Christianity

Christianity is not only something of a superlative entertainment. In the world of trade and commerce, Christianity is also the most profitable of business enterprises. Consider the price of admission needed to gain entrance to this greatest show on earth. It is rather too heavy a price to pay: the mindless surrender of the precious self via the mutilation of the intellect. Poch Suzara

People Who Need People

People who need people are not only the luckiest people in the World. They are also among the wealthiest people in the world; especially if they were in the business of foreign politics specializing in the business of foreign wars. Poch Suzara

As an Atheist

I stand alone. It matters little to me if there were 10 or 100 or 1,000 or 10,000 or even 1,000,000 other atheists standing behind me. As an atheist, I have no need of other atheists to hold my hands especially as I struggle against the never- ending evils of superstition otherwise more popularly known as religion. To be worthy of atheism one must only carry on with the joys and beauty of intellectual courage. After all, all the great virtues are the virtues of men who stand alone.
In the meantime, as an atheist, let it be clearly understood that I do not believe in the existence of the God of the Catholics. I do not believe in the existence of the God of the Protestants. I do not believe in the God of the Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, or even in the God of my own creation, another omni-absent, good-for-nothing, supernatural -the ever mysterious and never so serious - Pocholian God! Poch Suzara

Imagine

What if Jesus, Mary and Joseph together with the twelve apostles were first created by God in the Garden of Eden? What if Adam and Eve, Cain, Abel and the Talking Serpent have had no existence to disgrace the future of the human race? And to think that the bible admits that everything is possible with God. He could even impregnate a Virgin Mary to improve upon the descendants of Adam and Eve. And yet, God could not find it possible improve upon His original mess. Poch Suzara

The Wicked Says

In his pride the wicked says, There is no God to ask me for account. Psalm 10:4
On the contrary, there if there is a God, He should be held accountable for the conditions he had created that made men wicked. Poch Suzara

Religion and Prayer

Religion is supposed to comfort, not frighten – people. Religious people may feel the comfort of religion, but only for as long as they believe in what religion teaches, especially how to fear both life and death.
In the meantime, prayer is charlatanry, if not beggary; indeed, a pretentious effort at work to win that pie in the sky. Honest work is the only miracle that works. Poch Suzara

Religious Believers

The religious fanatics are up in arms about the Jesus and Magdalene marriage scandal written in the Dan Brown’s book the DA VINCI CODE – a work of fiction. But if you really want to get at the sources where Dan Brown formulated this work of fiction, please read the non-fiction book HOLY BLOOD, HOLY GRAIL by Michael Baigent, Richard Leigh and Henry Lincoln. Indeed, in HOLY BLOOD, HOLY GRAIL Judas never betrayed Jesus who did not die on the cross. Jesus was married, a father of sons and daughters, and that his bloodline still exists today. The parchments found in the South of France a century ago reveal only a tiny portion of the best-kept secrets in Christendom. For my part, one need not go that far. Just read the four Gospel writers – Matthew, Luke, Mark, and John in the bible - to discover more about the pious frauds and other sacred lies that have kept Christianity rich and powerful during all these past centuries. Poch Suzara

Faith

Faith has reached its end. It is now dead. Any one who claims that he is a man of faith is not only insulting himself, but is doing his utmost best to prevent his own enlightenment. Respecting a man of faith is like respecting a drunkard who clings to a lamppost for support, not illumination. Poch Suzara

Closer to Jesus than to his own family and country

It’s incredible how most men with a school-boy mentality can have a personal relationship with Jesus. However, they could not have a meaningful relationship with their own spouse, or with their own parents, or with their own grandparents, or with their own sons and daughters, or with their own in-laws, or other friends and relatives. I try to imagine these men and women doing better for the good of their own country by having a harmonious relationship with their own minds and hearts - they are in closed touch with the hopes and dreams of fellow-citizens for the here and now. Sadly, however, these poor frightened saps only end up as either alcoholics, or drug-addicts, lunatics, fanatics, psychotics, or as Catholics for the glory of Jesus on earth as he is in heaven! In the meantime, when men talk to God - they are PRAYING. When God talks to men - they are HALLUCINATING. In either case, the result has always been SICKENING - there is only the SICK MAN OF FAITH - a blessed by God drunkard always clinging to a lamppost for support, not illumination. Poch Suzara Twitter# Facebook# Google#

