Prayer

I am told that prayer is not an occasional impulse to which we respond when we are in trouble. It is a lifetime attitude. Prayer is our steering wheel, not our spare tire.
I ask: if God does not listen to the prayers of the dying and the dead, why should God listen to the prayers of the living?
Prayers, indeed, are like magic formulas, mumbled over and over again, with the advertiser’s faith in the law of reiteration. Think of it: if prayer works with the power of God, it should only be said but once, and not to be repeated day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year, century after century, millennium after millennium.
In the meantime, you define 0.01% as a "high success rate" when it comes to answered prayers. You consider that to be evidence that prayer works. And you believe that the remaining 99.99% FAILURE was simply the will of God. Poch Suzara

The Guardian of Freedom

The greatest guardian of freedom has always been the diffusion of knowledge. The dumbstruck in governments, especially in the US government, however, still believe that freedom can only be installed, protected, and defended and promoted by the power of the military. Bertrand Russell wrote: “Freedoms cannot effectively be said to exist if they protect only occasional differences about matters which are of small importance.” Poch Suzara

All Men

All men are created equal; unfortunately, equal only in mediocrity as a source of pride especially equal as well in the belief that ignorance is bliss. Poch Suzara

Filipino Lawyers

Top criminal lawyers of the Philippines are very religious too. The statue of Baby Jesus is displayed inside their law office. Well, why not? If the judge himself has religious icons displayed inside his court room, and criminals during trial in court may carry with them the holy bible or the rosary or the little statue of Mama Mary, why not top lawyers also to pray to baby Jesus to be on their side? And to think that in no other school, except in law school, that the the art of cross-examination is taught; specially to ferret out the truth. In the meantime, there remains of the necessity of cross examining the causes of evil keeping us Filipinos frightened as a people and keeping the Philippines misguided as a nation. As a high school expelled student, I have yet to hear from any of our top lawyer with guts or gumption to publicly declare that the only way to remedy the traditional ills of our sick society is to get rid of CHRISTIANITY out of our country. Indeed, to be replaced with nothing but the beauty of science and the power of technology. It simply means in our schools, colleges, and universities - no more childish prayer; no more infantile theology. No more God Bless you hogwash! Poch Suzara

Frightened of Atheism

Atheism frightens most men not because they have no taste to disbelieve in a God, but because they have no taste to be a thinker, especially to be a courageous freethinker. Indeed, it is not possible to be an atheist if one does not develop the habit of the scientific way of thinking. Or, simply, if one refuses to learn to question everything. Poch Suzara

Existence

Millions of years before my birth, I was a nothing. I had no existence. Millions of years after my death, I will be a nothing again. I will have no existence. Now I am told that there is life after death. Of course, there is life after death - the life of my dear loved-ones. I will leave them behind until they too will eventually join with me to rest in peace forever in nothing, over nothing, and for nothing. Really, how could we enjoy a hereafter when none of us ever enjoyed a herebefore?
But then again, there is the First Law, the conservation law. It says that while energy can never be created or destroyed it can only be transformed from one form to another. For my part, I should leave alone the conservation law. Let her decide what she wants to do with our un-bundled energy after death that was once a bundled up energy called - life.
In the meantime, each and every unfolding reality contains not only the seed of its own destruction, but also the embryo of a new reality that will replace it. I think the best we all should do is to face reality courageously – there is no one at the helm on this earth. We are all in charge for our own destinies. Poch Suzara

Love From God

Love makes much for peace on earth and goodwill to all men. I ask: where is love from God that I am told is a loving God? In fact, where is God in our mad world filled with cruelties and hate and violence and war? What keeps Him hiding like the timid atheists always hiding inside the dark closet?
Now my devout friends and relatives tell me that my end is near, and that before it is too late, I should renounce my atheism and repent and make my peace with God. Yes, I should be happy to do so. However, before I proceed, I need to know first if God himself had already smoked the peace-pipe with the devil?
In the meantime, please open your bible. It clearly reads: The dead know not anything, neither have they any more a reward. Eccl. 9:5 Poch Suzara

