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Being an Indian I sm intimately familiar with the situation in your question. India has many religions and is a predominantly religious society; and I come from a generically and conventionally religious family. However my religious beliefs were lukewarm to begin with and faded out completely by the age of 24, mainly because I had seen the harsh realities of human existence around me and had no experience of 'divine grace' to give depth and strength to socially acquired religious beliefs.

I then passed through a one-year-long phase very similar to whst you have described here, when I resented having to take part in religious activities that I did not believe in, as directed my mother who is a religious person. That phase was 12 years back and my parents eventually discovered my lack of religious belief. Luckily my father is not too religious himself and believes more in human goodness than rituals; and my mother was gracious enough not to make it a big issue of constant friction between us.

I had the good sense not to rebel overtly and eventually settled into a pattern of doing my 'religious duties' mindlessly token manner with my parents tacitly accepting my lack of belief. However I managed to find a middle ground with my mother by stressing the value of religion's ethical and moral teachings while explicitly discouraging superstition. I also learned to appreciate the social and psychological value of religious messages without taking extreme exception to what I consider meaningless rituals.

It was for me and it is for you a good opportunity to learn the art of compromise. It also takes years to get your parents' acceptance because Indian dociety heavily emphasises religious belief and your parents being orthodox will face a challenge to accept your lack of belief.

You might also have to kearn not to overly proclsim your atheism to the local community at large. Kerp unbelief in your mind and don't challenge orthodoxy. Religion us tsken very seriously in many parts of Infia snd by Indians in many parts of the world. Your unvelief is your own budiness but you will learn to tolerate some religiodity and concentrate on achieving your life aims.

English Student
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