The GORGON's Mask

Our Rotten Culture

2010-08-31T06:42:00.001-07:00

Until lately, I’ve tried to convince myself that this country is still worth fighting for, that the supreme sacrifice of our noble heroes from GOMBURZA to Ninoy were not in vain; that pride for my race and people is a badge I would continue to wear. Yet, as I’ve come to terms with the realities that continue to hound and slap me on the face in a day to day basis since my inception into the world of local politics and demagoguery; that after experiencing and witnessing countless, recurring and palpable incompetent, idiotic, indifferent, fraudulent and deceptive practices of every conceivable bureaucratic nonsense in almost every branch, department, agency and political unit of our government, there is very little room for me to doubt that this country is ROTTEN and DESPICABLE!

I am certain many of my bleeding heart compatriots and the ultra-nationalists, jingoist types will denounce me for expressing such a cruel, unpatriotic and sweeping statement; that Pinoy Pride-bashing—which I doubt if it still has something left to bash—is the last thing we need to recover from the recent shame and condemnation from the international community as a result of last Monday’s hostage fiasco. It’s really comically absurd to hear Filipinos furiously react to racist slurs and criticisms from foreigners particularly from personalities like Adam Carolla, Claire Danes, Jay Leno, Alec Baldwin, Jimmy Kimmel to name a few, and the TV show Desperate Housewives where Teri Hatcher blurted a line about Filipino nurses, as well as the not so distant incident in Hong Kong where a sign was reportedly placed not allowing dogs and Filipinos vis-à-vis in some building or place—where it instantly became mass hysteria to demand for redress and apology while we fail to take note of our own racial insensitive jokes and insults about other people with darker skin color like Africans or Blacks and our very own Aetas by calling them all sorts of nasty pejoratives. This is not to mention how we paint racial stereotypes about other races like Indians, Chinese and Japanese—calling them ‘beho’, ‘bombay’, ‘singkit’ and ‘sakang’. What about our pejorative collective labeling of ‘igorot’ the indigenous people of the cordilleras? What about our discriminatory attitude toward gays, people with physical defects, deformities and disabilities, the ugly, the short, the fat, etc.—often the butt of jokes? Such is our penchant for double standard hypocrisy. We are sensitive to racial slurs against us by other races yet we are desensitized by our own against others. We demand for diplomatic and public redress for every grievance we hold against any foreign nation, state or entity yet we do nothing to improve ourselves.

I have therefore come to the conclusion that we are not inferior because of our skin color, we are inferior because of our culture. I am attacking this inferior culture of hypocrisy, unabashed arrogance for excuse or ‘palusot’; of cosmetic reparation instead of concrete solutions; of putting up rosy and gaudy facades to hide the glaring dystopia; of religious fatalism and passivity instead of educated rational and scientific approach to problems…

The incompetence and stupidity that we continue to witness from time to time from our government officials and personnel (this encompasses the executive, congress, judiciary, military, police and local governments) has cultural roots. It is us—the people—the possessors of knowledge, ideas, and practices—who put them there in the first place are solely to blame for every shame, criticism, condemnation, insult, racial slur and bigotry that we receive from other nations and peoples around the world. It is our own undoing. We can’t blame the people of Hong Kong for venting their ire to the whole Filipino nation for our government’s incompetence in addressing hostage situations that often involve foreigners. (I hope people can still remember what happened to the botched military rescue operation of kidnapped American missionary couple Gracia and Martin Burnham from the Abu Sayyaf where Martin was killed by friendly fire from soldiers of the Philippine army.) Perhaps, we would feel and do the same if our own citizens were taken hostages and killed too in China due to the incompetence of their police and government. Mind you, it was no ‘isolated incident’ as our officials so desperately would like to pass it off. How many more ‘isolated incidents’ of hostage rescue fiascos, bus accidents, sinking ships, kidnappings, massacres and murder of journalists, etc., do we have to count in order for our geniuses in the government to acknowledge their incompetence and stupidity? How many million more Filipinos have to leave and immigrate to foreign countries to become slaves only later to come home abused and murdered in order for the government to act and put up a sensible economic system that would create and generate jobs in this country? We can’t blame other countries for treating us the way they do—a nation of servants and whores—because our very own government is selling and pimping us for the dollars we earn to feed its burgeoning useless and corrupt bureaucracy!

We were led to believe in a delusion that we were a great nation and a chosen people of God, the so-called new Jerusalem—fed by the antiquated, revisionist educational system and the theocratic irrational machinations and mysticisms of the Catholic Church together in cahoots with the other organized Christian denominations that stunted our people’s minds. We became desensitize and dogmatically blind to our own defects and inferiorities. Morally and intellectually stagnated, complacent of our colonial and pluralistic cultural heritage, we refused to submit ourselves to the onslaught of political, social and cultural paradigm shifts that shook the world for decades, to focus on ourselves and improve our culture. As a result, our educational system has degenerated, mass-producing a half-baked educated populace that could not rise to the demands of a highly-sophisticated global economy and community—the same populace that feed and unwittingly perpetuate incompetent, corrupt and stupid politicians in the government. And now the domino has fallen.

The incident is now a wake up call to our nation that we need to improve our ways of thinking and attitudes. It is a glaring amplification of the condition of our culture—a backward, retarded, dysfunctional and inferior one. Notwithstanding the notable accomplishments of countless individual Filipinos in their respective fields and expertise throughout the world and within, our country has remained poor, staggering and left behind in a growing economically competitive and developing Asian region. We’ve been through almost every kind of political upheaval, revolutions, coups, rebellion, wars and insurgency yet our political system has remained stagnant, feudal, oligarchic, rent-seeking, booty-driven and predatory. A nation so obsessed with freedom yet it spits on freedom.

Where would you find a nation who proudly proclaims itself to the world as a bastion of democracy in Asia yet when the constitutional democratic process of transfer of power through electoral suffrage had arrived, a significant number of the electorate would sell their conscience and political right for a measly sum or favor either out of fear or for outright need? For the past 24 years, we have only managed to march on streets as a mob to oust one klepto-dictator only to replace it with a bungling plunderer and an avaricious, hubris-driven, power-grabbing midget who shamelessly manipulated and rigged an election. Ironically, the forces that our people sought to destroy and drive away decades ago are now back and restored to their seats of power—perhaps, just waiting and conspiring for the perfect moment for them to grab and seize to fully restore themselves to their former glory and political power. How distorted could be our sense of history?

Like most government institutions, the institution that was mandated to implement and oversee this democratic process (COMELEC) is itself spurious. It has never been the people’s ally but rather a complicit tool and co-conspirator to the designs of the power-obsessed oligarchs, plunderers and scrupulous criminals that walk from our corridors of power down to the grassroots colonies of the disenfranchised clueless ignorant village folks. I am privy to almost every sinister secret election fraud committed since I grew up and was raised in a politically active environment. Yet, it seemed every crime was committed with impunity and buried under the rubbles of apathy and indifference. We allowed this to happen. We committed mistakes, regretted them, only later to commit them again with appalling disconnect to the errors and horrors of the past. Despite of these experiences and knowledge, we allowed these things to become ingrained in our psyche to become what we call culture. We failed to discard the bad ones and retain the good ones and instead did the opposite.

If Rizal were alive today, he would be horrified to witness the country he yearned and fought for ruined by its failure to grasp his teachings and ideology—drowning in a cultural quagmire. Whether we can lift ourselves up from this bog of moral bankruptcy or not, a significant damage has already been done to our image and status as a nation. It would take generations more, if ever, granting our people and culture would improve to cast off ourselves of the stigma that mars us as a nation and as a people. It’s high time that this nation should stop supplicating the air it exhales and polishing the tiled floors and wooden pews of the church with their knees through pointless praying and instead start working, learning and educating itself.

A Bishop's Banana

2009-08-17T18:52:00.000-07:00

A Catholic bishop is now fretting over a “Banana” and he wants it banned! It’s the title of a novelty song now becoming a hit, perhaps, unwittingly, due to the attention brought to it by Caloocan Bishop Deogracias Iñegez.

In a radio interview, the adamant prelate labeled such songs “immoral” and “against the teaching of the Church” for their alleged explicit or obscene double meaning lyrics that might encourage young people to engage in casual sex particularly the other hit song “Nagmamahal Ako ng Bakla”.

It seems once again, though awkwardly, the Catholic Church asserts its hegemonic moralizing dogma -- so backward, sexually-repressive, homophobic, discriminatory and hypocritical. The songs are too shoddy for my taste but I believe these things aren’t enough to drive the ordinary Filipino to promiscuity and other depravities, relatively, in the same way rigid Catholic moral dogmas on sex failed to restrain a significant number of Catholic priests all over the world from fornicating, raping and molesting children while bishops participated to cover them up; and neither did it prevent our population from continuously exploding through their so-called natural family planning method as they mislead our poor women by labeling contraception as “abortion” and “immoral.”

