Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam MP Kanimozhi said on Saturday that atheists and rationalists all over the world are under threat, The Times of India reported.
“The people who have congregated here are already atheists,” Kanimozhi said at the World Atheist Conference, organised by the Dravidar Kazhagam in Tiruchirappalli city of Tamil Nadu. “Why have we gathered then? Why do we have to preach ourselves when we have already converted? But we have to come together to show that we are together and what humanity means to the world.”
Kanimozhi said that no religion treats women as equal to men. “All religions say a woman has to obey a man. Women have been denied their rights in every religion,” she added. “Religion is nothing but fear. How much blood has been shed, how many wars have been fought in this world because of religion?”
The DMK MP hailed social activist and Dravidar Kazhagam founder Periyar. “There are reformers and feminist around the world who are fighting for women’s rights,” she said. “I respect all of them, but there is one true feminist in this world and that is Periyar.” Periyar rejected religion because it denied women their rights, she said.
“There is a threat for all atheists and rationalists around the world,” she added. “To show our strength, we all should stand united and fight against hatred. Atheism and humanism are the only truths”.
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