The Gods as Particles

The Christians do not believe in the Muslim God. The Muslims do not believe in the Christian God. And neither the Christian nor the Muslim believe in the mother of their religion – Judaism which was founded upon an older religion – Mithraism.
More than a hundred billion religious people have already lived and died on this earth. My dear reader, do you really believe that a Christian God or a Muslim God or a Jewish God gives a hoot about the religious life on this earth? Consider the one million (1,000,000) planets the size of our earth can fit inside the sun! And our sun is just one of the trillions of suns called stars! If those Gods exist, they are just as microscopic a particle that exist in the universal scheme of existence.Poch Suzara

Economic Growth

It is still taught in our universities that population growth is a stimulant to economic growth. The opposite, in fact, is obviously true. Poverty growth, not economic growth, has been the result of population growth. Our economists still have the impression that there is no limit to growth; that there is in nature an infinite amount of resources, and that a satisfactory substitute can be found for every depleting resource. No doubt, during the past centuries, economic growth was the cure; today in this 21st century, economic growth is a disease. Consider most of today’s economic productivity causing “ecological destruction.”
In the 1950s, the population of the Philippines was 15 million Filipinos. We were then a poor country. Today in the year 2006, our population has reached 88 million Filipinos. We are poorer in this decade than we were poor during the past decades. In the meantime, the faithfools of this God-forsaken country are still preaching to the multitudes not to worry because God will provide. Poch Suzara

Morality

We atheists have nothing against morality as a method of insuring law and order in society. What we are against, however, is morality based upon religious mendacity and other ecclesiastical authority that have absolutely nothing to do with the creation of a sane and a healthy society.
Bertrand Russell wrote it briefly: I am not suggesting that a man should be destitute of morality. I am only suggesting that he should be destitute of superstitious morality, which is a very different thing. Poch Suzara

War

War is all about soldiers dying in the field of battle. After
the war, the stupid politicians take over the mess while the
economists under the payroll of the industrialists prepare for more war to take place. After all,there is more money to be made in the art of hating and killing than there is in the art of loving and healing. War is big business. Poch Suzara

Nothing is Permanent

Everything is in a state of flux. Everything is in motion. Nothing is permanent as everything is tentative. Change is the only reality. To believe means to be stuck under mediocrity. To think means being unstuck under rationality. It is therefore silly to believe in anything unchangeable as even life itself is all about growth and constant movement towards death and decay. Let us all enjoy the ride as it is free. The trip free on earth as our vehicle around the sun annually. Poch Suzara

Prayer

I remember in school and at home how we were always active daily with prayers. I remember my parents, grandparents, uncles and aunties, and cousins and how we all prayed the rosary together nightly. We prayed for a miracle from God to please transform the Philippines into a decent country for all Filipinos. Today, it is just more of the same. We Filipinos are still as active as ever with daily prayers. Even the millions of Filipinos already enjoying higher standard of living in foreign countries continue praying to God for a miracle to change the Philippines for the better. These are the same Filipinos who long to come back home already. Especially, if they will have the same opportunities as employees working in the Philippines growing, expanding, and developing as a civilized nation. For my part, I say it again: it is about time we stop wasting time and energy with this prayer business as prayer is nothing but a lot of religious garbage? Isn’t it time that we Filipinos begin to grow as a people and begin to develop as a nation with the power of our own minds and hearts? If there were power in prayer, where are the results? How come in this day and age, even our own church officials are asking us to pray for the priests so that they may remain faithful to their vows, and not walk out of the priesthood industry? What we desperately need in the Philippines is more science and the scientific way of thinking. It is all about the power of knowledge that has nothing to do with the Gospels. Indeed, knowledge has nothing to do with the bible? Knowledge can never be discovered by reading a book written centuries ago by half-starved, protein-deficient, and poorly educated men wondering around the desert hallucinating from the desert heat in which they tried to make sense out of their own mediocre existence. And to think that those were the kind of superstitious morons who brought Christianity into our shores some 500 years ago. Indeed, Christianity – the religion based not upon the good life as inspired by love and guided by knowledge, but the religion based upon the thoughtless scheme of salvation from death. Until we learn to stop hating one another in God’s name, we shall never emerge out of our poverty as a people. Until we learn to love only the Philippines, we shall only continue to remain morally and spiritually bankrupt as a nation! Poch Suzara

