Philippine Atheists

Last Sunday evening, I chanced upon this lady selling religious merchandise just outside the Akabane Catholic Church in north Tokyo. I decided to hang out here after coming from work and for thirty minutes I watched her sell magic Catholic stuffs like rosaries, statuettes, and banners. She said that the rosaries were blessed at Baclaran Church and that they bring all kinds of luck - mas gaganda ang guhit ng palad mo - according to one of her sales pitch. The bracelet even had a proper method of removing from the wrist by slowly sliding it instead of stretching it. But I thought, maybe it’s because if you stretch it, it may snap due to poor quality in both material and craftsmanship as usually is the case. Listening to her gives an impression of how Pinoys combine elements of traditional native superstition and pseudo-science with the cult that is Catholicism. And judging from the attention and appreciation by the buyers, gives the impression that the masa is also so well into it. For example, she said the beads of the rosary have powers which is not much different from magic crystals while saying the statuettes improve the lines of your palm combines elements of palmistry with Catholic garbage. Believe it or not, they sell like cupcakes! That’s how gullible our church-going kababayans here are.

You see, God is a great marketing strategist. Of course, because He is God. Since he created everything your eyes could see, everything your nose can smell, everything your ears could hear, everything your skin could feel and everything your hands would touch. To make it short, damn everything! And because he is such an omni-everything, thinking of a good marketing plan is as easy as kicking a lifeless stone lying around your path. And so he thought of a good plan to promote himself and he gave us this thing called “freedom.” (I would like to emphasize the word “FREE.”) This “freedom” gives us the ability to choose. We can choose weather to believe in Him or not. (I would like to point out that not believing doesn’t mean denying.) But of course, like any other product promotion, it has a catch.

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Before I turned atheist, I tried to bury religion and pass it off as a non-issue. As long as it was not affecting my life too much, I could very much try to live my life as if religion didn’t exist or matter. I call this phase of my belief-to-nonbelief journey as my post-religion phase. I had to search the net for the definition of post-religion but could not find any that is short and simple so I’ll make one. On a personal level, post-religion is a state of not caring about religion. A post-religionist thinks that religion should not be given too much time, attention, and thought. On a cultural level, post-religion is what characterizes a society where religion is no longer a considerable influence in the day-to-day events of the society taken as a whole; when religion is a spent force in matters of public policy, and where religion sales force, the priests and bishops and imams and mullahs are no longer considered authorities on truth, morality, and origins. GMA’s recent SONA clearly reminded us that the Philippines is not yet showing signs of transitioning from a religion-based society into a post-religion society. A post-religion society is brought about with considerable push from secularist ideas such as humanism, agnosticism, and atheism.

Going back to my personal experience, and in my post-religion phase, I held the idea that religion is plain absurdity, and as such, I would not have cared much except on certain occasions when it reared its ugly head and coerced me to act in accordance to what is normally expected of every Pinoy given the irrational idea of the majority that to be Pinoy is necessarily to be Catholic (at least in most parts of the country). I always resented it but I chose not to speak up so as not to disturb the peace. This caused an unnecessary amount of internal conflict. Each time, I wished for the day when to the majority Filipinos religion shall have been relegated to where it rightfully belongs: in the fringes of society, a spent force in public policy, and just an after-thought in the personal lives of the average Pinoys. Personally, I don’t believe that atheism is the (sole) answer to bring post-religion about. Atheism, by itself, doesn’t have anything to offer in terms of morality or happiness or apparent meaningfulness of life - three of the most abused arguments supporting the practicality of having a religion. Atheism is simply about the truthfulness of the existence of a being that many religionists worship one way or another. Atheism will not matter much in a post-religion society but rather, atheism (or new atheism) is a reaction to the fantastic, to the outrageous, to the fabulous claims of religion. In a post-religion society where there are less people with religion, there will be more atheists who are also post-atheists.

