Children Raised Without Religious And Caste Identities

By Sumit Paul, New Age Islam 12 July 2025 Kerala high court judge Justice VG Arun recently called on society to take the example of children raised without religious or caste identities as the true hope for a more rational future. During his address, Justice Arun lauded parents who choose to raise their children outside the bounds of religion and said such kids are likely to grow into adults unafraid to challenge societal norms. Notably, Justice Arun's comments are not confined to public speeches alone. In 2022, he delivered a landmark judgment that upheld the right of individuals to identify as non-religious in official documentation. The judgment was passed in a case filed by a group of students who had cleared their class XII exams and sought community certificates in the non-religious category for college admission. This is what we urgently need in India at the moment. But ironically, more and more people are proudly flaunting their religions and castes. The current political dispensation has introduced castes to the ensuing Census. Now, you'll mention not only your faith but your caste and even sub-caste! Pavanan, well-known rationalist, literary critic and left wing political activist from Kerala, wrote more than seven decades ago that new India (we just got independence) must abolish public display of faith, caste and the obvious totems and symbols of all man-made faiths. He didn't want a blanket ban on all faiths and their silly manifestations because he knew that unevolved humans couldn't survive sans faiths, scriptures, deities, customs and rituals. What he didn't want was the unfettered presence of religion outside one's threshold. His fellow rationalist author Vaisakhan was also of the same view. By the way, Justice Arun paid tribute to both the rationalists, highlighting their lifelong commitment to reason and secular values by shedding their caste surnames in favour of pen names. It's indeed ironical that despite living in the 21st-century with far greater exposure, people are gravitating towards all sorts of superstitions and irrationalities. Not only that, they're even making a fetish of their religious idiosyncrasies. Even in this forum, one can see educated individuals justifying the anomalies and aberrations their faith and books are littered with. They're wasting their ink and energy on the supposed descriptions of a Fig Tree and Big Bang in their dubious scriptures! These individuals are trying tooth and nail to assert the supremacy and divine origin of their religion. For that, they're resorting to AI, not realizing that humans have created this and it's all artificial and cannot think on its own. This is not just ridiculous. This is worrisome. When so-called 'educated' people start defending their faiths, books and deities in a militant and monomaniac way, things go out of control. Mind you, caste is a by-product of faith. It's deeply rooted in Hinduism, so much so that it has crept into other faiths as well. That's the reason, you've Dalit Christians and Pasmanda Muslims. It's obvious that almost all Muslims in the subcontinent had Hindu ancestors. So, the remnants of casteism percolated down to other faiths and became integral to the consciousness of all converts. Do away with all this garbage. Rationalists must come forward and demand that caste and creed must be removed from the public domain. There must never be any government form, papers and documents wanting to know your caste and faith. Don't wash your dirty linen in public. But then, who's so intrepid and evolved as to question the rationality and logic of these putrid practices? ----- A regular columnist for New Age Islam, Sumit Paul is a researcher in comparative religions, with special reference to Islam. He has contributed articles to the world's premier publications in several languages including Persian. URL: https://www.newageislam.com/spiritual-meditations/children-religious-caste-identities/d/136150 New Age Islam, Islam Online, Islamic Website, African Muslim News, Arab World News, South Asia News, Indian Muslim News, World Muslim News, Women in Islam, Islamic Feminism, Arab Women, Women In Arab, Islamophobia in America, Muslim Women in West, Islam Women and Feminism