Open Letter to the United Nations

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. To those of us who have no religion, it is frightening to visualize that the Christians, the Muslims and the Jews can now, with nuclear weapons at their disposal, reduce our planet into a lunar landscape. A civilized way, no doubt, to solve at the same time, the problem of human population explosion with a bigger and wider and higher explosion. Bertrand Russell wrote: “More than half of the population of the world is under-nourished, not because it need be, but because richer nations prefer killing each other than keeping poorer nations alive and helping them to achieve a higher standard of living.” I said it before, I say it again: if we were all atheists we could learn to live together in peace with all men. I am myself proud of atheism because in the history of the mankind, there never was a war declared by atheists against other atheists. Indeed, as atheists, we know that humans are no different from the animals, except only by a little. We atheists, however, do not want to throw that little away. We hold on to our sense of common humanity. In the meantime, the preparations for religious war are only making poor people in poor countries become poorer. It is time for religious believers to stop making a mockery of what human life should be. It is time to stop wasting precious resources against each other in purposeless hate and futile violence. Bertrand Russell said: “There lies before us, if we choose, continual progress in happiness, knowledge, and wisdom. Shall we, instead, choose death, because we cannot forget our quarrels? I appeal, as a human being to human beings: remember your humanity, and forget the rest. If you can do so, the way lies open to a new paradise; if you cannot, nothing lies before you but universal death.” Far worthier than the Muslim family or the Christian family or Jewish family or Hindu family or Buddhist family is, in fact, the precious human family whose continued existence is in doubt. It is time to love and appreciate the one and only real purpose to life, and that is, for the sake of our children and grandchildren, we must leave this world a little better than we found it, at least in the humanitarian sense, or there is little reason for our having lived. Sincerely, POCH SUZARA - Bertrand Russell Society, Philippines, pocholosuzara@gmail.com Feb. 26, 2006

Letter to the Philippine Free Press

Feb. 20, 2006
The Philippine Free Press
4th floor, Great Wall Bldg.
136 Yakal Street,
San Antonio Village,
Makati city

Gentlemen:

If my piece on Jerry Lewis was worth publishing in your magazine, why did you have to mutilate it and deleted the controversial portion out of it? If I had the courage to write what I wrote, what happened to your own courage to reprint the piece as it is and not to reflect how highly informed you people are with college education.
Religious hypocrisy, political expediency, distaste for veracity, and indeed the habitual distortion of reality are among the ailments that make for our sick society. It is regrettable that so prestigious a magazine like the Philippine Free Press should devote its influence to increasing and justifying them.
Attached is my original piece on Jerry Lewis. It is only a few days old. Your Free Press magazine is almost 100 years old. What a shame as I always thought that with age comes maturity, responsibility, and the courage to struggle for social sanity.

Sincerely, Poch Suzara
c.c. Jerry Lewis, USA
Bertrand Russell Peace Foundation, England
Blog

Jesus Admonished

Sell all you have and distribute to the poor and you will have treasures in heaven.
I ask: If what truly matters is treasure in heaven, what do the poor gain from what they are given?
In the meantime, the misery of the poor is not due to the laws of nature. It is due to the religious institutions. Indeed, such institutions never cease to preach: - blessed are the poor for they shall inherit the kingdom of God. Poch Suzara

The bible as Best Seller

The bible has been and still is the best seller in any bookstore in the Philippines. I ask: how do bible messages promote spiritual growth as a people; enhance moral development as a nation; and, more importantly, advance common human decency in this Asia’s oldest Christian country?