Knowledge

Knowledge that is not based on scientific observation, but only deduced from some sacred writings or concocted from some wild theological imagination – is knowledge that is not only thoughtless, not only mindless, not only groundless, not only senseless. It is knowledge that’s shamelessly useless and therefore utterly worthless. Poch Suzara

Temple of God

I am told that God created my body; it is a temple of God. How wonderful! What’s not wonderful, however, are the other tiny creatures living inside my body that God created too. They are called germs, bacteria, and viruses. There are about 20 billion of them trying to kill me and eventually will succeed to do so. And to think that those little creatures existing inside human vital organs and blood streams are all at war against the other as they probably hate each other too. In the process, however, sooner or later, whether we like it or not, whether we have free will or not, these little nasty monsters together will decree not only our own death, but will also decree their own extinction. I suppose in God’s name too, if not for His glory in heaven.

In the meantime, our 60 to 70 or 80 years of existence on this erth in relation to God’s eternal existence in heaven, we live, comparatively, but for a split of a second long. As if that were enough time for any of us to be put on trial by the Supreme Being for our petty crimes and silly sins. Poch Suzara

Great Religions

Except perhaps for Buddhism, all the great religions of the world hate each other and would rather be at war than enjoy peace, love, and respect for each other. If we were all atheists, chances are better for each and every one of us to achieve health and wealth and happiness in this world. In the meantime, since even God knows not when, there never was a belief that has done humanity in this world more damage intellectually than the childish belief in the existence of a sick and insane divinity. Poch Suzara Twitter# Facebook# Google#

Terrorism

Sending a powerful message fit the definition of terrorism. Who therefore could be more terroristic than the religious teachers who frightens innocent children to believe in God because if not, they will be punished forever burning in hell? I should know. I was once such a terrorized child myself in grade school at De La Salle University run by the Christian Brothers. They certainly scared me to death to have faith in a lot of religious nonsense. Fortunately for me, however, I was expelled in high school for asking far too many questions. Much to my very pleasant surprise however, I learned eventually through self-study that the whole basis of the subject of philosophy that gave birth to her daughters - the sciences is based on questions asked and not on the answers found. Indeed, even up to this 21st century, terrorism comes not from intelligent questions, but only from the stupid answers! Poch Suzara

Something to Think About

I suppose men and women, especially with college education, love to think about some things sometimes. For my part, I was expelled out of high-school because I never denied myself the joy to think about a lot of things all the time. I still do love to think in my old age. Poch Suzara

Nicole versus the US Marines

We are told that the job of the US Marines is to defend those who are unable to defend themselves.
The least the US Marines could do while visiting the Philippines is to defend women like Nicole from being raped by fellow-Marines.
Isn’t it enough that the US Marines are here to train Filipino soldiers to be more efficient at killing fellow human beings? In the meantime, must they also carry the impression that women of the Philippines are not worthy of love and respect or a decent treatment?
To Nicole: as an American citizen living in the Philippines, I have every wish that you will succeed putting in jail those cowards in US military uniform who raped you. And even if they did not rape you, for treating you like a piece of garbage, they deserve to be thrown out of this country. Poch Suzara