Poverty of the Mind

The worst kind of poverty is the poverty of the mind. In this God-forsaken country, even the filthy rich are unable to enjoy the wealth of the mind because they have been taught to believe that if they remain poor in spirit – God will always bless them. Thus, the filthy rich and the filthy poor in the Philippines both equally suffer from the worse kind of poverty – the poverty of the mind.
In the meantime, we members of the intellectual community entirely agree with Bertrand Russell: - Happiness is the 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

I am a Filipino

I am an Asian and a Filipino born in the Philippines. Jesus was a Jew born in Israel. What have I anything to do with the Jews – supposedly already God’s Chosen people? And to think that the Philippines is predominantly a Catholic country; Israel is a Jewish State. And to think further that even Jesus Christ himself was not born of Catholic parents or even raised and educated in a Catholic school. Poch Suzara

God Will Provide

In the 1950s, the population of the Philippines was then 15 million Filipinos. We were then a poor country. Today in the year 2006, our population has reached 88 million Filipinos. We are poorer in this decade than we were poor during the past decade. In the meantime, the religious leaders of this God-forsaken country are still preaching to the multitudes not to worry because - God will provide. Poch Suzara

Catechism Class

Bishop Teodoro Bacani, Jr. claims that the voice of people is the voice of God. He wrote: “God does not speak only through His bishops. Often He speaks through His people.”
I ask the good bishop: What about the voice of Adam and Eve as against the voice of the serpent speaking in behalf of the devil? Where was God’s voice then to protect Adam and Eve? Indeed, instead of protection, what instead they experienced in paradise was expulsion. Perhaps Adam and Eve were both guilty of sin. But our politicians in government as elected by the voice of God are not only guilty of sins against God, but also guilty of crimes against the State.
What have the bishops got to do with matters of the material State? Aren’t they responsible with matters concerning only the spiritual church? Indeed, if the voice of the people were the voice of God, what need is there for the voice of the bishops to speak to God for the people?
I dare challenge you bishops to be among the first to resign to remedy the ills that’s keeping this only Christian country in Asia poor religiously, backward morally, and insane socially. Poch Suzara

Happy Filipinos

Filipinos are the happiest people in Asia despite crises, - says an Archbishop of the church. What an irresponsible statement to make!
Happiness is an achievement. It is neither a statement nor an opinion. Thus far, however, due to our traditional belief that God will provide, we Filipinos have only achieved more of the same nothing as a people and have achieved more of the same nothing as a nation.
In the meantime, the poverty epidemic in the Philippines has many population-related causes, especially lack of nutrition, lack of medical care, lack of proper hygiene and sanitation, lack of clean water supplies, and indeed lack of housing and school buildings. We do, however, have plenty of politicians and theologians who are the “haves” enjoying prosperity, while the rest of us are the ‘have-nots” enjoying poverty. Poch Suzara

The Filipino

Happily, there are approximately ten million Filipinos living like decent people today working for the foreigners in more than 160 foreign countries around the world.
Unhappily, however, there are about the forty million Filipinos left behind still existing under poor conditions, without sense of pride and dignity as citizens of the Republic of the Philippines.
The real fortunate ones, however, are the very few rich Filipinos. They are most grateful to the one and only foreigner who arrived here some five centuries ago. His name is Jesus – the Son of God. Jesus has answered favorably their prayers. Without having to go foreign countries, they all feel blessed by the Lord to enjoy wealth, power, and glory here in the Philippines. Poch Suzara

Only in the Philippines

The rich gets richer and the poor gets poorer. As poverty of the worst kind, however, is the poverty of the mind and heart, both the rich and the poor alike comprising our sick society mutually enjoy poverty equally, especially for the glory of divinity.
In the meantime, in this poor and backward country, each time we are faced with harsh reality, we just either pray or play or worse – crack a joke about it. In a circus, we are the clowns laughing at our own perpetual stupidity. Poch Suzara

