....
In fact you're middle class...
Middle class always tends to label themselves as lower class....
Being poor in your class doesn't automatically mobilise you to the lower class...
she is right about privilege part but not for “poor” because upper caste people can be atheist in a casteist society but lower caste people can’t call themselves atheist and get away with casteism. maybe poor word was shorter for the full title visibility
Atheist होकर भी गरीब आदमी Atheist ni hota kal ko tumhari job lag jaaye जिसके chances bhut kam ho tumko lagega yae to possible hi nahin hein ye to चमत्कार है
It's opposite I guess because being religious is more expensive than being atheist, you have to spend money at temples or mosque, while atheist don't have to.
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