This is not the first time that such songs have come out in recent pop culture. It is endemic in every culture where human sexuality is both taboo and celebrated. In fact, these types of songs have already proliferated and sometimes dominated our music industry for decades often parodies or lampoons on Filipino sexuality as a means to channel our anxieties as a people who bravely face socio-economic-political instabilities and religious repression with laughter.

If indeed Bishop Iñegez interprets the said novelty songs as obscene for their so-called duplicity or double meaning, therefore the Song of Solomon or Canticle of Canticles, inter alia, within the Bible which is also replete with double meanings, could be also treated as obscene or “immoral?” I find this verse racy and kinky -- “Canticles 5:4 My beloved put in his hand by the hole of the door, and my bowels were moved for him....” No doubt Solomon was a prolific fornicator.

The bishop was quoted to have said regarding the songs: “it goes against the teaching of love and our respect for sexuality.” Gee, isn’t the song “Nagmamahal Ako ng Bakla” (I’m Loving a Gay Man) about love and sexuality? How can someone preach love and respect when one doesn’t have it? How could the Church assert its moral high ground when it’s already eroded? Single-outing gays, lesbians or homosexuals only goes to prove that the bishop and the Church are really living homophobic artifacts.

If the bishop merely wants to speak about love and respect, or social justice, then why doesn’t he speak against those who traffic and enslave women and children as prostitutes, mail-order-brides, pornography and cheap labor instead of nitpicking some cheap songs over the radio.

I think Bishop Iñegez misjudges and belittles the Filipinos’ capacity for love and respect as much as their intelligence in understanding and choosing songs they want and ought to listen in the same way the Catholic Church had demonized and repressed sexuality since the Dark Ages in the tradition of blind faith, dogma, misogyny and homophobia.

Nobody has the right to impose one’s opinion as the truth for certainly someone will always disagree with it. Human values – be they theological, ethical, social or political – have their source in human nature, experience and culture.

OF GAY FIESTAS, LIVELY ORCHESTRAS AND INTELLECTUAL SIESTAS: AN EVENT IN LA UNION

2009-03-09T07:51:00.000-07:00

Last January 2, 2009, Joshua Lipana, the 17-year old President of the Center for Inquiry Philippines was the guest speaker in our barangay fiesta here in the small sleepy town of Tubao in the northern Ilocano-speaking province of La Union. I invited Josh together with my dear friend Poch Suzara to be our guests but sadly the latter didn’t make it due to his scheduled surgery the following week. Poch is no stranger to La Union since he is personally close to the VALEROs, a prominent business and political clan here.

The kid was both excited and petrified since that was going to be his “baptism of fire” in public speaking and outside his turf in Manila. That was his first mission – a real one – facing an unknown crowd of mixed audience in the grassroots level, young and old, rich and poor, the erudite and the ignorant…

The speaking event was only the first of two nights of our fiesta celebration in our barangay POBLACION, the town center in our municipality of Tubao. But the fiesta was not your typical “barrio fiesta” because it was always grand, colorful and festive from the start. The event was set off by a beauty pageant organized for gays by the youth council or SANGGUNIANG KABATAAN. In fact, even our town mayor, Dante S. Garcia, could not afford to miss it for he knew the excitement and the crowd would be large on such events.

Joshua came with his family in full force. Driving all their way from Manila for more than 200 kilometers to La Union, I knew Josh really meant business when he accepted our invitation. I was honored to welcome his family. This must be the coolest and luckiest kid I have ever met I thought since his grandparents, aunt and mom traveled all the way with him to see him speak in public for the first time. His mom, Arleen, whom I thought was Josh’s sister because of her youthful looks was really the hidden ace in his sleeve. With her intellectual savvy and being a former political activist herself, she was indeed the greatest influence behind this young genius. Like any stage mother, she made sure Josh delivered his best that evening.

Before the speaking event on the eve of January 2, Joshua arrived the night before with a prepared speech in his laptop and was even revising and polishing it the following morning. But we had some brainstorming late during the day and decided to shelve the speech an hour before the program started and he took off with an extemporaneous laid back discourse much to his mom’s approval.

After introducing Josh to speak, I was apprehensive if the crowd could connect with him. He was having butterflies in his stomach moments before his speech, his hands were sweating and cold. But I saw the fire in his eyes, his excitement upon seeing the large crowd that awaited and stared at him as he climbed up the stage and fired his opening salvo…

Joshua took off like a space shuttle. Though he couldn’t speak the Ilocano vernacular, he articulately drove his point in conversational Taglish like a hammer against a nail. Taking cue from the stigma and violence brought by religion and the Church against gays and homosexuals, he relevantly captured the subject of his speech that night.

Revisiting the violent history and proselytizing of Christianity on these islands several centuries ago with the cross and sword by imperialist colonizing Europeans, Joshua cited religious contempt and discrimination against gays in the bible, dogma and official stand of the Church. He said that decades ago, such beauty pageants or explicit display of homosexuality in public was taboo and would induce violent reaction from the homophobic clergy and ignorant religious believers. Citing Islam as another Abrahamic religion that condemns homosexuality and condones misogygny, he deplored how religion could breed violence such as 9/11 and utter disrespect for human rights. He pleaded that gays or homosexuals shouldn’t be treated with contempt and ridicule and should be accepted as a natural aspect of human sexuality.

Joshua moved on to speak about secularism and the importance of the separation of the Church and State in the country. He talked about the meddling of the Catholic Church on the passage of the Reproductive Health bill by misleading the public into believing that it was a bill condoning abortion then he went on to elaborate that it was in fact a step by the government in improving its services on the reproductive health of poor Filipino women especially on contraception and family planning. He reiterated that the Church had always been against everything that was good because progressive ideas always posed a threat to its power, authority and infallibility; and that every human being can be capable of compassion, kindness, altruism and goodwill without belief in a deity or religion. At that moment, I felt and heard the crowd squirming and buzzing on their seats getting a mild dose of electric shock for never in their lives had they heard in public a guest speaker so young and articulate spoke about such defects in their faith, society, government and Church.

For the next eight more minutes or so, Joshua went on to speak about the dark ages, the Crusades, the Inquisition, the religious wars, the murder of Jews and burning of women accused as witches in Salem and in Europe. All in all, he summed up the crimes of the Vatican and its hypocrisy. Though most did not care or were not aware of these histories, I noticed that there were people in the audience who knew such things and often nodded their heads in agreement to the statements made by Josh in his speech. Finally, Josh ended his fifteen-minute speech by rallying the youth, freethinkers, secular humanists and progressives among the audience to speak out and join the Center for Inquiry Philippines in its advocacies of secular humanism, reason, science and freedom of inquiry. It was a well-delivered speech. Josh was well applauded and even Mayor Dante Garcia stood up and shook his hand to congratulate him.

Many young people in our town that night was impressed and inspired by Joshua Lipana’s wit and bravery to come out and speak about the defects of blind faith and dogma. Later on that night, I introduced Joshua to La Union Provincial Board Member Henry Bacurnay who also happened to be a guest that evening though he arrived late. Henry Bacurnay was the former Secretary-General of the Liberal Party. He was also a political activist and an outspoken dissident fiscalizer. He had ties with Amnesty International and traveled extensively abroad attending international conventions on democracy and human rights. He ran for congress years ago in our district but unfortunately and narrowly lost his bid to a moneyed and powerful politician. The event ended with Josh and his family handing the awards to the winners of the gay pageant.

Joshua stayed behind for the next evening’s affair while his family left ahead for Manila. We enjoyed the second and final evening of the fiesta. Here, Joshua met another Provincial Board Member in the person of Atty. Pablo Olarte, a philosophy professor and former mayor of the adjacent town of Agoo. We had a very interesting discussion early that evening about secularism, philosophy, religion, politics and the prospect of CFI La Union chapter. Atty. Olarte even volunteered to be our legal adviser.

It was a long and beautiful evening. The lively and catchy music was provided by two orchestras that played until six o’clock the following Sunday morning -- a few minutes before the nearby church tolled its bells to open its official business day. What a night, and the nostalgia almost deprived us of our much needed siesta from the fiestas, the orchestras and swooning gay señoritas…

Secularism in the Constitution?

2008-09-28T00:02:00.000-07:00

Religion and politics in our country are interwoven like a fabric that separating the two threads would amount to taking the whole piece apart. The majority of the people who drafted the Constitution, specifically the 1987 version were all devout Catholics. Majority of our lawmakers, judiciary and government executives who legislate, interpret and implement laws respectively, are Catholics raised and educated in the tradition of their forefathers. If there were a fraction of Muslim, other Christian sect or even secular individuals in these institutions, their positions and opinions were merely accommodated to give our government and constitution the impression of plurality and diversity. In reality, secularism in our constitution is just a watermark that our government IGNORES.

