Media Release
Mangaluru, Jan 5: St Aloysius BEd College, a leading institute of teacher education in the city organised a one day lecture on the topic, 'Constitutional rights and scientific temper'.
Dr Narendra Nayak, a notable rationalist and god-man debunker, here was the speaker. He began his session by speaking on the preamble of Indian constitution. He explained the various terms of the preamble with examples and evidences. Secularism mandates a uniform civil code. That is a matter of principle of the Indian constitution. The heart of Article 19 says: everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression, this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media.
He also talked about his experience in deconstructing the miracles and cures of faith healers. He showed through exhibits and videos the sleight of the hand and mouth used by godmen to dupe people through their tricks and manipulation.
He conducted various demonstrations and experiments to disprove the legitimacy of miracles and black magic done by godmen on people to loot money. Participants through video clippings were also sensitized on how most of the faith healers harm their followers. They claim that they can diagnose diseases such as cancer and tuberculosis by using crystals and asking patients to stop visiting their doctors. The fact that people who fervently believe in such pseudo-scientific claims give up on scientifically credible medical advice and evidence based medicine is the most dangerous outcome of the influence of faith-healers.
The latter part of the session focused on interaction. Students actively brought up various topics of discussion and asked Dr Nayak about his views on God and religion and his worldview as a sceptic and atheist.
Sarika Rodrigues, lecturer, rendered the welcome address and introduced the speaker to the audience. Prabhakar retired chief manager, Syndicate Bank and Shyam Sundar Rao, retired manager, Syndicate Bank- Mangaluru were the guests of honour. Dr Farita Viegas, principal, graced the session. Joshna B, staff coordinator organized the session.