The simple truth, however, is that we are deeply ignorant of bible contents because the priesthood industry has consistently warned every one to read the bible but only under their strict moral interpretation, if not spiritual guidance. To me, it only proves that the bible was written not for Filipinos, or written even for the Jews - the Chosen people of God; in fact, nobody knows for whom the holy bible was written for! Poch Suzara

In the New Testament

According to Matthew, Jesus said: Everyone who acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge before my Father who is in Heaven; but whoever denies me before men, I will also deny before my Father who is in Heaven.
I ask: what it does not matter if Jesus made those promises or threats! In the end, however, what counts is if those approvals or denials have anything to do with the original mission of Jesus on this earth which was to destroy the devil. Indeed, the devil is still alive and perpetually spreading deviltry especially in the Philippines - Asia’s only Christian country since the 16th century. Poch Suzara

Philosophy and Religion

In philosophy, it is possible to disprove something. I love it as I love reason. In religion, however, it is never possible to prove anything. I hate it as I hate faith. Indeed, faith has only to do with believing; it has nothing to do with knowing or
discovering, and my favorite - questioning! Poch Suzara

THE BROKEN HOME

The broken home that makes for a broken child is not as harmful as the loveless home that makes for a loveless child. A broken child can be mended with love and affection. The loveless child, however, stays emotionally crippled for the rest of his life. There are a lot of these emotionally crippled individuals who are quite famous in Hollywood, California. They all play parts in the mediocrity, if not in the American insanity that promote their own popularity via the movie industry.
Even more terrible, however, these are also the emotionally crippled individuals who end up as politicians in government and feel they have the right to invade a foreign country and shove democracy down its throat. Then they convince themselves how wonderful it is to live in the land of the free and in the home of the brave. Poch Suzara

Jesus Revealed

“I am the way, the truth and the life.” John 14:6. I ask: under this theological revelation, how did Jesus, as the Son of God, alleviate pain or spread the sympathy for human suffering and poverty in this world? So much so that in his own community no one need have been that ungrateful to shout “Crucify Him!” “Crucify Him!” Poch Suzara

Jesus Replied

What shall I do to inherit eternal life? Jesus replied: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.”
Unfortunately, by the time I am through loving the infinite God with all of my heart, and soul, and strength, and mind, - I will be so exhausted in that I will have no more time to love my neighbor nor have the energy to love even myself. Poch Suzara

Jesus Preached

Love your neighbor as yourself. I ask: What if your neighbor were a congressman? Poch Suzara

RELIGION

Religion is a childish toy, and it is played with guilt and sin in the playground of ignorance. Religion profits not divinity. The profits are all for the priesthood industry. Indeed, all the organized religions of the world today are among the top most richest organizations in the world. Poch Suzara

FAITH AND BLIND FAITH

Faith is not wanting to know what is true. Indeed, faith is the best excuse we have for being thoughtless so that we may continue to feel blessed living in darkness. In fact, blind faith is the season for keeping away from the light of reason.
Poch Suzara

SPIRITUALITY

The path towards spirituality has nothing to do with embracing sacred lies and other pontifical delusions. On the contrary, the way towards spirituality lies through questioning everything; especially questioning the Revealed Truth as it has yet to be revealed. Poch Suzara

Caesar and God

Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s, and unto God the things that are God’s. Matt. 22:21. This is all fine and dandy, but not, however, since we find both God and Caesar are already rendering unto each other first and foremost. If God renders unto Caesar’s the things that are Caesar’s and Caesar renders unto God the things that are God’s, where do we go to render to whom? Hello, Philippines - the only Catholic country in Asia! Poch Suzara

THE PUNY MIND OF MAN

“The mind of man,” wrote John Calvin, “undertakes all that is perverse, base, and impure and always remains involved in hypocrisy and deceit.” I ask: what vital role has Christianity played to make our politicians in government and our theologians in church all together be less perverse, less base, and less impure and no more involved in hypocrisy and deceit in the Philippines? Now I am told that I have a mind that is puny. Oh yes, indeed, since I am human, my mind is just as puny as your mind and just as puny as the mind of the theologians and the politicians. So how come you religiously frightened morons pretend that you have a mind that understands the mind of God? As if God has a mind since God is not human? Poch Suzara

TURN THE OTHER CHEEK

For the sake of peace and harmony, Jesus exhorts his followers with these words: “But I say unto you, that ye resists not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.” Matt. 5:39

 I ask: what is so noble about turning the other cheek, if one knows that each time he does so,           he is    earning his salvation in heaven, while the one who strikes is earning his damnation in hell?          Poch Suzara