From 1987 up to the present, our government has been dominated by Christian democrats like Cory, Ramos and Arroyo. Their brand of conservatism though moderate, depends largely on christian principles which according to their aim could solve the social problems in the country by constantly waltzing with dominant Christian religious powerblocks like the Catholic church, the INC, the Protestants, the Charismatic El Shaddai, the JIL, etc. Though Cory, Ramos and Arroyo had made efforts in recognizing the Muslim block, being non-muslims themselves make it hard for them to be sincere in addressing the political, socio-economic, cultural and religious autonomy in Mindanao.

Since we are not racially different from our Muslim brothers in Mindanao, I would never favor that our country be dismembered by religious and cultural differences. On the other hand, let us be reminded that the Muslim insurgency in Mindanao is a spontaneous reaction against centuries of external religious proselytization, invasion, colonization, exploitation, assimilation and marginalization that started from the Spaniards, Americans to the present central government in Manila.

The betrayal of secular values within the constitution itself is a manifestation that secularism in the Philippines is a long shot from accomplishing the task of bridging the religious and cultural disparities that threaten to dismember this country today and the near future.

In a country where even the passage of a reproductive health bill that would empower poor women to decide over their reproductive rights is hounded by religious bigots and charlatans, I wonder how a secular proposal to remove brazen images of a virgin and child cult from government and public institutions would fare….?

*This post is a rejoinder to a post in Philippine Atheists Blog entitled: “Secularism for the Philippines.” For the complete article, visit the link: http://philippineatheists.org/%202008/09/26/%20secularism-%20for-the-philippines/

Ahmadinejad's Jab

2008-09-27T10:24:00.000-07:00

I watched the interview with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad by Larry King at CNN and I found nothing anti-Semitic in his position with regards to the Jewish occupation of Palestine as well as his address at the U.N. I think he desires to articulate the plight of the Palestinian people which is commonly misrepresented, ignored and suppressed by the western powers that were behind in the creation of Israel as an atonement for their guilt by the holocaust.

I abhor and condemn the atrocities committed against the Jews for centuries. But to subjugate, deprive and displace a people (the Palestinians) as an expense and/or reparation for immeasurable atrocities committed on another people (the Jews) by oppressive and dominant empires or nations is pallid hypocrisy and downright evil.

In one of Christiane Amanpour’s documentaries, most Jews, particularly the orthodox ones view Israel’s occupation as fulfillment of God’s oath to his chosen people of the ‘promised land.’ In fact, they cling to their religious scriptures to justify the occupation and settlement of Palestine. On the part of the Palestinians and neighboring Arab counterparts, they justify terror attacks against Israel and the West through Islamist ‘jihad’ because of the occupation and presence of these ‘infidels’ on their lands which resulted in the killings and death of Arab muslims. The Intifada is the direct result of the unjust land grabbing, and occupation of Palestine sponsored by the West. Isn’t this the very foundation of the terrorist efforts of the western-educated and former western ally Osama bin Laden against the West? They just don’t want ‘infidels’ to make shit on their land and oppress their people! The domineering and daunting presence and occupation of American and western military forces in the middle east is enough motivation for these fundamentalists to rally and find a common cause to strike against Western political and economic chauvinism. The same motivation that made them fight and drive the Soviets from Afghanistan decades ago.

I don’t care about the antediluvian “freedom and democracy” clichés of ambitious, imperialist American foreign policy spins. That has been around long enough since they humiliated Spain’s fading colonial empire more than a hundred years ago in a war that brought America to the world stage of neo-colonial capitalist imperialism. Who would ever thought then that America would become what it is now… It has gone really far.

How come we don’t see their military intervening in Darfur to protect “freedom and democracy?” What is happening there is just beyond humanitarian crisis. It’s a TRAGEDY and CATASTROPHE the world has afforded to ignore the same way it has ignored the plight of the Palestinian people for decades. Is it because there is no oil in Sudan?

I think it’s time for western powers particularly the United States, without preconditions, to respect and listen to the position of Iran, Syria and other Arab countries in the middle east in their quest for leverage in behalf of the Palestinian and Arab people. It’s mighty appalling that the western powers had stifled long enough the collective screams for “self-determination” of the Palestinians and the Arab world. If the United Nations were able to allow the creation of the state of Israel, why can’t it allow the creation of a Palestinian state? A state within a state? What about the Vatican in Italy?

Iran is willing to sit down and talk as expressed by Ahmadinejad in his interview . In fact, Iran is influential and looked upon in the region. With U.S. and world economies in peril and largely dependent on Arab oil; a resurgent Russia flexing its military muscles in southeastern Europe and latin America; an obstinate North Korea; a costly, disastrous and dragging war in Iraq; an elusive bin Laden and a resilient Taliban and al Qaeda in Afghanistan growing mass support in Pakistan; and if some stupid American religious right wing neo-con will get elected this November to the White House in Washington who will continue to demonize Iran and push for an invasion because it claims Iran is a nuclear threat to Israel and the United States, then the worst of times is still ahead of us.

Ten Natural Family Planning Methods Recommended by the Catholic Church

2008-07-27T05:12:00.001-07:00

1. Use a Jesuit chastity belt – tie a lead around the head of the penis to stop it from having an erection.

2. Trade your Viagra pills for papaya from the garden of the ‘convento’ of your friendly neighborhood parish priest.

3. Screw menopausal nuns or religious spinsters. In case they get pregnant, pass it for a miracle by the Holy Spirit.

4. Screw sister Maria on her red-letter days, ooops, not advisable for Iglesia ni Cristo followers.

5. Use pig intestines for condom – a very ‘natural’ method but not advisable for muslims and other Christian fundamentalist groups.

6. Try pederasty as practiced by some Catholic priests.

7. Masturbate while indulging in voyeurism on teenage girls – a method by Padre Salvi.

8. Molest little boys and girls in the fashion of Fathers Oliver O’Grady and Sean Fortune.

9. Fellatio or oral sex – a common preference of Catholic priests like Rev. John Banko.

10. Abstinence.

*The last item is optional for depraved and fornicating Catholic clergy.

A Solomonic Solution

2008-07-25T04:08:00.000-07:00

It is very distressing and exasperating to read and watch the news about this endless debate between the Catholic church and the government in the Philippines over reproductive health policies.

Since I’ve been reading newspapers in grade school, this issue had often surfaced like a painful sore in the ass for both the church and the government whenever a sudden boom in the population was projected or a new bill was about to be passed in congress regarding population management or family planning methods – an eternal stalemate.

There is currently an aggregate bill in congress being sponsored by several congressmen to provide funds for the disposal of free modern contraceptive methods and reproductive health services for the people. As usual, it attracted strong opposition and intense reaction from the conservative Catholic clergy. They lost no time bullying the politicians in congress vowing to “hale them to court and deny communion” ludicrously calling the bill "anti-life" and "pro-abortion" measures. The Church even organized a prayer rally among its religious followers and organizations to condemn and lobby against the bill.

I think the source of our current problem lies both in these social institutions – the Church and the government. The ever-arrogant, backward, sexually-repressive, hypocritical and profiteering Catholic church is not the most reliable authority to preach about morality and life. They claim that the use of contraceptives is “immoral” and “anti-life” yet one observes these pompous bishops and priests building luxurious palatial homes for their families and surreptitious whores, driving expensive vehicles while their pockets and bellies grow fat and big from the fodder of an exploding and starving population of ignorant, unclothed brood. To make matters worse, the predatory politics in our government plays a large part in the formulation of vague and deceptive policies to hide its plunderous, corrupt and inept condition. For decades, these mainstream institutions have incessantly failed to provide and support the proper education for the Filipino family which is the basic institution in raising awareness about reproductive responsibility.

The CBCP or the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines has a lot of crap to say regarding their “strong policy against artificial birth control.” They’re moving heaven and earth (pun intended) to influence even the President to support their stand. I suggest they change their organization’s name into the Contra-ceptive Bishops Conspiracy of the Philippines (pun intended again).

One can’t stop people from copulating or having sex much less stop depraved and licentious clergymen from fornicating. As the most intelligent species on this planet, humans copulate not only to procreate but to form and express strong bonds of intimate relationships which is necessary in a healthy and strong society where the needs of every individual are met. Responsible and healthy sex is not immoral. Contraception is not a modern invention. Even the oldest civilizations in human history had employed ancient contraceptive methods to protect their society and reproductive values.

The Filipino people should be given the right to choose the methods to use in carrying out their reproductive responsibility. However, relevant education and access to information on reproductive health is the first step towards an amicable solution to this lingering debate.

Our country is a few years away from reaching the hundred-million population mark. There is already a looming global crisis on climate change, energy, water and food shortage. An extra of ten million more Filipinos being born to unleash an enormous ecological footprint on our ailing planet to compete for food and resources without the adequate sustainable support from our society and government is disastrous, immoral and degenerative.