American Political Parties

The Republican Party and the Democratic Party are one and the same old Party. They do not matter except during election. Michael Moore described it as the “Greed Party.” It supports the one and only real religion of America. It’s called Capitalism.
If we truly wish to see the inside of the American economic bubble, we must first puncture it. Each time our president declares happily that “our economy is sound,” he does not acknowledge that it is not at all sound for the 50 to 60 million fellow-Americans who are struggling to survive, although it may be moderately sound for many in the middle class, and extremely sound for the riches 1 per cent of the nation who own 40 per cent of the nation’s wealth. Imagine 40 per cent of 13 Trillion dollars – the GNP of the US annually.
In the meantime, it is not the poor, but the rich who pretty much determine who will be the President of the nation. He is the political leader who says, “let’s have more of the same.” A candidate for president like a Ralph Nader of the Green party never makes it to the White House precisely because he says, “let’s change; let’s have no more of the same rotten politics. Let’s make the world safe for freedom and democracy not with hate and war, but with love and goodwill to all men.” What about the average voter? Well, he has the impression that he plays an important political role casting his ballot as a Republican or, as the case may be, as a Democrat. He votes for his favorite presidential candidate. What he does not know, however, is that it does not matter who wins the election because, to begin with, the two presidential candidates ( hardly a third or a fourth candidate ) have already been picked by the rich and the powerful for ordinary voters to choose from. Normally, the one with the greatest popularity in the achievement of mediocrity or has received more money always makes it to the White House. As an American citizen, I have yet to hear a newly-elected president of the USA proclaim at his inaugural address: “Let us stop all this political-industrial-military-university complex nonsense. For once, let’s begin to really work for world peace. Let’s start right here inside the American home.” Poch Suzara

Capitalism

The economic system which we know as capitalism, or free enterprise, functions admirably, but only if it enhances the beauty of liberty and the sanity of democracy.
Unfortunately, capitalism, especially in America only promotes depravity and corruptibility and stupidity as it functions quite effectively in derailing the American family. Consider 99 per cent of American children. Fathers do not know their children as much as the children do not know their own fathers. How can either know the other since they do not even know what “knowing” means? Poch Suzara

Western Civilization

The men behind the arms industry are all liars. They could not prosper without the help from another industry composed of men who are also expert liars. It’s called the Media. However, the Arms industry together with the media could not last a day without the blessings from another group of liars too – the high officials in government. It is the purpose of the government to serve the interests of the wealthy and the powerful. It includes the high-ranking officials of the military.
No doubt, the government serves the poor; unfortunately, only with more lies though it’s more often called freedom and democracy. And if the un-employed poor were miserable with their lot, there is the armed forces to suppress strikes or public rallies or rebellion. Of course these evils are born and nurtured in our schools, colleges, and universities. They all fall under the inspiration of sacred messages written by Moses some four thousand years ago. It’s known as the Holy Bible.
We are all indoctrinated to believe in lies and falsehoods and political promises. We are even taught to have faith in the so-called values of our Western culture. In the meantime, just as it is impossible to define the word “terrorism,” it is equally as impossible to define the difference between “barbaric East” and the “civilized West.” Poch Suzara

Natural Resources

The Philippines is one of the riches countries in the world in natural resources. We have gold, silver, chrome ore, coal, oil, sugar, coconut, rivers, lakes, etc, name it, we have it; except perhaps diamond. We used to have in abundance rain-forests, but that’s virtually gone now. But we may even have in the Mindanao deep waters more than a TRILLION dollars worth of deuterium – a new energy source. And yet, we Filipinos are among the poorest people in the world.
Ask any college-educated Filipino why this is so, and he will reply that it is due to the Will of God. In the meantime, only the foreigners have taken advantage by exploiting our natural resources for their wealth, power, and glory. They all unanimously agree that God, indeed, has other plans for the Filipinos and for the Philippines. As to exactly what those plans are, not even the Catholic Bishops of the Philippines have the foggiest notion. Poch Suzara

