Jesus, I Am Not a Christian: (Lectures and Essays)

By Krishnan Kutty

Was Jesus Christ a Christian? Jesus, I am not a Christian contains sensitive statements on a variety of topics like religion, science, education, language and economics which will help humanity evolve into a higher realm of moral consciousness. They reflect a passionate indignation at the exploitation of man by man. Specifically designed to contribute to the creation of an egalitarian society, the articles are tempered with scientific rationality.The rational will promote them; the irrational will oppose them; but neither can ignore them.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Partridge Publishing India
• Release date: Nov 19, 2014
• ISBN: 9781482841442

Krishnan Kutty

Armed with the principles of dialectical and historical materialism, he substantiates that idealism, philosophically untenable, cannot account for literary processes rationally. To him, written texts are semiotic inscriptions of ideological class struggle. Dwelling on the labor theory of language, he highlights the materialistic content of literary consciousness.

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Copyright © 2014 by Dr. K.P.Krishnankutty

ISBN:      Softcover      978-1-4828-4145-9

                eBook            978-1-4828-4144-2

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Contents

Foreword

Introduction

I Lectures:

Jesus, I am not a Christian

I am also a Scientist

I do not Know Mathematics

A Euphemism for Aggressive Capitalism

Towards a Philosophy of Interdisciplinary Research

II Essays:

Education and Value Concepts

Knowledge and Belief

Prof. Yashpal should have Talked Politics

A Paradigm Shift in Education—KSSP Interventions

English Language and India: Experiences, Colonial and Neo-colonial.

Foreword

I should consider myself fortunate that I had, during my more than three decades’ long career as a college teacher, the opportunity to associate myself with the radical intellectuals in the Association of Kerala Government College Teachers (AKGCT) and the Kerala Sasthra Sahithya Parishad (KSSP), a people’s science movement. The deliberations at the forums of these organizations have, gratefully I should admit, changed my views. They have helped me strengthen my political convictions, introducing me to disciplines like economics, education, science, religion and philosophy. The insight received from them has greatly enabled me to carry out my duties as Principal, the official position that I held towards the fag-end of my ca reer.

I had the opportunity to work as the Principal of two colleges—one at Kodancherry, in Calicut and the other at Kottayam. In both colleges, many academic programs were conducted with the support of the students and the teachers there. I am really nostalgic of the days when I could share their intense academic enthusiasm. Sincerely I thank them for their love, respect and cooperation.

The lectures and essays compiled here for publication in book form are a record of my personal involvement in the academic events at Government College, Kottayam. They reflect my views on the topics discussed. Though many years have passed by since they were first composed, I think the issues considered therein have social relevance even now.

I am happy that Prof. G. Madhavan Nair, my first teacher at N.S.S.College, Pandalam and the former General Secretary of the All Kerala Private College Teachers’ Association (AKPCTA), who continues to be my guide even now, has kindly graced this book with his matter of fact Introduction. I thank him sincerely.

K.P.Krishnankutty

Introduction

I t is with great pleasure that I write a few words about the lectures and essays of Dr. K.P.Krishnankutty who is an old student and a close friend of mine. They are discussions on Secularism, Education, Science, Politics, Globalization, etc. which are of great national and international signific ance.

Dr.Krishnankutty has been bold enough to express his views unequivocally about religion in a gathering of religious men and women from different parts of India. As he himself admits, his attitude to religion is critical. He exposes the hollowness of religious priests who often support the establishment and accuses them of forgetting Christ who fought for social and political justice. Though his interpretation of religion as a whole is materialistic, he throws much light on many of the drawbacks of institutionalized religion.

In his speech entitled ‘I am also a Scientist’, Dr. Krishnankutty, after explaining what is science, hopes that future scientists will be able to derive a final theory of the Universe which would answer all our questions regarding its nature. In this context, it may be noted that there is a book by name Science and the Akashic Field written by Erwin Lazlo, an American scientist that speaks about the mystery of the Universe in a language that closely resembles the language of Indian Philosophy.

About Interdisciplinary Research Dr. Krishnankutty points out that any project would be successful only if there is sufficient commitment on the part of the people involved. Incidentally, he points out the modern trend of developing egoistic individuality and gory competitiveness is inhuman and anti-social. Interdisciplinary study will help us get a comprehensive and scientific view of life. He then explains the meaning and growth of knowledge in the contemporary ‘Knowledge Society’. Comparing Belief and Knowledge, he says that belief is essentially subjective and basically agnostic whereas Knowledge is objective. When Belief makes a man superstitious, Knowledge makes him rational and helps him understand the nature and the structure of the Universe. Belief expands horizontally and Knowledge grows vertically upwards. Lack of Knowledge and growth of Belief have made our world a darkling plain where ignorant armies clash by night.

Writing about education he reminds us of Dr.Kothari’s famous words that the destiny of a nation is being shaped in its class rooms. He thinks that the students are prevented from imbibing the essential virtues of the economic and political set up. Students are the worst victims of globalization and the commercial culture it propagates.

In another essay on education, Dr. Krishnankutty says that education is also a political activity. Educational system performs three functions; it helps the privileged to dominate, to domesticate the under privileged and also tends to liberate. The process of liberating the masses is a political activity and hence educationalists, according to him, should not hesitate to speak politics. That is why he criticizes Prof. Yashpal, the Chairman of the National Steering Committee on Education in India for being politically neutral.

The advent of globalization marks a new era in world politics which has caused untold misery to the people of the developing and under developed countries. Globalization aims at unbridled economic exploitation of the natural and human resources of the third world and rampant privatization. People all over the world have begun to realize the dangers of globalization and have started agitations against the exploitation by multinational corporate houses. Globalization, as he points out, is only a continuation of the colonial imperialism of the olden days. This phenomenon of the modern capitalism reminds us of the prediction by Karl Marx in his Communist Manifesto.

In the article Towards a Paradigm Shift in Education, Dr. Krishnankutty describes in detail the conditions that prevailed in the field of education in Kerala before and after Independence. Caste considerations and economic backwardness prevented thousands from getting education. All that has changed. That is why Amartya Sen admires what Kerala has achieved in the field of education. Dr. Krishnankutty points out that this was possible because of the timely intervention of progressive forces and the KSSP in particular. The KSSP first tried to bring about a scientific attitude among people freeing them from superstitions. Then it spread its wings and touched various areas like increasing literacy, improving health habits, creating awareness about native language and above all actively intervening in the field of education. It was not easy for the KSSP to do this. Religious fanatics and conservative politicians opposed their attempt and did all that was possible to defeat them.

When the British people who came here for business decided to establish their empire here, the Queen of England sent her representative Lord Macaulay to chalk out a program of action for this purpose. After studying the situation and the people of India, Macaulay wrote to the queen of England as follows: "The language of the people of India comes from their heart. The best way to conquer them is through