Ask me anything – the Aron Ra edition

Greetings from the San Francisco Bay area. It’s great to be back in the old neighborhood visiting friends. I’ve been away for almost 15 months. The weather is as usual wonderful. Traffic on 101 and 880 is lighter than normal because of the pandemic-induced work from home situation. I’ve been driving around a bit. I miss being here.

Here are a couple of videos for your pleasure. I respect Aron Ra. He is a straight shooter, an activist atheist. I like his no-bullshit style. Here are a couple of videos of his I watched today.

I must note that people like Aron Ra are non-believers in the context of Abrahamic religions because they are from that tradition. Their opposition to religion is narrowly focused on Christianity and Islam mainly, and to some extent to Judaism. They don’t know anything of the Indic traditions of Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism and Sikhism. In a very important sense, the Indic traditions are not religion in the same sense that the Abrahamic religions are.

I am sure that these atheists like Aron Ra would also find a lot to reject of the Indic traditions, just as I do. But their opposition to religion should be limited to the traditions they know well and should not be uncritically extended uncritically to non-Abrahamic religions. Like them I oppose the Abrahamic religions but I also find much in the Indic traditions very commendable.

Here’s another video by Aron Ra. His explanation of evolution is aimed at Christians who don’t understand evolution but it is instructive even for non-creationists.

Alright, so this is an Ask Me Anything. What’s on your mind?

Author: Atanu Dey

Economist. View all posts by Atanu Dey