Hate in America and Hate in the Philippines

An American living in the Philippines, wrote: “The safest world I know of is the USA with nukes. God will tell us what to do next.” Obviously, this fellow knows little about the nature of a Nuclear War and its global after effects. I find it incredible, however, to imagine young or old Americans being told by God what to do next? As if it were not enough that President Bush already talks to God and God continues to inspire the Bush Administration to bomb the hell out of poor and innocent people in foreign countries especially as such countries are rich in natural resources. Here’s another famous American, the television anchorman Dan Rather. He declared: “George Bush is the President… Wherever he wants me to line up, just tell me where.” Imagine an adult, a professional Reporter at that, quite conversant with current events, and he does not know where to line up, and he needs our President to tell him where to line up! Hey Dan, shame on you! Have you forgotten James Madison, he said: "If tyranny and oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy.” We boasts of our freedom and democracy, our peace and security and money, and yet our government has not ceased selling weapons to dictators, human rights abusers, and to countries at war or at the edge of war (sometimes against each other). Look at the historical conflict, for example, between the Christians and the Muslims in the Philippines. Call them what you like, but these people are actually Filipinos killing each other with weapons supplied by the US government. As an American citizen myself, I say this is madness, a sheer mockery, a depravity, if not a gimcrackery that promotes nothing but world insanity. I ask: what has happened to the beauty of American freedom and to the harmony of American democracy? Have they already become extinct in the land of the free and in the home of the brave? Must America fall apart to pieces because we Americans have forgotten how to live in peace with ourselves and how to live in peace with the rest of the world? Is there no other recourse for us except to prove that, in this universe, there is more American stupidity than there is the certainty of infinity? Let us ask: why are there more people today that hate America? What are the roots of Terrorism against America and our allies? Isn’t it because we do not ourselves practice freedom and democracy right in our own land? Our own government continues to deny freedom and democracy to people in Third World countries whose resources are coveted by our multi-national corporations. The hatred we have sown has come back to haunt us in the form of terrorism. . . Instead of sending our sons and daughters to the Middle East to kill Arabs so that we can have the oil under their sand, we should, instead, be sending them to spread common human decency. Indeed, rebuild their devastated homes and bomb-damaged schools, their infrastructures, supply clean water, and help hospitalize, feed, and educate children in those Arab countries. In short, we should be raising not only their standard of living, but also their standard of thinking. Who would try to stop us? Who would hate us? Who would want to bomb us? But then again, why should our government be offering these services when our own American children are going through a sub-standard system education. Look at the stupid politicians our system of education keeps producing to end up running our government. American communities are decaying and falling apart; and the standard of thinking of our government officials is equal to that of the employees of CNN. Indeed, at CNN nobody reasons why, they do not even do or die. Everybody’s job at CNN is to spread and promote with embellished lies no one’s interests except those of the wealthy and the powerful. Poch Suzara

Atheism

If atheism were a religion, how come we atheists do not have a “Chosen People,” or the “elect,” or the “reprobate,” or a “messiah?” How come we atheists have no miracles to convert others into atheism?
If atheism were a religion, how come we atheists have no sacred writings to make us hate and kill each other? How come we do not imprison, torture, burn to death or execute other atheists for denying the existence of atheism? How come we atheists do not declare war on other atheists? Indeed, if atheism were a religion, then health is a disease; or, heresy is orthodoxy.
No doubt, we atheists have faith; but we have faith in life, not in death. We have no faith in the next life. There isn’t any! We atheists do not believe in the existence of the soul. On contrary, we believe that the individual human mind is not only the most sacred; it is not only the most functional; it is also the most precious beauty in all of nature.
No child is born with a religion, and just like you my dear reader, I too was born without a religion. I am also happy with the thought that one day, I will die without a religion. We atheist are not afraid to live because we are not afraid to die.
In the meantime, eternal salvation in the great beyond is the condition of a dead man who refuses to believe that back on earth he is already dead and buried or cremated reduced to ashes. Poch Suzara

Jesus Said:

“I am the way, truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” John 14:6. Are not these words proof enough from Jesus Himself that God, His Father, is not omnipresent, not to be found everywhere? And to think that even Jesus Himself also physically vanished out of sight since two thousand years ago. Poch Suzara

Jesus

Jesus stated quite clearly: “But those mine enemies, which would not that I should reign over them, bring hither, and slay them for me.” Luke 19:27. And to think that this is the same Jesus who supposedly preached love your enemies, and if need be, die for your enemies. Poch Suzara

Family Relations

I have conveyed to my children that they can blame me for everything that’s wrong in their lives. However, only up to a certain age. When they have grown-up, and they still believe there is something wrong with me - their father, then they only have themselves to blame for neglecting to be involved in the study to expunge lies out of this world. Indeed, lies that comes from of false education, spurious history, and stupid organized religions.