I therefore suggest to every pro-Choice Filipino to make a wager or challenge to the Catholic church that we will give up our stand on the use of contraceptives and will neither resort to abortion (I will convince my wife to quit her oral contraceptives and I would refrain from using condoms), on the condition the Pope would sign a papal bull or any official document to that effect stating the Catholic church would subsidize every unwanted or accidental pregnancy in the Philippines as a result of natural birth control method…

Touché!

Wonderboy’s Not-so-wonderful Life & Death

2008-07-13T19:16:00.001-07:00

Late in the afternoon last Saturday, two local police officers came and informed my mother that a relative was shot dead in the nearby town of Agoo here in La Union. The dead relative was my dad’s cousin. Being the Chairman or head in our village, my mother immediately informed the family of the deceased and assisted in the retrieval of the body.

Being shot dead point blank at the head in public is not unusual here in La Union. In fact, there were already dozens of cold cases committed in the last few years usually out of political and personal vendetta or of a shady deal gone wrong. Occasionally, there is always one murder victim with a bullet hole in the head, stabbed, chopped and dumped somewhere in the remote corners of this province. I hope I would not be misconstrued writing a negative publicity for La Union since I’m aware that there are other places in the country where vendetta killings, tribal war and violent political feuds are common. It happened that the victim was personally known and close to me that the mundane becomes exotic.

The victim was popularly known as “Wonderboy” or “Wonder” by his relatives, peers and enemies alike. He earned his moniker as a pejorative from my grandfather during his teenage days when he would do some “wonders” or notorious shenanigans such as stealing dogs, chickens and goats in the neighborhood for “pulutan” or food for drinking with his buddies.

Notably, Wonderboy had two other brothers who also died violently – one was accidentally shot by a cousin and another was stabbed by an unknown assailant. Both died when they were still in their teens.

Wonderboy had a streetwise reputation for shrewdness. Despite his talent he lived a poor and tough life. Dropped out of school early in his youth, he decided for the happy-go-lucky life of a bum scraping a living out of every petty and shady deal he could chance upon in the street. On occasions, he was a skilled butcher and a cook -even doing it for a living sometimes. He had nine children from his wife and three from another woman. One of his children from the other woman managed to get into college yet seemed to had dropped out of it too. A daughter works in Lebanon as a domestic helper while the rest have no education and no stable jobs. His eldest son currently languishes in the National Penitentiary for a crime he allegedly did not commit. He has sixteen grandchildren that are most likely going to end up like him if their parents do not make a decisive turn in their lives. He was a broken man of 61 years…

Perhaps, his greatest misfortune was not his murder but the economic stagnation he had floundered and squandered on himself and his family all his life.

According to the police they are currently working on a lead about the suspects and the motive for the murder. There are no witnesses so far. This is not surprising since even if there are actual eyewitnesses, they are either scared or apathetic. I know there are countless other people who secretly celebrate his demise – people whom Wonderboy had wronged and offended throughout his life. Who would care for a dead wretched poor old man? Not even a God - whom a country full of dying wretched poor old men are praying to.

Suffering, Purgatory and Hell (Part 2 of 2)

2008-07-13T19:16:00.000-07:00

A few years ago, my mother was an officer of the local parish council in our town. She asked me to encode and print copies of the financial statement detailing the parish’s income from the masses and prayers offered on November 1 of that year – about more than PHP200,000 Philippine Pesos or roughly $4,400 U.S. dollars if converted today. All in a day’s work! And I’m only talking of a small town in the Philippines with an average population of 15,000 to 20,000 people. It’s a lucrative business for the Catholic Church which uses suffering as its capital investment. Soon they’re going to impose too a version of their VAT (Vatican Added Tax) on every services they offer.

The living suffers by paying the Church annually to ease the suffering of their dead. When it’s the living’s turn to die, the Church extends their suffering in purgatory, and the cycle goes on…

To hell with it! As if our suffering in this life is not enough, God decides to extend it in purgatory then sends us to eternal damnation for inherited sins and violations of his ten simple rules. The way I see it, God would be so lucky if he could save at least five or ten percent of all Catholics in the world and that includes all the popes, cardinals, bishops, priests and nuns who are all sinners even after Jesus Christ had redeemed our sins two thousand years ago. This means billions of human beings would be damned.

But why would God need hell and send us to eternal damnation for our sins when Jesus himself said “there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent (Luke 15:7)?” Why did God create man in the first place only to be thrown in hell? Life is already hell on earth. Isn’t it redundant to have hell again in the afterlife if there is indeed such a thing? Me and my rhetorical questions again…

Catholics are not aware that their God and the Devil are one.

Suffering, Purgatory and Hell (Part 1 of 2)

2008-07-11T04:32:00.000-07:00

Among the timeless pieces of literature I love reading before was a translation of Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy, particularly, the Inferno and the Purgatorio. Reading this classic work rendered me nightmarish visions of hell and purgatory in medieval setting and was further reinforced by Sandro Boticelli’s macabre illustrations…

The concept of purgatory has always intrigued me. Back in my childhood days, I remember the annual ritual of our family every first and second day of November - visiting the grave of my grandfather to offer flowers, candles, prayers and even masses for the “comfort” of his suffering soul in purgatory. All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day as commonly marked in the Catholic calendar, are among the most important religious festivities or gathering for Filipino Catholics. Next to Christmas and Lent, it is observed like a holiday where immediate and extended families from distant places reunite and gather in cemeteries to visit the graves of their departed loved ones. Today, it’s fascinating to note how this tradition has evolved from the religious context of offering masses and prayers to becoming a pseudo pop culture where the unorthodox elements of food, booze, music and even gambling have crept in much to the consternation of the church. It’s also worth mentioning the tradition that gives license to robbery on the eve of these holidays that is still prevalent in some remote parts of the country – an offshoot of the western pagan tradition that the spirits of the dead walk the earth on this day to play tricks on the living, except obviously it is the latter who plays tricks in behalf of the former. Interestingly, Halloween too is now being faithfully observed late in October in urbanized areas as a faithful imitation or adaptation of western culture brought by globalization’s commercial hype.

But why does Catholic dogma demand an annual offering of masses and prayers for the suffering souls in purgatory when these souls according to tradition could take an annual vacation in the world of the living and play tricks? Blame it on Zarathustra…

Zarathustra founded a philosophy which became a religion that preceded Siddharta Gautama, Jesus and Mohammed. In the Avesta, a book he partly wrote, it teaches that the living could redeem the souls of dead sinners in “prisons of impenetrable darkness where dwells remorse” by performing “good works” and by reciting passages in the book for five days every year. As the practice became deeply rooted among its followers, it was finally exploited by their priests. For a fee of a single derem coin, a soul could be saved for a year of suffering. In Zoroastrianism, they have sins which were punished by several hundred or thousand years of suffering. It's a windfall! Just imagine the expense for a single soul to be saved from eternal suffering for generations on end...

Early Christian theologians were influenced by Zarathustra’s concept of purgatory, from Clement of Alexandria, Origen and Irenaeus. Further credit should also go to the Roman poet Virgil whose passages in the Aeneid inspired Dante to develop his Divine Comedy in 1300. However, it was not until the Council of Trent in 1563 under Pius V when the Roman Catholic Church officially decreed “that the suffrages of the living, their prayers, alms, and other good works, were the most efficient means of liberating souls from Purgatory…” I guess the pope finally realized the immense profit this concept would bring to the coffers of the Vatican for ages to come, thanks to Zarathustra.

Emails from a Freethinkers’ Group

2008-07-10T01:34:00.000-07:00

I was so mentally preoccupied and exhausted the past ten days I didn’t have time to write the blogs I was planning to write about. I was also busy absorbing and sorting out the traffic of emails in my Yahoo! group forum mailing list (Pinoy Atheists) trying to keep up with the discussions and posts of members and new members alike. It’s really tough since I don’t have a broadband internet connection and merely depending on my cellphone’s GPRS dial-up internet service that gets cut off more often due to signal interruption. On second thoughts, I have to make do with it compared to my ancient landline dial-up connection which is totally primitive and sluggish.

In my emails, I learned that the group of John Paraiso of Atheistang Pinoy, Poch Suzara and a young promising atheist activist in the person of Joshua Lipana were officially recognized by Paul Kurtz, the head of the Center for Free Inquiry in the United States. http://atheistangpinoy.blogspot.com/2008/05/this-blog-is-mentioned-in-cfis.html#links

Their group is now officially affiliated as CFI-Philippines and will publish a freethinker’s newsletter called The Freethinker’s Reader. http://atheistangpinoy.blogspot.com/2008/06/popular-bookstore-with-unpopular-books.html

I wrote John and his group expressing my excitement because months ago I also joined online the CFI and the Council for Secular Humanism. I share a common urge to advance the cause of secular humanism in the country because it might be one of the last hopes to revive the ideals that were lost in the intellectual movement of the late 19th century by our forefathers. The social malaise that is gripping our society is brought by religion because it induces them not to think rationally and continue to subscribe to fatalism, superstition and delusions of an external god.

