I wrote last month about Sanal Edamaruku, the Indian skeptic who has had to flee his country because of death threats after he dared to point out religious nonsense that was hurting people. Now, another Indian rationalist has been assassinated. Narenda Dabholkar had led a campaign to get one local government to pass legislation banning superstitious scams and black magic, the first of its kind in India. With his death, this landmark bill may not become law, which means criminals will continue to pull their cons on unsuspecting people. As Sanal said today when asked who might have killed Narenda, “It is not the victims of superstition who are normally against rationalists but the exploiters who are using superstition and are using the gullibility of people, they are the ones against us.”
