Vijayawada: The new capital city of Amaravati is going to witness a two-day 9th World Atheist Conference on January 6 and 7, 2016 in which a number of people from India and abroad are going to take part in the deliberations on “The Necessity of Scientific Outlook and Secularism.” The Conference will be held in the Siddhartha Auditorium at Siddhartha Arts & Science College in Vijayawada.

Vijayawada has a special place in the history of atheism as the noted atheist leader and proponent of positive atheism Goparaju Ramachandra Rao, popularly known as Gora, established the world’s first known atheist centre here.

The 9th World Atheist Conference will be a historic occasion to bring people from across India and the world to discuss issues concerning promotion of scientific outlook, secularism and to strengthen the democratic ramparts in India and globally.

The chief guest of the conference will be Avinash Patel, chairman of Maharashtra Andh Shraddha Nirmulan Samiti, which was founded by late Dr Narendra Dabholkar. Dravidar Kazhgam President and Periyar Maniammai University Chancellor, Dr. K Veeramani will inaugurate the conference.

German humanist and atheist Dr Volker Mueller will preside over the inaugural function. German Member of Parliament Alfred Harald Petzold, Norwegian Humanist Association leader Robert Rustad, American Atheists Texas State President, Aron Ra and National President of the Federation of Indian Rationalist Association (FIRA) Dr Narendra Nayak and others will participate in the deliberations.