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