The Hidden World of South Asian Atheism

The history of South Asian atheism dates back thousands of years.

Despite this, the number of official atheists in the subcontinent is remarkably small.

The question also arises: Do South Asian atheists in the diaspora have similar experiences?

South Asia is the birthplace of many ancient major religions, such as Hinduism and Buddhism, and it remains a region with incredibly high adherence to religion to this day.

British South Asians are more likely to use religion to define their identity than the rest of the British population.

For many South Asian atheists, there are socio-cultural pressures to conform to religion, but also fears of being killed and other practical concerns.

South Asia’s Atheist History

The subcontinent has a long history of atheism.

According to historian Dag Herbjornsrud, the world’s oldest and most documented atheist tradition stems from areas within what is known as modern-day India.

Herbjornsrud says such philosophies have been around since Vedic times, predating Europe.

Around 600 BC, in the Vedic era, the Charvaka philosophy said “that which cannot be perceived cannot exist”.

The Charvaka school rejected rituals, scriptures like the Vedas, and the caste system, advocating instead for direct perception and rational thought.

This made it an early form of atheist philosophy.

Even more intriguing is that the ancient Indus Valley civilisation did not have any signs of organised religion.

This absence of temples or religious iconography contrasts with later Vedic society, where elaborate rituals and priestly classes dominated.

The Indus Valley civilisation covered what is today the Pakistani provinces of Punjab and Sindh.

No temples or signs of any organised religion have yet been found among the remains. However, there is evidence of small female statues, which some argue are proof of prayers to a mother God, but academics have suggested they may just be statues of real people.

In the more modern era, Indian revolutionary Bhagat Singh was an outspoken atheist before he was executed for the murder of Officer JP Saunders.

He wrote his famous Why I am an Atheist from prison in 1930.

Experience of Being British South Asian and an Atheist

According to the 2021 census, 9.3% of the UK population were defined as ‘Asian’, the vast majority of whom are ethnically South Asian.

Thirty-seven per cent of the UK is now non-religious, which is far higher than any country in South Asia.

In contrast, India’s 2011 census recorded fewer than 0.3% of the population explicitly identifying as non-religious, though social scientists argue the real number is higher.

For some, being an atheist is taboo and speaking out can receive backlash.

In 2024, a Hindu charity threatened to report Leicester Secular Society to the police for a talk given by a former Hindu turned atheist criticising their former religion.

Imtiaz Shamz and Aliyah Saleem are prominent British ex-Muslims who founded Faith to Faithless.

The organisation is now under the umbrella of Humanists UK to help those who left high-control religions and may have nowhere else to turn.

They also train frontline professionals to safeguard apostates who may be at risk of isolation or abuse.

Despite these examples, open British South Asian atheists are small in number and underreported, with no official data published.

Manav told DESIblitz he grew up religious with Hindu parents from India but became an atheist in his early 20s.

When asked why there are so few South Asian atheists, he stated:

“There are 33 million beings and lots of festivals in Hinduism, and some may feel they have to honour it.”

Many atheists may still practice religious festivals to honour cultural traditions or please friends and family. In addition, they may tick a religious box on the census for cultural reasons; a reflection of their heritage, not necessarily their beliefs.

Sarbjit, who identifies herself as an atheist, says:

“My family are followers of Sikhism but I am not. Simply because my take is that you either follow the faith fully or you do not.

“There are many hypocrites who claim they are Sikhs but do everything opposite under the sun.”

“I feel they are Punjabis and not real Sikhs, which is something I identify more with culture, not faith out of respect.”

“Yes, I do attend the festivals and ceremonies at the temple with my family, especially to please my mum, being a girl. But it’s more of a social gathering for me.”

Reality in South Asia

The true number of modern South Asian atheists is underreported because of how dangerous it can be to go public and how countries in the region fail to acknowledge non-religion.

Deepa Bharath reported that in India, “most atheists and rationalists choose to keep quiet about their scepticism of faith, it’s easier and far less risky than going public in one of the world’s most religious countries”.

This is not without reason.

In 2013, Narendra Dabholkar was shot by members of the Hindu group Sanatan Sanstha. He was the founder of the Maharashtra Andhashraddha Nirmoolan Samiti, a group campaigning to eradicate superstition and promote scientific temper.

In 2017, in Pakistan, student Mashal Khan was shot and beaten with sticks by a mob for referring to himself as ‘the Humanist’ on Facebook. He was also falsely accused of blasphemy, a charge that often incites violence in Pakistan despite a lack of due process.

Humanism is a non-religious outlook on life, and similarly to India, in Pakistan, this expression can upset religious conservatives.

For these reasons, many atheists feel unsafe in the subcontinent, so they often remain silent and do not openly and officially identify themselves as atheist.

Individuals from South Asian backgrounds can feel freer to express their thoughts anonymously online when it comes to atheism.

For example, the subreddit r/atheismindia has 29,000 followers, highlighting that atheism is a reality and a point of focus for many Indians.

Other forums, like Indian Atheists and Ex-Muslims of India on Facebook, also provide platforms for support and discussion among sceptics.

When asked what it is like to be an atheist in India, one user said:

“It’s a lot easier to say that you don’t believe in something when you are from a metropolitan area than in a lot of rural areas.”

This difference in lived experiences may be because metropolitan areas are more likely to have higher rates of education than rural ones.

Another person in India reflected on the pressure atheists face to be ‘culturally Hindu’:

“People are generally tolerant when I refuse to pray or believe in God, but they expect me to be a ‘cultural Hindu’.

“It means that they don’t like it when I refuse to participate in religious rituals.

“There are many atheists in the cities who identify as being culturally Hindu because it’s a socially acceptable form of atheism in this country.”

Whilst the official statistics do not show many atheists, this may be because non-believers do not identify as such.

South Asian atheism may be underreported, but it is far from absent.

Across the diaspora and the subcontinent, silent sceptics and cultural non-believers challenge religious norms in deeply personal ways.

Their refusal to conform, sometimes quietly, sometimes at great risk, exposes the fragile line between identity, belief, and survival.

In a region where religion is tightly woven into family, politics, and public life, rejecting faith is not simply a personal choice, it’s a social act with consequences.

Until non-belief is allowed space in mainstream discourse, many atheists will remain hidden in plain sight, navigating a complex world where silence often feels safer than truth.