Atheism, bigoted families, and purity culture

Vimoh Live is a bi-weekly call-in show where I talk with callers about religion, culture, and atheism.
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[@abhieshreedhami6568]

Thanks for these awesome streams Vimoh! I totally empathize with Mohar (sorry if I misspelt the name) and her frustration of women, periods and so-called "purity". It is not only the mothers pushing their beliefs onto their daughters but the whole society. Once went on a trip from an all-girl's Protestant school and all the girls on their period were asked to stay out of the beautiful temple in unison by the female teachers and the male trip guide. I am an atheist now but, as a child I was a theist and held respect for God and places of worship in my heart. But even back then it never sat right with me that women weren't allowed to visit temples or even touch anything holy (like prasaad being made in the kitchen) on their periods. 1) If impure things aren't allowed in temples then what about all the people who go there with impure thoughts in their minds. Murderers, rapists, thieves etc. ... are allowed, heck, even encouraged to go to temples and find God. 2) Bleeding people are allowed to go to the temple. You will not see a person with a fingercut being shunned away by a pandit. All the TV serials with heroes slicing their finger open on "devi's" talwaar to fill in their lover's maang come to mind. 3) Why is being on your period considered to be impure? Please normalize menstruating and talking about menstruation. It is something that half of the population goes through, it is the reason LIFE exists. Why did it even become a thing that we have to be hush hush about is beyond me. 4) The very fact that menstruating women are considered impure exposes the patriarchal roots of our religious customs and how these practices are very much a product of their time. I am sure when these customs birthed, very little was known about human anatomy and biology in general.

[@udhayveersingh1855]

Thanks for giving us atheists hope that someone is going to listen to our issues and questions. 😊

[@SriHarshaChilakapati]

I'm seeing people using dimension torefer a lot to spirituality and multiverse, but technically, just looking at a dictionary should clear things up. Dictionary defines "any measurable extent of a particular kind" as a dimension. Like length, width, velocity, colour, physical state, time, and anything that you can measure become dimensions. When people are so used to see X, Y, Z as positions in 3D graphs and W for time, they think the 4 dimensions are x, y, z and time. That's all. If I want to replace the position coordinates with speed and rotation from centre of gravity with respect of time, that will be 5 dimensions. So there is no single common fixed source that these are the four dimensions. They can be anything that you want. Just because of this, when people talk about higher dimensions and lower dimensions, that becomes meaningless. That is how pseudoscience and religion thrives.

[@shahzadzaman2957]

1:40:45 Don't worry about parents. Their philosophy will go with them. It's your brother who needs to correct himself.

[@cgoutam120408]

Thanks!

[@vimohlive]

Hey thanks Goutam

[@Anon999-qk3ue]

Good stream and nice talks.

[@subhajitmondal7118]

Now don't start to think why he didn't defend Hindu-Atheist but he did Agnostic-Atheist. Both add adjective to the word atheist. It because the former is meaningless. Hindu-atheist, Christian-atheist or Islam-atheist are same like saying theistic-atheist which is meaningless.

[@Pantheist2602]

Can we make it more clear? Theism/atheism is about belief in existence of God or Gods. Some believe in God without any religious baggage. Some can still cherry pick some religious ideals even if they're atheistic. And that leads to Etymology of whatever-atheist.

[@s_anandsurya]

Ben Shapiro is the definition of the gish-gallop fallacy.

[@deepuchaliyath]

Regarding period . Yes it is mentioned in many hindu texts including manusmriti - 8 th chapter . In Ayurveda texts . + shankara smriti texts too

[@jayeshmange2952]

And that's why my faith in hinduism is diminished to zero.

[@akashinlondonvlogs5475]

Bimoh bro please become a baba. Just like osho . We need you

[@chethanburre6016]

Can you please put a PlayList of calls? I keep forgetting when you just talk & when you take calls.😅

[@openatheism]

Every alternating video ? (Mostly)

[@chethanburre6016]

@@openatheism Cool, still better to put all the calls in one Playlist right? Better organization?

[@avishivani]

Thanks

[@vimohlive]

Thanks for the support!

[@icursedkid]

I'd like to explain how I handle my nihilism. I'm an agnostic atheist too. But my nihilism wasn't influenced by any youtuber Or any texts in general it actually triggered from a random animal life documentry where a chimp tears apart a squirrel just for fun and my grandmother told me what Matriphagy is. So I begun to think does anything has a meaning and went deep into the rabbit hole where after a point I was reaching a conclusion that nothing really matters, but I identified the problem in nihilism really quick ig. It's actually very simple, how life works in nature is very different from how humans live. If you're dealing with the same thing dont stress about anything, sit with your phone and read how societal benefits actually ensured our survival, and how empathy formed the boundaries between good and bad. Trust me it's very simple once you get a grip on it. To tell you my conclusion (don't depend on my words please go and explore its fun) yea nature has its own rules they live a harsh life so no boundaries of good and evil apply on them, but we humans have the privilege to empathize with others and we can not only build a healthy livable society with empathy but to some extent we can help animals who are injured as well just to make their harsh circumstances a bit less harsh.