BIBLE MESSAGES

I see no truth behind the traditional benevolence of religion. I do not think one religion any better than another. I think, however, since it is older than Islam, Christianity has brought far more darkness, misery, crime, and suffering, and far more evil and tyranny than any other religion. Especially in this Asia’s only Christian country since the 16th century. One need not read Philippine history for evidence. Just read and study the bible and discover the horrors of divine grace for the human race. Intelligently read the bible is the most potent force for atheism ever conceived by inspired writers of God. Poch Suzara Twitter# Facebook# Google#

Gilbert K. Chesterton

"The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult; and left untried." Chesterton ( 1874-1936 ). I ask Mr. Chesterton: Have you heard of the Multiplication Table as the perfect model of truth? It has been tried for thousands of years, and without hate or wars. It has always been tried and found useful, always precise and certain and free from all temporal dross! And to think that the Multiplication Table as a perfect model of truth is not even mentioned in the bible - a book written by inspired authors of God. In the meantime, Christianity thrives not on love, but on hate. This is symptomatic of a viciousness in Christianity that few people care to acknowledge. For all of its alleged concern for the “poor” Christianity does its best to perpetuate suffering but calls it “sacrifice” which easily transforms into hate – hate of each other down here for the love of God up there; specially while believing that this world is coming to an end as predicted by Jesus in his own time some two thousand years ago. Poch Suzara

Politicians and Theologians

We have good politicians in our government. We have good theologians in our church. Unfortunately, however, it is not enough to be good; especially if one were only good for nothing. Perhaps, in the centuries to come, our politicians together with our theologians would have learned to be good for something. At least be better professionals in learning to stop making a mockery of everything. Poch Suzara

In the Bible

In Genesis, it is asked: “Is anything too hard for the Lord?” (18:14); and Jesus, more than once, said that “all things are possible with God.” (Mark 10:27).
I ask: is it possible for God to make Filipinos love fellow-Filipinos and to love the Philippines too?
What is so precious about God’s gift of Free Will if the Good Will were more socially beneficial, and indeed, more harmoniously functional? Poch Suzara

God of the Filipinos

The bible clearly states what God said to Moses: “I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. Exodus 3:6.
There is nothing in the bible where God also said: I am the God of Juan De La Cruz, I am the God of Gomez, Burgos, and Zamora, or I am the God of lapulapu.
In the meantime, the failure of our values continues to inspire and to generate the success of social insanity in the Philippines. Poch Suzara

The Bible Says

Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit. Colossians 11:8
These words must have been written by an inspired moron spoiled with silly theology, but totally ignorant of the beauty and power of philosophy – the Queen of all her daughters – the sciences. Poch Suzara

Filipino Leader

We admit that even if we do not have a strong leader in government, we do have a Jesus, the strong leader of our church. Never mind if Jesus was born a Jew in Israel some 2,000 years ago. Never mind if Israel is not a Christian country as it is a Jewish State. And to think that this is the same Jesus who admonished: “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not with him.” John 2:15.
Think of it: as Christians, if the bible tells us to love not the world, why then should we love the Philippines? More to the point: if we do not love our country, why should we love one another? And as we all struggle against each other in order to exist, we might just as well love God up there and hate one another down here! Poch Suzara

IF THERE IS A GOD

If there is a God, it just seems fair that such a God should be existing not vaguely somewhere way out there but clearly right down here. For example, inside a church, a mosque, or a temple. Where God could easily be accessible to anybody in desperate need of help or protection of the innocent.
Well, if God lives inside this church or that mosque, or that temple, how come there is much pain and suffering in this world?
Oh God, my dear God, how do you get rid of evil? As the bible claims that everything is possible with you, is it not possible for you to destroy the devil and deviltry - a promise already made by your own Son Jesus some two thousand years ago?
In the mentime, the bible admits: God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands. Acts. 17:24 Poch Suzara

