'Religion Belongs to the Dark Ages': Says Lyricist Javed Akhtar

Bollywood writer-lyricist Javed Akhtar has always been vocal about his atheism and faith and how he does not believe in God. In a recent conversation, he expressed his views about religion comparing religion to schizophrenia and saying it belongs to dark ages.

Javed Akhtar said, “The 20th and 21st century is the time of schizophrenia, people have split personalities.” He added, “we are rational, logical but a part of our brain is damaged in a childhood when we had no choice.”

To support his argument, he used an instance about an ISRO scientist, "A man in India from ISRO, who can send a rocket to the precise place of moon… But moon had chandralok, devi-devtas used to live there, you are sending a rocket there, and the moment you send it, you go out and you go to the temple. This is schizophrenia. It has happened for the first time in human history where your own knowledge and information, which you own, and your faith are not on the same page."

He further said, “All these religions, all the religions without exception, belong to the dark ages. Their roots are in the dark ages. You bring the dark age with you. Your umbilical cord has not been cut from the dark ages.”

Javed Akhtar has been the talk of the town alongside Salim Khan because of the recently releaded Amazon Prime Video docu series, ‘Angry Young Men’, that traces the journey of the iconic writers duo who gave multiple blockbusters.