Wealth of the Church

The assets and properties and other commercial enterprises owned and controlled by the church including schools, colleges, and universities in the Philippines are worth in the trillions of tax-free pesos. In the meantime, from the 16th century up to the 21st century, millions upon millions of spiritually impoverished Filipinos continue buying what, for centuries, the church has been selling: eternal salvation in the next world with Jesus. And to think that millions of so-called college educated men and women of this country today still swallow hook, line, and sinker that holy baloney. Poch Suzara

Lenten Season

During the Lenten season, it is a sin to eat meat on Fridays. During the rest of the year, however, it is not a sin to live like pigs or to think like cows.
In the meantime, millions of Filipinos still believe what they have been taught from infancy to believe - that God will always provide.
Is it any wonder that our bishops can easily proclaim that: The Filipinos, despite the economic crises, are the happiest people of Asia! Poch Suzara

Presidential Elections

Massive cheating was endemic during the last presidential elections. No candidate, however, was caught; except the winner – GMA. This is the same president who openly disclosed that “God put me here” and that “God has plans for me.” Imagine God - cheating with her!
It has been suggested that all of the candidates who cheated in last elections should be hanged. Since there are not enough ropes to hang them with – it has been further suggested that they should all volunteer and jump into the Pasig River. And to think that even our own Pasig river has already died of corruption decades ago. Poch Suzara

Fear Of the Lord

If you wish to be a happy person enjoying self-respect and dignity, do not live a life of fear. Do not fear anything. Do not even fear the Lord. Let the Lord, instead, fear you. After all, in sending you to hell, the Lord needs the help of another supernatural coward – the silly devil to carry out the task behind your back. Look at the Lord and his devil – they do not even have the mutual decency to introduce themselves to you face to face. How can they? They do not exist. In the meantime, where’s heaven as God’s residence located? Or, where’s hell as Satan’s home situated? Even the brightest among the Jesuit theologians have not the foggiest.
Poch Suzara

Thank you Lord

Lord, thank you for my eyes to see, ears to hear, nose to smell, tongue to taste, and for my skin to feel. But Lord, could you please kindly remove totally the more than 2,000,000,000 different kinds of germs, assorted viruses, and deadly bacteria existing happily inside the human body as their housing facilities? Really Lord, those nasty little creatures will eventually kill not only me but also kill your disciples and followers even if they believe in free will. By the way Lord, could you also please clarify this issue: After we are dead and our bodies begin to rot, how may we still enjoy eternal happiness with you in heaven without eyes to see, without ears to hear, without nose to smell, without tongue to taste, without skin to feel, without brains to think, and without our sex organs to fuck 72 year old virgins? Poch Suzara

Raising The Dead

Dear Jesus, if you had raised not dead bodies, but raised instead only dead minds in your community, your followers and disciples then would have been among the first to be not deadly in the ways of believing, but more so lively in the ways of thinking. Poch Suzara

Walked On Water

If Jesus had only explored and discovered the wealth found under water, and not just walked on top of it, he could have multiplied not only fish for the health of his community, but also distributed a wealth of information for everybody globally. Poch Suzara

The Burning Bush

During ancient times, God in the shape of a burning bush, appeared to Moses. What a treat that must have been for Moses. But was it true? Perhaps, Moses who was really more into magic than he was into logic was just being dramatic. He was just hallucinating as he was a lunatic. Indeed, in the bible, Moses managed to described the nature of his own death and burial. In the scientific term, Moses was a psycho-ceramic. In the layman’s language, he was a crackpot. And to think that this biblical hero was one of the characters who was responsible for the success of the Christian religion. Poch Suzara

God’s Creation

Let’s assume God is perfect and that man is the evidence of his creation. The real question is what was God’s motive? Why would a perfect God bother to create an imperfect man in his own image and likeness? Free Will? What force has human free will against the power of divine will? In the meantime, if God could create heaven without pain and suffering, what was so hard for God to have created also a planet earth without pain and suffering? Poch Suzara

