I think the Atheistic and Skeptic movements will remain small in India largely because of the liberal nature of Hinduism. As the author points out, there’s no right or wrong/ Dos or Don’ts guidelines that are enforced by a centralised authority.

For most Hindus, religious customs and rituals in marriage and other ceremonies are very important from a social perspective and not a religious one. Since their religious beliefs do not come into play, a large number of agnostics are happy to remain so; fulfilling their social obligations and at the same time not being threatened by religious pressures.

Again, in India, if you ask a Hindu, “Do you believe in God?”, the answer will probably be “Yes” but it won’t mean that ‘they know there is a God’. Because here, belief in God means belief in a journey of enquiry of God and belief in the ways to do so (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moksha) and not an end-result of ‘knowing’ there is a God. I feel most Hindus fall under the ‘I don’t know’ category and thus don’t feel the need for labels.

http://odeo.com/episodes/88016

In my opinion, it is by far the best overview of the Hindu dharm in existence in English.

Here is a quote from Swami Vivekananda from the Parliament of Religions in 1893 in Chicago, IL:

“From the high spiritual flights of the Vedanta philosophy, of which the latest discoveries of science seem like echoes, to the low ideas of idolatry with its multifarious mythology, the agnosticism of the Buddhists, and the atheism of the Jains, each and all have a place in the Hindu’s religion.”

You can find the complete speech here:

http://www.ramakrishnavivekananda.info/vivekananda/volume_1/addresses_at_the_parliament/v1_c1_paper_on_hinduism.htm

…Fixed.

Thanks for the correction!

However, I think even many Hindus or the followers of Hinduism do not know or realize about this fact. I’ve seen some Hindu’s also speak somewhat bad about another Indian simply because he or she chose an Atheistic path. Perhaps, people still do speak somewhat bad about you at your back, but even if heard by other Indian Atheist, I don’t think it will end up becoming a huge “Holy” war anyways because they’ll just ignore the negative comments.

The other reason I see there’s not much of a problem is because the Atheists in India is rather small in number and so it does not really cause a threat to the religious existence.

Today, the Atheist and Skeptic movement of India lead by people like Narendra Nayak, Prabir Ghosh, Basava Premanand (you can read more about them online in Wikipedia) have receive threats, even death threats to stop what they are doing. There are religious and some hired Hindu groups and gangsters who want these Atheist and Skeptic movements to stop exposing the Hindu religion and other superstitious beliefs because this is one way the Hindu charlatans are making money and controlling the masses with power.

Right now, the opposition is quite small as these Atheist and Skeptic movements are quite small in number as well. But I wonder will it remain the same if these Atheist and Skeptic movements become larger and more influential in the near future and when it pose a bigger threat to the religious movement?