Just as much as children are victims, so were we parents when we were children ourselves too. So were our parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents victimized too. The idea is to cut short the vicious circle. It promotes nothing but more human stupidity. Our grandchildren and great-children should be exposed to better ways of thinking instead of more of the same old ways of believing. Especially to stop believing in the demons from heaven and from hell and indeed including the demons on this earth as heads of governments.

There is nothing more sacred than our innate curiosity, our ability to reason, and a determination to search for the truth. Any attempt to hinder the beauty of thought or the power of reason is a crime against self-respect, if not a violation against human dignity. We must always turn to what is truly sacred, the freedom to think and reason and then to let the facts speak for themselves.

Let’s all wake up for the sake of human race down here and to hell with divine disgrace up there! Indeed, let us all leave this world one day a better place than we found it. Otherwise, there would be little reason for our having lived. Poch Suzara

Children

Clarence Darrow said, “Just think of the tragedy of teaching children not to doubt!” I agree; but think of the greater tragedy of millions upon millions of children born neither loved nor wanted by their parents in this world. It’s the root cause of the troubles and conflicts that keep our world not only poor and backward, but also brutal in hate, savage in violence, and deadly in war. Poch Suzara

Skeptic or Bright or Atheist

September 11, 2006 Free Inquiry Magazine, Amherst, New York, USA For: Paul Kurtz and Richard Dawkins Gentlemen: Skeptic or Bright or Atheist. I hardly see any value in identifying myself as a “skeptic” or a “bright.” Why hide inside a dark closet? What value is there for more inquiry after having already discovered the truth? Each and every one of us was born free from religion. Even before sacred books were written by inspired authors of God – babies were already coming out of their mother’s womb not as a Christian or a Jew or a Muslim, but as atheists. In fact, we are all born atheists, not sinners; we are made sinners by religious education. If I am against slave trading and say that slavery should be abolished and the slave traders accuse me of being negative, then so be it. But do I really need to use more proper terms so as not to offend such a gang of criminals - the slave traders? In our world today, the religious traders are the criminals. For the sake of faith peddling, they continue to cut each other’s throats. With weapons of mass destruction today, they are even ready and willing to reduce our planet earth into a lunar landscape! In the meantime, the reinforcement of religion exists everywhere. In schools, colleges, universities, radios, newspapers, magazines, movies, television, billboards, marquees, and currencies, etc. Indeed, the communion of saints integrating, while the communion of atheists disintegrating. Down through the centuries, the religious traders have done much to convert every one to live in guilt, in fear, and in hate of each other. Indeed, from infancy to senility, to promote the belief that evil comes only from those who do not believe in God. It seems to me clear that with the power of knowledge behind us – the superstitious should be the ones retreating, and the atheists not the ones flinching away trying only to find more polite ways of identifying themselves in public. Bertrand Russell wrote: “If we must die, let us die sober, and not drunk with lies.” One such horrible lie is that reason can bow before faith; or, that knowledge can retreat before superstition. Sacred lies and other ecclesiastical falsehoods are over. Thanks to the atheists who walked out of their dark closets. In the meantime, there is nothing at all negative about Atheism other than it deprives the religious traders and faith peddlers of their vast sources of tax-free revenues. As atheists, we have more crucial roles to play in this world. With courage, we must continue to show the way for the minds of men, hearts of women, and the lives of children to learn to live under the direction always towards truthfulness. If this were not the case, it nevertheless remains our task to bring more light into a world of darkness.With all good wishes, Poch Suzara Bertrand Russell Society, Philippines, 8 Zippper st. San Lorenzo Village, Makati City

Galileo and Rizal

Even if Galileo had retracted, how come the earth continued on to rotate on its own axis and continued on to orbit around the sun?
Even if Rizal had retracted, how come the Catholic Church continued on to rotate on its own sacred lies and continued on to orbit on its own ecclesiastical falsehoods?
The Vatican authority had already issued a posthumous public apology to Galileo for its errors in having him arrested and incarcerated. Galileo had published his astronomical findings in a book that proved bible astronomy was purely based upon a silly theology.
There is no posthumous public apology as yet from the Vatican authority to Rizal. He was wrongfully arrested and then publicly executed for exposing the evils that kept the Filipinos poor and the Philippines backward. Indeed, the evils otherwise more popularly known as Christian values and beliefs. Poch Suzara