Adam and Eve

Adam or Eve wrote not a single verse in the bible. No report whatsoever about their unique personal relationship with God Himself. What was it like to experience communicating directly with God? Did He speak authoritatively or affectionately? In what language? Was God really that involved with human hopes and dreams and education? What about the Tree of Knowledge then existing? Did God inspire both Adam and Eve to discover and to learn from that tree of Knowledge? Enough to add new and fresh ideas on top it and to pass on to their children and grandchildren? And what happened to that Tree of Knowledge? How come it miraculously vanished into thin air? Perhaps, Eve asked God to have it replanted elsewhere. Did Adam cut it down as it turned out to be a worthless tree of stupidity. At any rate, where is that Tree of Knowledge to be found existing anywhere today? My dear reader, would you believe that even the millions of college-educated Filipinos - the most well-informed men and women in all of Asia today know not where that Tree of Knowledge is to be found? All they know is that God has it revealed as one of the Revealed Truths of God in the Holy Bible. Poch Suzara

The Talking Serpent

According to Genesis in the bible, it was the serpent who tempted Eve to eat off the fruit of the Tree of Good and Evil. After she did so, she got pregnant. Since Eve’s son Cain turned out to be evil who, over nothing, murdered his only brother Abel, it must have been the serpent who sired Cain with Eve under that Tree of Good and Evil. Poch Suzara

Weapons of Mass Destruction

Insanity is far more destructive than the Weapons of Mass Destruction. After all, insanity produced such weapons. Not surprisingly, however, even far more destructive than human insanity is the American insanity. Indeed, we Americans have yet to retool our basic industries from war economy to peace economy and start entertaining the idea that being loved and at peace with the rest of the world is a much more lucrative business than being hated and at war with the rest of the human race. In the meantime, anti-terrorism is no excuse for imperialism. Poch Suzara

Science

Someday, thanks to science, health will spread faster than disease. In fact, even more fantastic, one day science will make our dream of human immortality a reality. These miracles in the future could have been made possible during the past centuries had not stupid religion stood in the way always fighting against the progress of science. Indeed, fighting science as an engine generating the power of human knowledge to improve the human conditions on this earth.
In the centuries to come, not religion, but science will be mankind’s only savior. If, however, science fails to work, what we will be needed is not less, but precisely more science. In this world, indeed, in all of nature, there is absolutely nothing quite like science. Poch Suzara

The Sun and the Earth

A million ( 1,000,000 ) planets the size of earth can fit inside the sun. The earth compared is a piece of particle floating in space aimlessly. But the religious teachers like the Jesuit theologians and its Opus Dei gang continue to teach our children in school to believe that on this speck of dust called earth, God made man in his own image and likeness. In other words, in relation to the galaxies, the creator himself must be a supernatural speck of divine dust floating in space thoughtlessly, if not recklessly. Poch Suzara

Religion

Religion makes half of the human world insane, and the other half hypocrites. Even more amusing, however, religion divides people into hate and war perpetually, and then unites people dead and buried in the cemetery eternally.
Billions of people enjoy having faith in the mysterious, in the religious, or in the superstitious. Indeed, billions of people even admit that they cannot live without God. This is truly a pathetic state of human affairs since God Himself admits that He too cannot live without the devil. Poch Suzara

