God Out of the Way

I ask: is it really true that the elimination of the concept of God will result in anxiety, despair, and alienation? Or that if God does not exist, everything is permitted? Or remove God out of this world and it will mean the elimination of the final restraints on human brutality? Well, I say, if God exist, why then, since time immemorial, the human race has been alone and insecure and doomed in this world? The most we decent atheists can do is to face the end of life with love, courage, cheerfulness, especially with dignity and self-respect. Admittedly, there is not much of the promise of liberation from atheism, but certainly there is something even much more profound, and indeed, even much more precious – it is called: - intellectual coherence. Bertrand Russell said it briefly: “If we must die, let us die sober, and not drunk with lies.” The most childish, if not most gullible individuals I have met were not only those confused, but also those misguided Christians. Instead of growing up, they are just proud to be Born-Again! But then again, I also have devout Christian friends who would, during odd moments, bitterly criticize Christianity in the Philippines. Most of the time, however, they do not know what exactly they are talking about. They only display a shallow emotional drama, if not an infantile medulla oblongata. Their criticisms have neither intellectual basis nor social impact nor historical value in them. There is only that terror of the fear of punishment in hell as against the hope of a reward in heaven. In the meantime, as a nation, this seems to be our religious motto: “There is victory in surrender when the conqueror is not only Christ, but also Christianity.” Only In The Philippines - many of our men in prisons are not necessarily criminals but the victims of criminals; especially by those corrupt to the core otherwise known as “corrupt lawyers,” “corrupt Prosecutors,” and “corrupt Judges,” keeping the judicial system of the Philippines as corrupt as ever. These highly corrupt men in the legal profession would connive to handle first the lengthy legal court cases of those who are rich and powerful and famous; but hardly consider with as much attention and speed the legal cases of those who are impoverished without influence, fanfare, money and without publicity. Poch Suzara