[@shardakrish8347]

It is great that people who were raised hindu but had trouble believing have a place here to congregate. I can never come out to my family and listening to you makes me feel sane.

[@yashagar4443]

Loved your take on touching feet

[@TheQqoq]

Abhishek's book recommendations about Björn and Shellenbergers book has been contested by environmentalists. Btw,rohit de's book is excellent 👌 do give it a read

[@ballstoeveryone]

Can you provide the title of the book?

[@TheQqoq]

@@ballstoeveryone False Alarm: How Climate Change Panic Costs Us Trillions, Hurts the Poor, and Fails to Fix the Planet by Bjorn Lomborg. Apocalypse Never: Why Environmental Alarmism Hurts Us All by Michael Shellenberger. Both books argue that environmental alarmism is based on bad science. Rohit De's book A People’s Constitution: Law and Everyday Life in the Indian Republic is a brilliant read on "how the Indian constitution, despite its elite authorship and alien antecedents, came to permeate everyday life and imagination in India during its transition from a colonial state to a democratic republic."

[@shahzadzaman2957]

1:04:28 I may not be aware of such opinions. The Constitution is like air. Its lack will only be felt if once it is taken away. We take things for granted that we don't have to fight for. 1:07:00 Nothing is absolute. The problem with labels and schools of thought is that they cannot cover the complexity of human behaviour. People can have very contrasting opinions and thoughts on the kind of people they are. So liberals can be homophobic, and a fundamentalist can be a bigot of socialists.

[@maxdoubt5219]

No, there are 5, not 4, positions: 2 theist and 3 atheist. Do any gods exist? 1: Gnostic affirmers: "Definitely" 2: Agnostic believers: "Probably." 3: Agnostic nonbelievers: "I'm neutral." 4: Agnostic disbelievers: "Probably not." 5: Gnostic deniers: "Definitely not." Of course, affirmers also believe just as deniers also disbelieve but not vice versa. This is the Rainbow Model. Gnostic ❤affirmers. Agnostic 🧡believers. Agnostic 💛nonbelievers. Agnostic💚disbelievers. Gnostic 💙deniers. 99.9% of theists & atheists sift into one of these colors. It works for gods or any other hypothetical beings. But we can dispense with the terms "gnostic" and "agnostic" and just ID as affimers, believers, nonbelievers, disbelievers or deniers. Regarding gods I'm a 💚. Vis-a-vis 👽👾I'm a 💛. The gnostics ❤💙 inherit a burden of proof. Believers and disbelievers 🧡💚need not prove anything but still have a burden to rationally justify their view. Neutral nonbelievers 💛have no burden. This is why "agnostic atheist" isn't a good descriptor because nonbelievers 💛and disbelievers 💚both qualify. Theists with _personal_ gods; who ascribe feelings, motivations and desires to their gods, are all ❤. The 🧡believe in a god or gods but hold no beliefs about what these gods might like/dislike, love/hate or want. We call them deists.

[@chandlerminh6230]

Marine archaeological evidence dont put Dwaraka older than 1500BCE. Several stone anchors found there has been dated to less than 2000 year old from ships trading between india and Arabia Docks found under sea were built by Gaekwads during the Maratha period in last 300 years, sea at Dwaraka has come in by nearly 500 metres. all the above information is from National Institute of Oceanography survey done in last two decades probably sea was always like this at that region and that is the reason why sea swallowing a town appeared in the mythology

[@5123karan]

One question: what is the benefit of discussing these topics on channels like these? This doesn't impact any government policy or reform.

[@vimohlive]

What is the benefit of this comment?

[@deepuchaliyath]

It’s the duty of every real indian ,as per Indian constitution article 51 AH .

[@LakshmiSrikhandpur]

Can’t believe people have to discuss their monthly cycle this way. Women must and can at least try to fix this shit at home. Bizarre

[@vimohlive]

Why can't it be discussed publicly?

[@LakshmiSrikhandpur]

@@vimohlive Read my comment again- nowhere does it say “it can’t be”. Now to indulge your curiosity or need for debate - The majority of your population have been the opposite of help in this regard, you, of all people would know your history regarding the same…and now to have grown ass women looking for solutions from the ‘source’ itself making you the ‘savior’?! Bizarre There was strangely no clear discussion of any male participation so I’ll add that yes women can be their own worst enemy which is why I said change begins internally. If your podcast changes someone’s life or raises awareness then great but adult women with apparent access in life overall, having zero accountability in the matter to this day is seriously irresponsible. Hopefully you won’t also claim to be an expert on another woman’s perspective now only to scratch an itch.

[@deepuchaliyath]

It’s there in manusmriti . Also in shankara smriti . Even in Ayurveda its says so . (Ie: during that period woman has to be separated from all )

[@danielsnowflake5280]

I think it s bizarre to ignore and hide something that is very real every month for 50% of the human population.