They emailed me back and thought of posting them here in my blog as an inspiration to other freethinkers and secular humanists:

Dear Ian,

I am proud to be your friend. I am more proud of you. Glad to learn that you are a man of self-study. In La Salle, I was expelled during first year high school.I vehemently refused to be afraid of God, to be afraid of going to hell, to be afraid of the devil. Hell, instead of saving my silly soul, I thought it best that I save my precious mind. I did!

Thank you for being a part of our freethinker's group. You are most welcome.

Best wishes,

Poch Suzara

***

Hi Ian I'm joshua lipana. I was really pleased to read your letter to john. And I admire the service you have done for our country. We're now reviving and old journal called the "Freethinkers Reader". We would love you to be a part of the team. And you are more then welcome to join CFI philippines.

Best regards,

Joshua Lipana

Friends and Freedom

2008-06-25T20:34:00.000-07:00

While washing dishes this morning, my thoughts started running through the mundane events of my life for the last six months and I realized that there were no such things as “friends” in politics. There is an adage that goes, “…in politics, there are no permanent friends or enemies, only permanent interests.” I have “friends” who in their miserable loss had sought my company and support. I have “friends” who in their moment of success and profit had forgotten me while others benefit through their perfidy. I don’t grieve over their superficial hypocrisy. Instead, I celebrate my freedom and deliverance from the duplicity and pretensions of politics; of men who feed on the weak, the feeble-minded, and the misery of people around them. Somewhere they huddle in their inner sanctum filled with hubris and naked avarice mocking those who do not think like they do while their idiotic minstrels of sycophants applaud to their cue.

I know they mock me because I don’t believe in their God. “People believe that those who don’t think as they do are crazy. I’m grateful for it because the day I regain my reason according to their standards they’ll take away the small measure of freedom I have purchased with my reputation as a rational being.” These are the words of the old scholar Tasio in Rizal’s novel Noli Me Tangere as a reminder that our society haven’t changed that much.

I don’t believe in God because for the past 100,000 years since homo sapiens had walked on this planet, death, murder, war, genocide, pestilence, hunger, poverty and all the horrible abominations of humanity are still here. If there is indeed a perfect, powerful, omnipotent, omniscient, benevolent, divine, loving, caring God-Creator, why aren’t we living yet in a perfect world? Where was God all this time? Despite all the worshipping, prayers and human sacrifices his getting for thousands of years he remained silent and aloof on our sufferings and supplications! God is therefore sadistic and malevolent or he doesn’t exist at all. On the other hand, it reminded me of a question posted by another blogger of which theists refuse to answer:

“If god is all knowing, and knew before creating you that you would burn in hell and suffer…why did he create you?”

In my case, I don’t mind not having superficial human “friends” and not having an imaginary supernatural friend. I am enjoying and genuinely happy with my new-found freedom from politics and religion.

Utilitarian Bible

2008-06-25T06:03:00.000-07:00

It seems I finally found a good use for my old Bible...

In Mojoey's Blogroll at Last

2008-06-23T02:09:00.000-07:00

The Gorgon's Mask is now included in Mojoey's Atheist Blogroll. Thank you DEEP THOUGHTS. Fundies, go check us out!

A Common Commodity

2008-06-20T00:18:00.000-07:00

In a country that has been under more than three hundred years of Spanish catholic dogma and religious mysticism, I am not amazed today if most of us are still suffering from an intellectual stupor. The failure of the intellectual movement of the late 19th century is nothing now but a faded leaf in the pages of our country’s history – a flitting reminder of our obdurate refusal to behold the light of reason that had since bathe mankind. Instead, we continued to reel backwards succumbing and subscribing to the fatalist delusions and irrational commodities offered by religion.

Marx’s “opium of the people” thrives as the most saleable commodity in the Filipino market for “wish-fulfillment” needs. It is always in demand 24/7 – a rich market haven for religious salespersons hoping to carve a piece of the pie in hawking a common commodity.

Despite having almost a monopoly of eighty to eighty five percent (80-85%) of the religious market, the Catholic Church feels the heat of the competition from fundamentalist Christian sects with an increasing patronage of more or less than five percent (5%). There is also a growing subscription to Islam (less than 9%) as manifested by the conversion of Filipino Christian contract workers in Islamic countries for social and economic convenience. Now, that’s what you call successful marketing promotion! In fact, Islam has already overtaken Catholicism as the world’s largest religion.

What caught my attention was not the weakening religious marketing empire of the Vatican but the growing aggressiveness and zealotry of Christian fundamentalists groups in their sales pitch to increase the membership in their Jesus Christ fan club and shareholders in God’s country club. Their sales agents have learned that telemarketing, direct-selling and social networking of their religion is the most competitive way of gaining more members and converts. I really don’t mind them but it could really be annoying when your satellite cable television account suddenly runs out of load and the only channels left to watch are the cheesy Christian televangelist shows that are short of mocking you to repent and pray to God he would restore your satellite t.v. connection!

These people are quick to exploit the benefits of scientific progress and technology (which often their beliefs speak against of) by posting blogs and websites in the internet with their bible babble debating and arguing against those who do not conform to their beliefs. Worse, they join your group mailing list to proselytize and argue about their bullshit! I have tolerance for religious people as long as they don’t shoehorn me their deluded and irrational beliefs notwithstanding my logical negation.

Gods and religions really come in all forms, shapes, colors and sizes depending on your needs and wishes to be fulfilled. In Jesus’ country like the Philippines, it’s the cheapest and most common commodity available in case you find yourself in need of assurance of a place in God’s country club after you die or the “feel good” option to numb you of the suffering and misery you have endured in your life and of the strain of excessive intellectualism in seeking answers to your questions about the purpose of existence, morality and happiness.

Irrational Morality

2008-06-17T19:23:00.000-07:00

The monopoly of social good by religion as an infallible objective source of moral order is not only delusional but deceitful as well.

The premise that an individual could only become a better person through the belief, dogma and practice of religion is a position that is easily refuted and critically exposed unless there is hard and concrete evidence that could prove atheists or nonbelievers are less moral than those who subscribed to faith and religion.

In their desperate attempts, theists and religious critics erroneously and misleadingly associate the heinous crimes of Hitler, Stalin, Mao Zedong and Pol Pot to atheism. The truth is - the irreligious behaviors of these men were nothing but irrational and delusional forms of their respective ideologies and had nothing to do with atheism. In fact, Hitler’s justification for the systematic extermination of the Jews had biblical roots with the Roman Catholic Church in the background evidenced by the Vatican publications.

Obviously, the Bible is full of teachings that can be morally criticized for being pernicious, primitive, abhorrent and incompatible with the standardized moral currency of a modern civil society. Both the Old and New Testaments are full of it. (Proverbs 13:24, 20:30, and 23:13–14; Exodus 21:15, Leviticus 20:9, Deuteronomy 21:18–21, Mark 7:9–13, Matthew 15:4–7) Before Hitler, Stalin, Mao Zedong and Pol Pot, the biblical God is the first war criminal, genocidal, ethnic cleansing maniac who condoned human sacrifice, slavery, genocide and misogyny. According to Sam Harris, author of the End of Faith, “the bible is not the only reliable blueprint for human decency.” He said the Bible and the Qur’an were in fact the worst books human civilization had for a source of objective morality.

The Philippines prides itself as the only Christian nation in Southeast Asia yet it couldn’t be denied that it is also one of the most corrupt nations in the world! Corruption and plunder are being committed everyday in almost every corner of Filipino society – from the highest echelons of public office to the cloistered hierarchy of the church.

What’s interesting to note in this society is the thinly veiled duality of moral standards prevalent in daily life. Both the government and the church do not condone illegal gambling, yet jueteng and other forms of gambling are conspicuously available and accessible. Even the church earns its income from casinos and other amusement facilities operated by the government. The clergy had their vows of humility, poverty and chastity yet we have bishops and priests who are arrogant, bigoted and happen to enjoy luxurious lifestyles with their surreptitious whores and mistresses. They condemn homosexuality yet they don’t speak against the child molesters, diseased perverts or gay priests among their ranks.

“To behave ethically only because of divine mandate is not true ethical behavior but merely blind obedience and hypocrisy.”

Social scientists posited the value judgment of moral truth as culturally and historically diverse. Morality differs in every society. What is perceived abnormal or unethical in one society could be considered normal or objectively moral in the other. The standards or structure of morality in mainstream societies as predominantly dictated by religion do not necessarily hold the key to happiness or well-being of an individual. In fact, there are tribes in the Amazon forest that have been isolated for hundreds if not thousands of years which are fortunately enough free from the vitiation of outside cultures. These tribes were able to develop their own moral structure albeit, different from the outside world, had managed to keep their society happy and contented.