Only in the Philippines

Our college educated men and women are all intelligent, except when they try to think. And to think that all these college-educated individuals in the government, in the media, and in the church are always quarreling like little boys and silly girls all the time. They often knock each other down over some shallow issue, if not over some infantile disagreement in defense of something not worth defending in this already politically sick, economically poor, religiously insane, historically backward, God-forsaken country of ours. Poch Suzara

Private versus Public school

Sending our children to public school as compared to sending them to private school entails a tremendous savings for parents in this country. Only hundreds of pesos a year are required for expenses if children were enrolled in a public school. However, thousands of pesos a year are required if they were enrolled in a private school.
What is not true, however, is the general impression that rich children are better educated in private school than those poor children who are in public schools. Theoretically, if these were true, how come, in this country, we all have the same immature attitude towards life? How come we are not able to think creatively for ourselves as a people and we are not able to assume constructive responsibilities for ourselves as a nation? Ironically, the vastly unemployed in our poor and backward country are products of both public and private schools. And then, how come a great many of us, poor and rich alike, need also a confused American Pastor from California to reveal to us what the purpose driven life is all about? Poch Suzara

More Criticisms

I point out that if we hope to get a million more tourists to visit the Philippines every single month, we must first clean up the garbage and trash all around us on a minute to minute, hour to hour, day to day - round the clock operation. Now I am told not to be too hard on myself and not to be too hard on the Philippines. That instead of criticizing, I should, instead, offer solutions to problems. In other words, join the bandwagon of the blind. Stop pointing out the garbage and trash all around us. Be positive. Don’t rock the boat. Just look the other way. Let the tourists see and enjoy for themselves not only our tourist attraction, but especially also our more exciting tourist distraction. In the meantime, our tourists have already returned home telling everybody that if you have no taste for health and sanitation, it is worth touring the Philippines. No wonder the members of Republican Party of USA are the only ones who feel at home touring the Philippines. In the meantime, I imagine millions of Filipinos no longer hating each other, instead only loving each other proudly touring each other’s provinces in this country of ours. That would truly be a real WOW PHILIPPINES! Poch Suzara

Mar Patalinjug

Mar Patalinjug out of New York summarized precisely what I have been saying again and again for years: “One reason why poverty persists among Filipinos is that they suffer from the deadly poverty of the mind. And this poverty of the mind is the nefarious result of religious indoctrination.” Thank you sir. You are, indeed, a rare Filipino thinker. No, not the communion of many Filipino saints and sinners, but the communion of the few Filipino thinkers and philosophers have the greatest love and admiration for you! Poch Suzara

Bread

Give a man a loaf of bread and you feed him for a day. Teach him religion and he will starve to death while praying for more bread. The prayer goes like this: “Our Father, give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, and lead us not into temptation, amen.”
Now imagine the poor Filipino in need of bread and at the same time, he also needs to pray to God to lead him not into temptation. And to think that the response from heaven is that on this earth - “Man does not live by bread alone.” In the meantime, imagine again the poor Filipino eating his bread in the streets. He does not even own a table. He was, however, taught to believe his faith in God is the best thing he has as God will provide. Poch Suzara

We Filipinos

We Filipinos are not only born troubled, but also raised and indoctrinated to be selfish, greedy, and insane. Even in death we are taught to look forward to saving only our own souls, and to hell to what we will be leaving behind - our poor and troubled nation.
I imagine our schools, colleges, and universities yearly teaching young Filipinos the virtues of intellectual courage. Then I imagine not the young, but the elderly Filipinos looking forward at the inevitability of death as the only way we can meet and tell the Lord to please trash the cult of mediocrity, to please dump the religion of vulgarity, and to please discard the worship of absurdity more popularly known in the Philippines as “Christianity!” Poch Suzara