The Philippines

The Philippine archipelago is composed of 7,100 islands, large and small. Because of rugged topography, marked by wide rivers and deep creeks, high mountains and ravines, not to mention sea channels, most of the 88 million Filipinos live in 16 regions, 79 provinces, 1,496 municipalities and 41,943 barangays are islolated for lack of road and bridges. The isolation is one of the reasons for the slow economic growth.
Perhaps, the break-up of the Philippines into three – the Republic of Luzon, the Republic of Visayas, and the Republic of Mindanao -- might facilitate more growth and development as independent smaller nations minding its own viability and manageable economy. Poch Suzara

IN SOUTHERN PHILIPPINES

In Southern Philippines – the Christians and the Muslims have been hating each other since the 16th century.
These are actually Filipinos hating other Filipinos. On the one side, the Filipinos hating the Muslims for the glory of God; and, on the other side, the Filipino hating the Christians for the glory of Allah.
No doubt, the Christians have faith in God; and, the Muslims have faith in Allah; unfortunately, however, faith has nothing to do with wanting to live in peace under common decency with those who do not share the same faith as we have. Poch Suzara

AS ATHEISTS

As atheists, we have made our point clear. Our outrage is not directed against this or that war-like nation, Jews or Gentile, Muslim or Christian, but is aimed at the psycho-neurosis called religion, the most harmful idea ever conceived by the superstitious crackpots of the ancient world. Religion is an evil responsible for more deaths than all the plagues combined. As atheists, our clearly expressed outrage is against that superstition that has brought man nothing but fear, suffering, death, turmoil including the whole gang of raving lunatics such as the Robertsons and the Grahams and the burning Bushes of this world. Poch Suzara

Jerry Lewis

I met Jerry Lewis at his home in Beverly Hills, California in l967. He had already heard about me from my sister. Especially about my activism having been primarily responsible for setting up the Philippine branch of the Bertrand Russell Peace Foundation in l964. We were then struggling against the Vietnam War in particular; and, against the concept of war as a way of settling international disputes in general.
Jerry’s greeting words to me: “Hi there, Poch – you poverty-stricken Filipino!” I retorted: “Hi there, Jerry – you rich-stricken Jew!” Jerry looked at my sister, laughingly said: “I like this brother of yours.” Jerry indeed, is a great comedian and, I must add, on and off the stage - a great man.
I salivated with envy as I was particularly impressed with him not because he was such a world famous Hollywood celebrity, but because of his huge personal library of great books. A few he himself had authored.
His son Gary of the Playboys, an equally famous singer and rock drummer ( I am a jazz drummer myself ) married my sister - Jinky. Sadly, it did not turn out to be a happy matrimony. After three years, it ended in a divorce. Both, however, have an only daughter – Sara. She is married now with two children – the first two great-grandkids of Jerry Lewis
Since 1966, every Labor Day, the Jerry Lewis Telethon has already raised more than a BILLION DOLLARS to fight and to find the cure for Muscular Dystrophy – a disorder of the skeletal muscles characterized by weakness.
Despite the existence of the American Medical Association, and the Food and Drug Administration, and its partner in business – the American Pharmaceutical industry that’s dearly protected by the Federal Trade Commission - there are more cases of Muscular Dystrophy victims in America today than ever before. Hopefully, the cure is just around the corner.
For my part, though I have neither the ability nor the popularity to raise billions, I too, have been fighting, in my own little ways, to find a cure of a disease of the worst kind. It continues to infect a great many people worldwide. It is called religion – born of fear and ignorance and superstition. Indeed, religion is what is keeping our world poor spiritually and backward scientifically. In America, a billion dollars can be raised for healing, but trillions of dollars are readily available for killing. Thanks to religion and its ability to spread more fear, ignorance, and superstition everywhere throughout our world.
In the meantime, Jerry Lewis continues his own fight to help financially find the cure for muscular dystrophy in America one day. I ardently wish him more power and success in his humanitarian works and dedication. Poch Suzara

A Word Missing

There is one last word missing in God’s 5th command - Thou shalt not kill. At the rate the human heart has been more proned to hate than to love in this world since the beginning, the one last word missing in God’s 5th command is the word: - HATE. Poch Suzara