Ethical relativism should be an accepted reality to quench our thirst for an objective moral source external from religion. Irrationality is the source of moral failure, and moral failure should be addressed rationally.

God and Aliens

2008-06-12T01:13:00.000-07:00

There is this news article in Yahoo! reporting about the opinion of Rev. Jose Gabriel Funes, the head of the Vatican Observatory and a scientific adviser to the pope regarding aliens and God. According to the priest-astronomer, “there is no conflict between believing in God and in the possibility of ‘extraterrestrial brothers.’” He further stated that humans might be the “lost sheep” of the universe and there could be other beings that remained in full friendship or contact with God.

I don’t have problems with extraterrestrials since the universe is so vast to exclude the possibility of life sprouting in other galaxies or star systems. In fact, there were scientific projects that tried to contact “extraterrestrial intelligence” for decades, though, attracted criticism from some quarters as pseudoscience. From radio telescopes to laser optical searches, and physical probes, these projects scanned the sky for signs or signals from extraterrestrial intelligent life. But the universe is so vast that the closest star, the Proxima Centauri could be reached by 4.22 years if one travels at the speed of light which is about 186,282.397 miles per second! This means that interstellar travel would take a technology so extremely advance to bypass the barriers of space. Given the plausibility of the existence of intelligent extraterrestrial life in the universe, I am still not fully convinced unless there is concrete observational evidence to support it. Besides, intelligent life would always find a way to communicate or make itself known or visible.

So, does it account for the hypothesis that we are the “lost sheep” of the universe? Does the continuing failure to detect other intelligent or simple extraterrestrial life make us “isolated” or “lost” from God’s friendship or presence?

Rev. Funes said that he “believe(s) that God is the creator of the universe and that we are not the product of something casual but children of a good father who has a project of love in mind for us." Does it mean that our “isolation” or being the “lost sheep of the universe” part of God’s “project of love?” Could God be preventing us from establishing contact with other alien life that might be malignant? Or are we the malignant ones he’s trying to prevent contact with the benign? But God is supposed to be the perfect Creator, the Intelligent Grand Designer-Architect of the universe. Is this his idea of “creative freedom?” On the other hand, if we are his “lost sheep,” why can’t God find us? He created the universe, certainly, any architect or designer knows exactly every nook and cranny of his creation!

Personally, I am not amused by this report. This is another pathetic attempt by the Vatican to cosmetically uplift its erroneous and stagnant position on scientific progress. Science and religion don’t mix. Rev. Funes should have consulted the bible regarding its teaching about “serving two masters.”

Psychedelic Religion

2008-06-05T21:00:00.000-07:00

“The use of entheogens in human cultures is nearly ubiquitous throughout recorded history.” (Wikipedia)

Entheogen is a term coined in the late seventies (70’s) as a neologism for psychoactive drugs, neurochemicals or visionary plants used in religious and mystical rituals to induce religious experience. They range from mushrooms, cacti, lotus, mandrake, tobacco and lately the salvia divinorum from Mexico now popular in Northern America and parts of Europe.

Few people in our society today especially in the Philippines, are aware that psychoactive drugs induced and inspired the invention of religion. Unknown to most of us, there is a plethora of archaeological, anthropological, etymological, philological and historical evidence that reveal the widespread use of psychoactive drugs in ancient rituals and could be empirically inferred that ancient mystics, religious writers or prophets used these augmentations to write their ancient religious writings to suggest “divine revelation” or divine cognition.

Neologism or euphemism, entheogens nourished the invention of religion which predated written language. From as early as ten thousand years ago in Africa, cave paintings and seed artifacts of mushroom and hemp, respectively reveal their use as entheogens in ancient ceremonial cult practices. From Africa, Middle East, Europe, Asia, Oceania and the America’s the use of entheogens in the development of indigenous shamanic, mystical, cult and religious ritual practices in different cultures was pivotal and essential. In classical mythology, ambrosia was an entheogen often called the divine food of the Olympian gods. In Genesis, the forbidden fruit of the tree in the midst of the garden was an entheogen for it opened the eyes of Adam and Eve they became “like God knowing good and evil.”

Early Jewish and Christian cult practices according to philologist John Marco Allegro, used Amanita Muscaria, a mushroom, as an entheogen and might even be the basis for the ritual ingestion of the Eucharist as claimed by him that Jesus is “a mythological personification of the essence of the psychoactive sacrament.” Allegro even suggested that he could prove through etymology, that Christianity like most religion, has roots in ancient fertility cults.

Drug-induced religious experience is dubious if not delirious even if taken in positive religious context or pretext. Science denigrates the euphemism. Altered states of consciousness brought by psychoactive drugs is nothing but inebriation and psychedelic.

The FOOL and the DELUDED

2008-05-04T00:59:00.000-07:00

I am amazed at the zealotry of some theists who relentlessly proselytized about their religion using their bible. They babble endlessly trying to force other people to believe and embrace their faith often spewing endless quotes from the bible ad nauseam. It could be annoying since their narrow-mindedness and childish melodrama (infantile medulla oblongata according to Poch Suzara) make them believe that you are so ignorant about their bible that they could hurl anything at you that would make you look like a total idiot and then expect you to capitulate to their belief. The truth is - this attitude unwittingly exposes them. Res ipsa loquitor…

First they label you a “fool” for not believing in a god specifically quoting passages from their bible about “divine knowledge,” “intelligent design,” etc. Well, I would rather be a “sober skeptic fool” than a “drunk deluded believer.” This reminds me of Bertrand Russell’s remark: “If we must die, let us die sober, and not drunk with lies.”

I find it hypocritical for someone to claim that he cares for you and at the same time forces you to “believe” his idea or religion. If I would ever want to convince someone about my philosophical inference or position, I would do it in an intellectually honest and logical way. If that person could refute my arguments in a logical and honest procedure then I would relinquish my position. Engaging in “ad hominem” and quoting from sources that have been written and rewritten countless of times throughout history by deluded if not deranged men in an age of barbarism, superstition and mysticism is not only nonsensical but a subscription to logical fallacy.

I have been reading the bible since I was twelve, perhaps, already old enough to understand its moral teachings, significance or implications in my day-to-day life as a “former believer.” I found it full of paradox, metaphors, allegories, and altruisms of noble characters which I thought were odd and anachronistic in certain situations. Though I studied in a catholic school, the learning environment was secular. Catechism was still part of our curriculum but it didn’t force you to swallow it like an unwanted pill. Somehow, it allowed my inquisitive mind to wander and ask questions about realities and existence.

My first encounter with the Old Testament was a bit traumatic. I was shocked to read a god so malevolent, sadistic, vengeful, genocidal and egotistical. (Read Genesis, Exodus, Numbers, Leviticus, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Samuel) There was so much violence that it made me believe it was the norm. Honestly, I used to justify my vindictive and violent temperament before as natural since god had his own violent episodes too.

I admire the character of Jesus who is probably the noblest character ever written by man. He preached love as the central figure in his teachings. Yet on the other hand, he also exhibited a certain fit of rage when he drove violently with whips the moneychangers and traders from the temple Gospel of John 2:13-15. What surprised me in the New Testament was the LAST MINUTE RELUCTANCE of Jesus in his mission! Here are the passages: Jesus “….began to be sorrowful and very depressed. Then saith he unto them, `my soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even unto death'...And he went a little further, and fell on his face and prayed, saying `O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me nevertheless, not as I will but as thou wilt." (Matt. 26:37-39). "And being in an agony, he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat was, as it were, great drops of blood falling down to the ground." (Luke 22:44). Before his death on the cross Jesus cried out: “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46) At the very last moment Jesus was afraid of death and seemed reluctant and sorrowful about his mission! Isn’t he supposed to be the messiah, the son of god, the divine? I was really confused - Jesus, the reluctant messiah?

Later, what really made me doubt about the Christian theology being taught from the bible is the contingency of the “divine plan” – in creation, man fell from god’s grace because of “sin” hence, the atonement of Jesus of Nazareth for the redemption of man. But isn’t the creation supposed to be good and perfect since the Creator is perfect and all good? Why did god invent “sin” in the first place? So god could come one day like a knight in a shining armor, save mankind and later bask in his personal glory? Creation then is like a movie he wrote for himself so he could play the protagonist and later on gets all the credit. Props lang pala tayo. Besides, if god is omnipotent, perfect and benevolent, why did he create Satan or evil in the first place? ‘Di ba parang sa sine, kailangan may casting ng kontrabida para may kaaway ang bida para kumpleto at exciting ang istorya? So that’s it, god was bored, he needed creation to please his narcissistic craving.