The Poorest People on this Earth - the Filipnos

Poverty cannot be measured in pesos and centavos alone. Poverty must be viewed from a larger, deeper, if not a wider perspective: social, political, spiritual, cultural, educational, environmental; and indeed, poverty in science and technology. The poorest people in the world may yet be the Filipino. Filipinos, as a people, do not even own a country. Millions of Filipinos are employees to foreign employers in the Philippines which is mostly owned by the Catholic Church. In the meantime, our congressmen and senators have always bragged openly, if not declared publicly that their great success in health and wealth comes from God. It only proves that God does not exist, and if there is a God, such a God has got to be nothing but a divine Jerk. Poch Suzara

I was Spiritually Abused as a little boy in school

It’s not surprising that abused kids grow up to abuse their own kids. I was once an abused kid myself. For asking too many hard questions, I was often humiliated, if not punished, often thrown out of class by my teachers in school. Happily, I have not acquired a taste to be abusive to anybody. The painful memory of my own suffering under Christian teachings has prevented me from being abusive to kids. I do, however, tremendously enjoy a personal war against the abusive system of education that is still as destructive as ever. In schools today, it is still being taught that what is important in life is not the endless cultivation of the mind and heart for this world, but only the mindless preparation of the salvation of sick souls in the next world. As for my own children and grandchildren and all the children of this world – I have every desire that they will eventually see the light and learn to become not the stupid victim of indoctrination, but become instead the intelligent master of education. Today, my former classmates and schoolmates secretly envy me for my guts in standing up and speaking out against the sick system of education that's been keeping us Filipinos poor as a people and corrupt as a nation. - - - Poch Suzara Google# Facebook# Twitter#

Word of a Televangelist

Before accepting the word of a televangelist, we ought to be guided with the power of reason. Credulity without free enquiry encourages not only religious timidity; it is worst, - it promotes political and social insanity. After 500 years of Christian values and beliefs, look at us Filipinos in this 21st century. We are still stuck in a religious quagmire. We are still waiting for the Second Coming of the Lord to remedy the malady that’s keeping the Philippines poor and backward under the cult of social insanity otherwise more popularly known as Christianity. Poch Suzara

If St. Augustine were alive Today in the Philippines

“St. Augustine,” wrote Bishop Bacani, “would sympathize well with us Filipinos, if he were alive today.” (Manila Standard Today, Aug. 29, 2006). As a matter of fact, if St. Augustine were alive today, he would typically personify the average Filipino with a college education in the Philippines. St. Augustine wrote: “There is another form of temptation, even more fraught with danger. This is the disease of curiosity. . . . It is this which drives us on to try and discover the secrets of nature, those secrets which are beyond our understanding, which can avail us nothing and which men should not wish to learn. . . . In this immense forest, full of pitfalls and perils, I have drawn myself back, and pulled myself away from these thorns. In the midst of all these things which float unceasingly around me in everyday life, I am never surprised at any of them. . . . I no longer dream of the stars.“ The time of Augustine’s death, 430 a.d., marks the beginning of the Dark Ages in Europe. It lasted for a thousand years (5th to the 15th century). Every single man, woman, and child believed and had faith in God. It characterized the Dark Ages. In view, however, of his attitude towards life in general, St. Augustine could even be more than qualified to be appointed Secretary of the Department of Education, Culture, and Sports of the Philippines. Poch Suzara

Education

“Education,” wrote Bertrand Russell, “should fit us for the nearest possible approach to truth, and to do this it must teach truthfulness.”
If only truthfulness were taught in our schools, colleges, and universities, the Philippines could have been the most developed nation in Asia centuries ago. But then again, what can be expected of the millions of college degree holders of this country? They would rather have faith in the Revealed Truth for the sake of the next life rather than have faith by discovering the truth for the sake of this life. Poch Suzara

