Worship the thought

Religion has always been personal to me (and I think it should be to every single person - a believer, an agnostic or an atheist).

After switiching sides from being a journalist to doing what ever nameless chore I do now, I was, at multiple instances, forced to take on a view about MY religion - something I hate doing. Of course I had this misconception that journalists are more secular than the rest of the world but alas I am told that is not true anymore and now I choose not to have an opinion on that matter..

I came across this essay by Pankaj Mishra in the comments for this post on The Vernacular Body and well.. it must be read. Crisp and covers so much in a single sweep.

[....]Religion to them was more unselfconscious practice than rigid belief; it is partly why Indian theology accommodates atheism and agnosticism. Their rituals and deities varied greatly, defined often by caste and geography; and they were also flexible: new goddesses continue to enrich the pantheon even today. There is an AIDS goddess which apparently both causes and eradicates the disease. At any given time, both snakes and the ultimate reality of the universe were worshipped in the same region, sometimes by the same person. [...]