In Message: 2 - Date: Fri, 6 Sep 2013 18:34:34 -0700 (PDT) Mervyn Lobo <[email protected]> wrote:
"My question, and this is to any brave heart here, is: Does a person still retain his/her caste when s/he becomes an atheist? ? Or does one remain a cultural Hindu forever....." Dear Mervyn, One does not need to be a brave heart to answer your question.The answer is a simple YES. Culturally Hinduism, or at any rate what we were before conversion, maybe a tribe or a caste or another religion like Buddhism or Jainism or Islam all of which had a presence in Goa at some time or another, is part of our cultural make-up. Some may be more affected by it and for others it may be something that is not quite in the foreground of one's consciousness, but deep down somewhere that Hinduness or Muslimness or whatever one's identity was prior to conversion is still part of our cultural make up. Just as one is a Goan and Indian despite the fact that one's parents had migrated to East Africa many decades ago and despite the fact that one knows very little about what Goa is or was now or in the past.. This is just as what happens when one also inherits a Catholic Christian identity which sticks to one despite the fact that one has long ago become an agnostic. OK I'm done. And I don't think that I did a particularly brave thing. Don't you think so Mervyn? Augusto -- Augusto Pinto 40, Novo Portugal Moira, Bardez Goa, India E [email protected] P 0832-2470336 M 9881126350