Today is the fifth anniversary of the terrorist attack in New York. Five years ago today, I turned on the TV for the bi-lingual news braodcast and the first image that I saw was the live footage of the first tower of the World Trade Center burning. Still couldn’t make up what it was all about, I pressed the record button on my VHS recorder, knowing that it’s an event of significance. Not long after, a second jetliner struck the second tower. I almost cried watching them burn and crumble as by this time I was already so angry at the people who could have done it. There are the usual suspects. It could not have been an accident. This is one reason why faith, specially the fanatical type, should be re-examined for its relevance in this rapidly shrinking world where we are neighbors to people of diverse cultural background. Tolerance should be a word the believers should keep to heart. It’s the word that is last on the minds of these religious fanatics. The people who perpetrated this crime seemed to have been peaceful citizens of their communities until that time, except that in their mind, they were blinded by their faith in a phantom god. This is what happens when we blindly believe all things taught us, specially by people with political agenda, with promises of paradise and threats of hell, our belief can lead us to some unimaginable deeds.

El Shaddai mobilized vs signature campaign. While I would prefer a society where religion is a spent force, a social phenomenon too weak to be a factor in shaping public policies, it’s within the religionists’ right to express their own (collective) political opinion as fellow citizens. But how are we sure that when religious groups like El Shaddai mobilize their people, the members themselves take part on their own free will and not just pawns blindly following their leaders?

Building religious groups is a very profitable way of investing one’s energy where the rewards often include power and money as found out by these now-rich leaders who will not hesitate to wield the same power and money to influence public policies that affect everybody - believers, agnostics, and atheists alike. In our country where religion and politics are so intertwined, and where organized religion is as strong as ever, founding a new religion is a proven vehicle for achieving considerable success in putting one’s political agenda on the discussion table.

I myself am against the signature campaign launched by the greedy selfish politicians so they can plunder the nation’s coffers longer than what their terms now would allow but I wish there are more secular and effective ways we can stop these endless schemes by the demons of Congress and Malacanang.

Today is Palm Sunday. It marks the beginning of Holy Week as celebrated by Christendom. Palm Sunday commemorates the triumphant entry of Jesus Christ to Jerusalem. I don’t really understand why they call it triumphant because a few days later he was to be arrested and put to death by crucifixion.

This time of week, specially on Thursday and Friday, Metro Manila will be reduced to ghost town as people head to their home provinces to meet friends and relatives and watch the endless reenactment of the life of Jesus Christ. This holiday season culminates to Easter Sunday commemorating the alleged resurrection of Christ. That is, if we believe all the story to be true. The picture above is the poon dead Christ as paraded in the streets like how the Italians did in the Godfather movies. Here is another picture of the same poon taken a few minutes earlier.

Both pictures taken Good Friday of 2003.

OPEN LETTER TO THE UNITED NATIONS

Our world is wracked with malevolence and embroiled in violence not because of too little, but because of too much religion. Indeed, religion has always been and still is in the business of multiplying hate rather than be with the efforts of dividing peace and love and grace for the human race.

The Christians do not understand their own Bible. The Muslims do not understand their own Koran. In fact, if both believers took the trouble to read and understand each other’s holy book, they would learn that their scriptures are based upon older sources written by primitives who were more at home with horoscope but not the telescope or the microscope. Sacred books should be about dignity of the human community, and not about contrary beliefs that inspires enmity or hostility. Continue Reading »

DEFINITION OF CHRISTIANITY

Christianity: A middle-eastern religion that has its roots deeply entrenched in the doctrines of the Judaism. In the modern context, Christianity, and the role of a Christian, has taken some unconventional definitions.

In his lecture that was presented was delivered at the Battersea Town Hall under the auspices of the South London Branch of the National Secular Society, England, Bertrand Russell (Nobel Prize winner, Mathematician and philosopher) sought to define the boundaries of Christianity and the average Christian.

A Christian, in Russell’s terms, must fulfill a few basic criteria:

1. A Christian believes in God (in a monotheistic sense) and the immortality of the human soul.

2. The belief in Jesus Christ’s divinity, or at the very least, the belief that Jesus is in league with the wisest of men.

3. One is a Christian, in the sense of his/her nationality. E.g: One who lives in a Christian country, e.g a British citizen, is a Christian by virtue of his British citizenship. He continues to add that religion in a geographical sense is impractical, since one can live in a Christian country and not believe in a Christian creed.

Russell also noted that a Christian need not necessarily believe in a hell. Continue Reading »

Disturbing. This was actually written in one placard in the demostration held by Filipino Muslims earlier in Manila today - all because of comic strips. Is this a valid expression of opinion? This reminds me of the Iranian President who in a speech made last year said that Israel should be wiped out off the map or moved to Europe.