Death

Death is natural. It is also undeniable, unavoidable, and indeed inevitable. The big question, however, if death is the end, and there is no life after death, and humanity will perish utterly, then all our efforts will eventually come to nothing. As an atheist, I do not agree.
Well, to begin with, I know I will surely die one day. The problem, however, is how would I know that there is life after death in heaven or in hell since I would not even know that back on earth I am already dead and buried or cremated?
Bertrand Russell explained it briefly and, indeed, cheerfully: “Happiness is nonetheless true happiness because it must come to an end, nor do thought and love lose their value because they are not everlasting.” Poch Suzara

Theology

Theology is the study of the good; especially, the good for nothing. Look at the good for nothing theologians. After centuries of studying the existence of God, the one and only thing these so-called religious scholars have learned about God is that His existence is a mystery. No doubt, the theologians have power; but their power comes not from knowledge. It comes only from human ignorance and fear. In fact, in order to keep themselves in power, they only have to repeat and repeat the claim that wisdom for this world is evil with God. Is it possible that God’s mystery is not as serious a matter as it is the study of nothing called theology? Theologians have the gall to tell us that if we do not worship God, we will just end up instead worshipping ourselves. As if that exactly isn’t what we are doing all the time – worshipping the same reflection – the same image and likeness of a silly God in the mirror. Poch Suzara

Oh God

In the spiritual world, God expelled the devil and his demons out of heaven.
In the material world, God expelled Adam and Eve out of the Garden of Eden.
In the academic world, and for questioning too many biblical nonsense, God also had me expelled out of high School at De La Salle University. Among other pertinent questions:I ask: if God could very well create a lasting happiness in heaven, why could He not also create the same lasting happiness on earth? Poch Suzara

A Belief

A belief always follows the path of the least resistance. It is like shallow water that seeks new grounds no more. It is already satisfied stuck on its own shallow level. Poch Suzara

Freedom of the Mind as the Greatest of Freedoms

Freedom is neither a party celebration nor a pleasurable fecundation. Freedom means work, especially more work in the search of the truth. In brief, if it should make any sense at all, freedom has nothing to do with intellectual poverty; on the contrary, it has mostly to do with experiencing intellectual prosperity. 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.” Indeed, the truth will not make us rich, but it will make us free... In the meantime, I know only of one freedom worth embracing to the end of my days, and that is the freedom of the mind... Poch Suzara Twitter# Facebook# Google#

The Crime of Silence

The crime of silence arises when the need to protest makes men cowards. Of course cowards do not bother with corruption here, corruption there, and corruption everywhere in our sick and corrupt society; especially corruption in the senate or in Congress. After all, according to the coward's faith in God, there is always that forgiveness of sin and crime and that better life to come in the hereafter after death. Poch Suzara

Freedom of Expression

What value has the freedom of expression if, as children in school, we were never taught to value the free play of free thought in the constructive or creative arena of free ideas? Indeed, what value has the freedom of expression if we were never encouraged to question, for example, the destructive influence of sacred beliefs, sick parental prejudices, frightened school teachers, or even to challenge the validity of ecclesiastical authority? For my part, as long as I am enjoying the freedom to make mistakes, and more especially, to learn from my mistakes, I will always, to the end of my days, embrace the freedom of expression as one of life’s most precious of freedoms. . . Poch Suzara Twitter# Facebook# Google#

Democracy

Compared to a theocracy or a kleptocracy or the government of deviltry, democracy is the best form of government. It is the lesser evil. Democracy has its great values and merits. It has, however, its own inherent defects. The worse of it is that democracy encourages the cult of mediocrity. Indeed, in a democracy, like that of the United States of America, one must first accomplish a reputation for mediocrity before getting elected into high office.
Indeed, I have lived and worked in America for some 17 years. Twelve years in Los Angeles and 5 years in San Francisco There never was a politician in high government office I could intellectually love or respect or be worthy of my confidence, trust or even vote. The one and only time I entered a voting booth was when I voted for Jimmy Carter for president of the United States of America. He won. He turned out
to be good; unfortunately, for the United States and for the world - good for nothing. Poch Suzara

Rich Americans

In the past, rich Americans said to foreigners: “Give me liberty or give me death.” In the present, however, rich Americans say to foreigners: “Give me cheap energy or our military will give you death.” Poch Suzara