On proselytizing theists - practically, anybody can quote from the bible almost anything that would fit and justify their motivations. In fact, anti-Semitics used it to justify the extermination of the Jews (Ezekiel 18-13), since “Jews have traditionally had a large presence in the usury business.” The tendency to use the bible as an infallible source of opinion, tenet or dogma is its supposed nature of “divine revelation” which is being exploited by misguided Christians in their deluded interpretation to spread their faith. Perhaps, these people are unaware that even conservative and reformist Judaism scholars today have admitted the critical analysis that the Hebrew scriptures were not entirely divinely revealed by an external god but rather either “divinely inspired” or totally a product of human introspection.

In my own critical analysis, I think the bible like any other piece of literature or fiction should be taken with a “pinch of salt.” Of course it has many good things in it except for the fantastic and the outrageous stories that come with it. Like reading the Iliad and the Odyssey or Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy, the bible is a reflection or an account of the historical and socio-political conditions of the authors’ time not the story per se. It was written in cruel and turbulent times when science was almost nonexistent to explain the natural phenomena that occurred around the world.

Going back to the meaning of “fool” or “foolishness”, the online Encarta dictionary defines it as such: "unintelligent person: somebody considered to lack good sense or judgment; ridiculous person: somebody considered to be or made to appear ridiculous; an offensive term for somebody with below-average intelligence or a psychiatric disorder (archaic); lacking importance or substance."

Am I lacking then in good sense, substance or judgment or being ridiculous if I negate the DELUSION of the existence of a benevolent, omnipotent, omniscient, divine creator? I guess, I would have to leave the answer to the person who could prove it then.

Finally, I quote a fellow blogger, Benjie Espina III, a budding doctor from U.P.: “I’m not really into proselytizing when it comes to atheism. Not all people have the necessary intellectual mettle to understand the premises behind it so I’d just leave it at the reality that most people are not intelligent enough to get it. Yes, that is my easiest measure of intelligence and reasoning - if one understands atheism for what it is, he is an intelligent person regardless of his religion.”

Weapon of Mass Destruction

2008-05-04T00:56:00.002-07:00

When I heard U.S. presidential republican candidate John Mccain implicitly supporting a future invasion of Iran as a catalyst to fulfill the biblical Armageddon, I began to wonder what is more dangerous – a Christian fundamentalist who could possibly become the leader of the world’s most powerful nation with a virtually limitless nuclear arsenal at its disposal or a Moslem fundamentalist suicide bomber with a conventional bomb?

It’s baffling how religion could be used as an excuse, or perhaps, a tool to commit mass murder, ethnic cleansing, genocide, and plunder to satisfy the geopolitics of avarice and power of a few deranged men and mighty empires. Throughout history, the bible or the “word of god” had been used to induce and inspire conquest of other peoples and nations around the world. The bible itself contains horrific accounts of iron-age genocide sanctioned, inspired and instigated by a vengeful, malevolent, sadistic, egomaniacal god that would overshadow the holocaust. In the book of Joshua, it tells how Joshua's men “blew their trumpets and down came the walls of Jericho, the first of the Canaanite cities to fall to the invading people of Israel…. Then they utterly destroyed all in the city, both men and women, young and old, oxen, sheep, and asses, with the edge of the sword… they burned the city with fire, and all within it.” This passage in the bible inspired Oliver Cromwell in the mid-17th century when he invaded Ireland to exterminate the Catholics. According to historical estimates, almost twenty percent of Ireland’s population perished in that campaign.

Here are some passages in the bible that reveal the ancient cruelty of deluded men:

1. The Jews "waged the campaign against Midian, as Yahweh had ordered Moses, and they put every male to death... the sons of Israel took the Midianite women captive with their young children, and plundered all their cattle, all their flocks and all their goods. They set fire to the towns where they lived and all their encampments... Then, when they took the captives, spoil and booty to Moses..., Moses was enraged.... 'why have you spared the life of all the women...? So kill all the male children. Kill also all the women who have slept with a man. Spare the lives only of the young girls who have not slept with a man, and take them for yourselves".Num 31:7-19.

2. When the Jews attacked Sihon's Amorite kingdom, "Yahweh our God delivered him over to us... We captured all his cities and laid whole towns under ban, men, women and children; we spared nothing but the livestock which we took as our spoil".Deut 2:33-35

3. "We captured all his towns at that time... Sixty towns... We laid them under ban... - the whole town, men, women and children, under the ban".Deut 3:4-7.

4. "…if (a town) refuses peace and offers resistance,... Yahweh your God shall deliver it unto your power and you are to put all its menfolk to the sword. But the women, the children, the livestock and all that the town contains, all its spoil, you may take for yourselves as booty".Deut 20:12-14.

5. At the fall of Jericho: "Then Yahweh said to Joshua, 'Now I am delivering Jericho and its king into your hands". So, when "the walls of Jericho came tumbling down", the Jewish warriors "enforced the ban on everything in the town: men and women, young and old, even the oxen and sheep and donkeys, massacring them all".Joshua 6:21

6. "Yahweh said to Joshua... "You are to do with Ai and its king as you did with Jericho and its king..."Joshua 8:2 And "the number of those who fell that day, men and women together, was twelve thousand, all people of Ai ... All to a man had fallen by the edge of the sword".Joshua 8:24-25

7. In Canaan, "Yahweh gave into the power of Israel; and Israel struck every living creature there with the edge of the sword, and left none alive".Joshua 10:30 The same at Lachish where "no one was left alive".Joshua 10:33

8. “And Samuel said to Saul, 'The Lord sent me to anoint you king over his people of Israel; now hearken to the words of the Lord. Thus says the Lord of hosts, 'I will punish what Amalek did to Israel in opposing them on the way, when they came up out of Egypt. Now go and smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have; do not spare them but kill both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass.'"1 Samuel 15:1-3

After Constantine legalized Christianity as state religion in 313 A.D., he and the succeeding Roman emperors and popes convened the ecumenical councils to collate a list of books for the Christian bible and presided over their revisions to adopt their Hellenic theology – a strategy of necessity to control the troublesome and fast-growing Christian subjects of their empire. During the dark ages, apostate doctrines and canon laws were formed to persecute jews, heretics or the enemies of the pope. There is no extant record on the number of deaths to perpetuate Hellenic theology, but reflecting on the savage and brutal customs of the dark ages, the figures could also be staggering.

In the middle ages, passages from the bible were used as propaganda to seduce and manipulate the lay public, even kings, wealthy nobles, knights, and peasants to wage the crusades against the Moslem Seljuk Turks who threatened the Eastern Byzantine empire and in order to reclaim the holy land from the “heathens.” Pope Urban II in his sermons enticed the Christian crusaders by the promises of indulgence and “remission from sin.” Apparently, it turned out to be more than just a religious crusade, it became a quest for Christian hegemony and plunder. For almost four hundred years, more or less than three million people were killed in battles and massacres brought by the crusades. Countless more died of battle wounds, hunger, disease, and fatigue including children who were part of the last crusades. An account describes some of the atrocities: “For the first decade, the Crusaders pursued a policy of terror against Muslims and Jews that included mass executions, the throwing of severed heads over besieged cities’ walls, exhibition and mutilation of naked cadavers, and even cannibalism, as was recorded after the Siege of Maarat." (Wikipedia) The Albigensian Crusade (1229) in the south of France alone killed a million people.

Today, western rationalist thinkers like Sir Steven Runciman morally condemn the crusades: "High ideals were besmirched by cruelty and greed...the Holy War was nothing more than a long act of intolerance in the name of God".

The 16th century religious wars in France between Catholics and Protestants and the Thirty Years war of the 17th century in Europe had a death toll of six to fifteen million people. Again, religion was used as a tool to legitimize warfare, political and territorial expansion.

The Spanish “reconquista” of the 12th century and religious inquisition from the 14th up to the early 18th centuries “murdered many people who had converted or were descended from Jewish or Arab converts. They were suspected of secret apostasy. The religious paranoia took more or less than two million lives.” Also, there were about more or less than two million European women who were suspected as witches that had been tortured and murdered between 1350 to 1750 as a result of the European inquisition.

The “bloodiest episodes” were the Spanish conquest of Hispaniola, the Aztec, Maya and Inca in the name of spreading the message of the bible through the Catholic faith. More or less than five million native Americans were murdered from 1492 to 1600. There were no available figures on the cost of human lives in the Spanish conquest of the Philippine islands in spreading the Catholic faith from 1521 to 1898, but statistically, it could have taken a significant number.

The British imperial expansion of the 17th to 19th centuries in the guise of spreading Christianity also took millions of lives in India, Africa and elsewhere. The north Atlantic slave trade by white Christians (Americans, British, Danes, Dutch, French, Portuguese, Spanish, German, Swedish) between 1400 to 1880 took the lives of more or less than twelve million Africans stigmatized by a biblical belief that negroes were descendants of Cain marked by God because of their black skin, therefore regarded as human “rodents” like the Jews.