The Supernatural

The problem with the existence of the supernatural is that it exists only outside the human brain! How could we possibly believe in the existence of the supernatural that does not even exist inside our brain? How come, on the day we arrived on this earth, none of us had brain to know anything about the existence of the supernatural? Poch Suzara

Women in the Bible

Woman as written in the bible is depicted as the main cause of the Fall of Man, and why men are corrupt and depraved. This is obvious in the Old and in the New Testament. When Jesus, however, said, love one another, he was referring to men, not to women. Poch Suzara

Stephen Hawking

Is a brilliant scientist on a wheelchair who writes books with his brilliant mind even as his body fails him. In his Brief History of Time, Hawking wrote: “Throughout the 70s I had been mainly studying black holes, but in 1981 my interest in questions about the origin of and fate of the universe was reawakened when I attended a conference on cosmology organized by the Jesuits in the Vatican. The Catholic Church had made a bad mistake with Galileo when it tried to lay down the law on the question of science, declaring that the sun went round the earth. Now centuries later, it has decided to invite a number of experts to advise it on cosmology. At the end of the conference the participants were granted an audience with the pope. He told us that it was all right to study the evolution of the universe after the big bang, but we should not inquire into the big bang itself because that was the moment of Creation and therefore the work of God. I was glad then that he did not know the subject of the talk I had just given at the conference – the possibility that space-time was infinite but had no boundary, which means that it had no beginning, no moment of Creation.”
In this world, we have, no doubt, monuments to human mediocrity; but we certainly do also have men of science like a Stephen Hawking who is a monument to the human spirit. Poch Suzara

God and Allah

One would think that after all these past centuries of conflict and misunderstanding, God and Allah would have already smoked the peace pipe to enjoy peace and goodwill with each other. Both should have already inspired their respective followers – the Christians and the Muslims to stop the hate and the killing of each other for the glory of the either. But no! These supernatural brats apparently want to remain like a couple of supernatural brats for the rest of eternity.
I beg of you Christians and Muslims – why don’t you dump your respective beliefs and stop emulating supernatural childishness? Neither God nor Allah is worth loving or dying for. Let’s all live in peace together and have faith in each other for the sake of global sanity. Let's all enjoy peace on earth and goodwill to all men for the sake of our human family. Poch Suzara

Only in the Philippines

We start everything with a prayer. We end everything with a prayer. Indeed, in this only Christian country in Asia, when all else fail, we only say more prayers. After all, what is important to us is our faith in divinity. Never mind the failure of our values or the success of social insanity in this Asia's only Christian country. Poch Suzara

There is Nothing Wrong

There is nothing wrong with either the admission or the belief that something exists beyond our understanding. What is ludicrous, however, is when we love, worship, and adore that something, specially if everyone else knows absolutely nothing about that something. Poch Suzara

National Catholic Almanac

According to the National Catholic Almanac, “God” is defined as “Almighty, Eternal, Holy, Immortal, Immense, Immutable, Ineffable, Infinite, Invisible, Just, Loving, Merciful, Most High, Most Wise, Omnipotent, Omniscient, Omnipresent, Patient, Perfect, Provident, Supreme, and Incomprehensible.
I ask: If God were incomprehensible, how did any one come to know about the twenty-two other supernatural qualities of God. Poch Suzara

A Logical Unity

“A logical unity,” wrote Bertrand Russell, “is at once a strength and a weakness. It is a strength because it insures that whoever accepts one stage of the argument must accept all later stages. It is a weakness because whoever rejects any of the later stages must also reject some, at least, of the earlier stages.”
For my part, I reject the earlier stages of what’s written in the Old Testament, and I therefore cannot accept the later stages of what's written in the New Testament. It is as simple as that. Poch Suzara

Generosity

Giving away things you might need in the future is the true measure of generosity. Otherwise, giving away things you want discarded is not generosity. It is a mockery of charity. It is a form of religious vulgarity. Poch Suzara

