In a world where religious identity is likely to cast a long shadow over individual choice, a comment by Kerala High Court judge Justice V G Arun spoke volumes. Speaking at a felicitation function recently organized in writer Vaisakhan's name, the judge declared this straight-forward but powerful statement: "Children who study in schools with no religious identity are the hope for the future."
The event, organized by Kerala Yukthivadi Sangham — a rationalist organization — was meant to celebrate literary voices that have dared to question, challenge, and think for themselves. But Justice Arun's words prompted a larger debate. In praising parents who resist giving a religious label to their children in schools, he nudged society ever so softly towards redefining what it means to raise a free-thinking generation.
"Those children," he asserted, "will raise their fingers when others are silent. They will question society when others are confused." It was not a statement; it was a call to arms to revere questioning over conformity.
There was also a tone of underlying frustration in his statement. Justice Arun spoke about how rarely one comes across people with unflinching convictions. He instead alluded to the spread of what he has called "social media warriors" — fast to act, slow to reflect. "A portion of the cases I am handling are FIRs for social media posts. Writers are being attacked like vultures," he averred, providing a glimpse into the kind of online hostility thinkers today have to face.
The judge's words come at a time when questions of identity, secularism, and free speech are under scrutiny in India. But beneath the judge's robes and public posturing, his message was one of deep personal intimacy — about raising children free from inherited baggage, but empowered by independent thinking.
In a world more and more sundered day by day, perhaps this vision — of children educated to think, not just to conform — is the kind of hope we're looking for.