For centuries, the bible had inspired an “identity doctrine” among fundamentalist Christians. It asserted that when Satan seduced Eve, he spawned Cain, hence the explanation for the evil - fratricide. The biblical god cast Cain in the land of Nod with a mark that “whoever kills Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold.” There Cain fathered the Jews and other human “rodents” as spawns of Satan’s bloodline. This doctrine preached that the Jews were not part of god’s creation. It claimed that the Anglo-Saxons were the descendants of the lost ten tribes of Israel and therefore were given the divine right to rule the world until the second coming of Jesus. This belief motivated the imperialist-expansionist British rulers and the narrow-minded hypocritical religious zealotry of the Christian churches. Consequently, this doctrine partly justified Hitler to commit the Holocaust against the Jews with the Catholic Church in the background. More or less than six to eight million Jews perished in the “industrialized genocide” committed in Nazi concentration camps during World War II. Ethnoreligious terrorism committed by the KLU KLUX KLAN in the late 19th up to the early 20th century against African-Americans and Jews were also based on this biblical myth. The Bosnian genocide by Christian Slavs against Kosovo Moslems labeled as ethnoreligious purification developed into an ideology which identified with the biblical Judas figure –who is one of the most despised biblical characters and systematically associated with Satan’s bloodline of Cain or the “dirty, evil Jew.”

The born-again Christian George W. Bush evidenced in his speeches after the 9/11 attack that he will be relentless in his “crusade” of anti-terrorism campaign, hence, continuously justifies his invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq and is responsible for the ever-growing casualty figures of American and Allied soldiers as well as Afghan, Iraqi and Arab civilians. However, the religious undertones do not distract the world from believing that America’s key interest in the middle east is the control of the world’s largest oil supply to “keep America’s industrial war machine running.”

America is now the world’s most destructive nation (responsible for the only nuclear attack on another state (Japan) with more than a million deaths in Nagasaki and Hiroshima including the fire bombings of Tokyo). In the past century, the United States had figured in almost all major conflicts around the world – the two World Wars, Korean War, Vietnam War, the 1991 Gulf War, and Bosnia. In 2001 to 2002 it invaded Afghanistan and Iraq as promised by Bush with his “crusade”.

Today, America is experiencing a resurgence in Christian fundamentalist backlash (which I find very odd) directed against seculars, freethinkers, feminists, gay-lesbian rights movement, abortion clinics… even Moslems and Jews. Pastor Becky Fischer, a radical American Christian fundamentalist is calling for a similar terrorist training for radical Christians in America to give up their lives for the gospel. Televangelist Pat Robertson has even called for the assassination of Hugo Chavez, president of Venezuela. He and fellow televangelist Jerry Falwell "famously proclaimed that feminists, gays and civil libertarians had caused September 11 to happen." The controversial and infuriating statements of Rev. Jeremiah Wright has even hounded the campaign of Barack Obama forcing the democratic presidential candidate to distance himself from his former pastor.

Going back to the comment of republican presidential hopeful John Mccain about Iran, I guess we know where the world is heading then if he wins the election this coming fall. I think Bush made a stupid blunder and lied when he invaded Iraq to look for weapons of mass destruction and didn’t find any – the truth is, he and his religious zealots in Washington are just clutching it every time in their Sunday worship.

Veni Vedi Veritas

2008-05-04T00:54:00.000-07:00

I am on a quest to find the TRUTH. By advocating REASON, LOGIC, COMMON SENSE and INTELLECTUAL HONESTY my desire to know the TRUTH will coincide with my journey to enlightenment. I will not live long enough to know everything about the universe because of my mortal circumstance, but I leave it to the long-term survival of our species to “purge” it someday of its mysteries.

I discard religion as an irrational thought. The Christian religious subscription and indoctrination that I have been subjected to since childhood has paradoxically opened my thought to question its very foundation. I sought and continue to seek reason for its dogmas yet logic and common sense denude it of everything. I asked myself: Why preoccupy ourselves with conventional dogmas or the static concept of religion when there is so much out there in the universe waiting to be explained and to be understood?

We become rational beings “by destroying bad ideas wherever we find them,” according to Sam Harris, author of The End of Faith and Letter to a Christian Nation. RELIGION is full of bad ideas. “It remains the only system of thought, where the process of maintaining bad ideas in perpetual immunity from criticism is considered a sacred act; ….religious faith is one of the most perverse misuses of intelligence we have ever devised,” Harris wrote.

There is a more pressing problem than corruption in our society and government, poverty or global warming. Religion has brought us to the muck of ignorance and stupidity that lay siege to our existence. It exploits our trepidation of our mortality to foment our MORAL weakness and thus subscribe to theism.

There is intellectual dishonesty in the concept of theism for it denies logical evidence when it is refuted of its assumption of a benevolent divine principle or the existence of a supreme being. I CRITICIZE religious thinking for it impairs logical reasoning in our quest for TRUTH AND CONTENTMENT.

UNDERSTANDING AND LIBERATION FROM THE UNTRUTH

Borrowing Descartes’ inductive structure, I used this to describe the premise of theists:

I BELIEVE
Therefore, God exists.

And thus, my satirical negation:

I DOUBT and I THINK
Therefore, god does not exist.

To BELIEVE is to accept a conviction, opinion and/or ideas of another person or a group of persons with absolute confidence and trust. Whereas, BELIEF is defined as:

“1. Assent to a proposition or affirmation, or the acceptance of a fact, opinion, or assertion as real or true, without immediate personal knowledge; reliance upon word or testimony; partial or full assurance without positive knowledge or absolute certainty; persuasion; conviction; confidence; as, belief of a witness; the belief of our senses. 2. A persuasion of the truths of religion; faith. 3. The thing believed; the object of belief. 4. A tenet, or the body of tenets, held by the advocates of any classof views; doctrine; creed.”

On the other hand, to DOUBT is to be uncertain in a belief or opinion, to lack confidence in, to distrust…etc. To THINK is to form, reflect, ponder, reason, realize then devise or conceive ideas and opinion from available and extant knowledge like science or logic.

To accept and embrace a BELIEF without immediate personal knowledge or assurance of positive knowledge and/or absolute certainty especially if the BELIEF rests on a selfish conviction, persuasion, lie, delusion and deliberate fraud promotes logical fallacy.

“A single step is the start of a thousand-mile journey,”according to a Chinese proverb. A single question was my first step to doubt and suspect. Skepticism through science and logic has brought me to my lack of belief in the supernatural. To be free of the burden of belief in the fantastic is the most profound event in a person’s journey to enlightenment and truth. A quote reads: “Science is naturalism. In naturalism there are no supernatural. The more science you know, the less the role of the supernatural will have in your reality. Science doesn't prove god, it removes its role from causing natural phenomena.”

Atheism is a state of intellectual liberation from the dogma of theism and the belief in the fantastic and the GREAT UNTRUTH. In the desperate attempts of theists to label atheism as another belief system, they commit equivocation. A blog explains the nature of atheism: “Atheism is not a ‘belief in logic’. Atheism is a non-belief in a supreme being. Atheism says nothing except ‘this guy doesn't believe in the supernatural.’ Whatever else an atheist believes in is something else entirely.” And another: “Most atheists don't believe in god, which is very different from believing there is no god. One is a non-belief, the other is a belief. Atheism has no dogma, and no rules other than the non-belief (not denial) of a supreme being.”

A fellow Yahoo! Atheist Group member, Butch Silverio posted: “My journey towards atheism was influenced a lot by science. In science, one never takes an absolute belief in anything that is not proven, and in the real world, nothing is proven. Rather, theories are accepted for as long as evidence supports them. So, perhaps, one could say that an atheist simply lacks a belief in a supreme being. However, what if one goes a step further to say that one believes that there is no supreme being because available evidence tends to negate the possibility that a supreme being might exist? What if one also believes that religious belief (in a supreme being) is detrimental to the human race? Was it George Bernard Shaw who said that mankind will never truly progress until it awakens from the nightmare of religion?I think it is important for atheists to ultimately come to a denial of the possibility of a supreme being, as that is what will ultimately allow them to place humanity at the center of their value system, and to take responsibility for human evolution and development. I fully agree with the observation that atheism is not just a lack of belief, but a way of living.” Yes, atheism should be a way of living. When men become rational beings and understand and tolerate one another then someday there will be a world free from religion, bigotry, racism and conflict. My optimism lies in the case of slavery wherein modern man has turned his back from it and at present is almost unheard of.

Atheism is the absolute expression of freedom over ignorance and fear about our natural world and the universe as commonly espouse in the prejudices and superstitions of religion. It is unique and dynamic for it transcends belief systems that influence our way of thinking and the way we lead our lives as individuals in our desire to gain deeper understanding while retaining our moral values.