If we only Knew

If we only knew for certain that there is life after death, and that death is more superior than life, then suicide should be a happy remedy out of human misery. We fear death, however, because we know absolutely nothing of its aftermath, if any. At any rate, how can the dead human body decomposing and rotting recognize and enjoy at same time the lively experience of life after death?
For my part, instead of contemplating on death, I would rather try and substantiate the words of a famous atheist – Bertrand Russell: “I consider old age a time to struggle for human decency – like any other.” Poch Suzara

The Theologian versus the Philosopher

The philosopher values the life of the mind. The theologian, on the other hand, values the life of the soul. Unfortunately for the theologian, the soul cannot be understood without the power of the intellect. The philosopher therefore is a far more superior thinker than the theologian can ever hope to be. Poch Suzara

The Creative Mind

In the material sense, a man may be worth something. But if he remains thoughtless to the good life – one inspired by love and guided by knowledge, his life in the end will be worth nothing. It is not worldly possessions, but the creative mind that is clearly the major aspect of who or what we are that matters. Francis Bacon admonished: “Seek ye first the good things of the mind, and the rest will either be supplied, or its loss will not be felt.” Poch Suzara

Passport to the Next Life

It’s easy to apply for a passport issued by the church to travel to the next life. All that’s required is baptism in holy water. What’s hard to acquire, however, is the visa to go to heaven. It requires a lifetime of fear, ignorance, pain, suffering, misery, poverty, stupidity, and indeed, insanity. And to think that everybody wants to go to heaven, but nobody wants to die. Poch Suzara

The Greatest Failures in Life

The greatest failures in life are those who live with the right answers to wrong questions. The greatest success, however, are those who question everything as the answers, with few exceptions, in time, become obsolete. Only the few have the courage to question what has always been taken for granted. The many, always living in fear, question nothing. Indeed, they hate the power of a question. What they love is faith. Faith has the power to make people timid comfortably, if not lazy mentally. In the Philippines, however, faith has even been quite a success as the engine generating the failure of our values that is promoting the success of what makes us the Sick Man of Asia. Poch Suzara

Notice

Ever notice how God is never around each time he is needed or wanted. Even his son Jesus, who took on a human form, after a few years on this earth, some two thousand years ago, decided to disappear out of sight away from everybody!
In the meantime, churches are empty on Sundays in European countries. It is the same situation in the United States. The ones who still go to church, however, are the Filipinos. They do not believe that God is everywhere. We have been taught to believe that God can be found, somehow, only inside a church or a cathedral. Poch Suzara

On Being Negative

Those who fought to abolish slavery were considered “negative” by the slave traders. Indeed, slavery was eventually abolished by those who were negative toward the evil business of slave trading. For my part, I am known to be “negative” too in my fight to abolish religious teachings in our schools, colleges, and universities. I would rather be “negative” in the eyes of the religious morons spreading silly faith in the supernatural that's keeping us selfish, greedy, stupid, and insane as a sick and a corrupt society as ever. Poch Suzara

Knowledge is Power

Knowledge is power; but that’s only half true. The other half that is true is when knowledge is put into effect. It then becomes a real power which is defined as the production of desired effects. Poch Suzara

A Strong Leader for the Philippines?

It is highly recommended that Jesus Christ be the one and only strong leader for Filipinos. As if Jesus Christ, who was not born in the Philippines, should have anything to do with Filipino values and beliefs.
Jesus Christ was born in Israel that today is not even a Christian country. It is a Jewish State. If Jesus Christ, who was himself a Jew, was never a leader in his own country, how and why should he be a leader in the Philippines? As a matter of fact, where is Jesus Christ? He is not even in Israel today? Nobody knows where Jesus is! Even the Filipino bishops do not know his whereabouts!
What we need in this country is not a strong leader but a strong system of education that gives birth to a strong people and, indeed, a strong nation. Unfortunately, our system of education has nothing to do with science developing the human intelligence. Learning in our schools, colleges, and universities is mostly about religion: - the preparation for the next life; or, worst, about the preparation for the coming of the Lord who will solve all our troubles and problems in this life. Poch Suzara