Poverty in the Philippines Accoriding to the ADB Clowns

According to the Asian Development Bank economists
( MST March 29 ) – the following are the causes of poverty in the Philippines:
1) Weak Macroeconomic management
2) High unemployment
3) Weak agricultural production
4) High corruption and weak governance
5) Insurgency and violence particularly in Mindanao
6) Physical disability
It’s incredible how the economists of the ADB responsible for these conclusions utterly failed to include one of the greatest, if not the most powerful causes of poverty in the Philippines: – religion.
Indeed, what wealth could be produced by a people who, during these past 400 years, have been taught to believe and to have faith in the following:
That the cultivation of one’s mind is not that important as the salvation of one’s soul after death.
That this life is nothing compared to the next life in the next world after death.
That this land down here is nothing compared to the promised land of the Lord up there.
That while we are struggling to survive on this earth, we should be waiting by praying for the Second Coming of the Lord Jesus. We are told that He will remedy all the ills of our sick society. By the way, this is the same Jesus who, in his lifetime, cured leprosy temporarily in his community. Leprosy is a disease that is curable but still victimizes people throughout the world today.
Before Christianity arrived in our shores in the 16th century, we were among the simple people of Asia. Today, in this 21st century, after 400 years of Christian values and beliefs, we Filipinos have only become the complicated Sick Man of Asia. And to think that the Chinese, Japanese, Thais, and the Vietnamese and other Asian neighbors have always enjoyed what we Filipinos have never enjoyed in the Philippines: love of country and love of fellow-citizens. What,instead, we have always loved is that pie in the sky, by and by. Indeed, we take pride and continue to have faith in what the holy bible teaches us: - “Love not this world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” John 2:15.
I ask you ADB economists: Have you taken into account the assets and properties and other commercial enterprises including schools, colleges, and universities that are owned and controlled by the religious institutions of this country? They are worth in the trillions of tax - free pesos. In the meantime, during the past 400 years, hundred of millions of spiritually impoverished Filipinos continue buying what our religion has always been selling: eternal salvation with Jesus in the next life. Indeed, blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven Matt 5:3.
Other Asian countries have already emerged out of their economic stagnancy. Thanks to the power of science and technology. But if we Filipinos were to grow and to develop as a nation, we too must begin to learn to accept the scientific way of thinking. It is the only path towards regaining our health as a people and achieving our wealth as a nation. If, however, we just continue to embrace more of the same old religion, the poor quality of life in the Philippines will worsen. And in our already sick society, this will mean more poverty of the worst kind: - the poverty of the Filipino minds and hearts. Poch Suzara

LIFE

If Life doesn’t begin at conception, when did life begin for the sperm and egg that were already “alive” prior to fertilization? Indeed, life is not only a lively but also a sexually transmitted disease with a morality rate of 100 per cent. Poch Suzara

Truth telling

In a world of religious lies and political deceit, being truthful shocks the hell out of most people; specially if the system of education they went through were not about the power of intelligent thoughts, but only about the faith in stupid beliefs. Poch Suzara

IGNORANCE

I agree that ignorance is not shameful; however,imposing ignorance is shameful. I further agree, that most people should not to be blamed for their own ignorance, but if they willfully pass it on, especially in school, colleges, and universities, then that's not only blamable, but also damnable. What I think is utterly ridiculous, however, is when most people do not call it ignorance; instead, in most cases, they proudly believe it as having Faith in God. Poch Suzara

The Lord’s Prayer

Our Father, who are in Heaven, Hallowed be Thy Name, Thy Kingdom Come, Thy Will be done, on Earth as it is in Heaven. Give us this day, our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For Thine is the Kingdom, and the Power, and the Glory, forever.
I ask: is God really that maliciously cruel in that he leads you into temptation? Moreover, if God can deliver you away from evil, why not get rid of evil to begin with? Perhaps, God does not want to displease his old buddy Satan the one in charge and responsible for evil in this world. At any rate, next time you pray to God tell Him to lead you instead to the power of thought! Poch Suzara













Death and Temptation in the Bible

The bible admits that: “God is a not a man that he should
Lie; neither the son of man that he should repent.” Num 23:I9.

Then this same bible admits also that: “And it repented the Lord that he has made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.” Gen 6:6

Again in the bible: “The strength of Israel will not lie nor repent: for he is not a man, that he should repent.” I Sam I5:29

But in the same silly bible: “The Lord repented that he had made Saul King over Israel.” I Sam I5:35

A faithful Christian wrote that he is so sad for me because as an atheist, when I die, I will be going no where; whereas he will be going to meet with God in heaven after his death. What a moron. This fellow does not read his own holy bible, Eccl. 9:5: “For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten.”

And to think that the faithfools comprising our sick society have the foolish notion that the atheists are ignorant of bible contents or messages. On the contrary, properly read the bible is most encouraging for the creation of atheism ever conceived by inspired writers. Poch Suzara

Free Will as a Lot of Theological Hogwash

A reader comments: If God will take away His gift of Free Will, you will not be an atheist, nor will you have the freedom to rebuke God, nor be forced to believe ALL that is written in the Scriptures, nor have the option of how you will live my life, if I still want to call it a Life. My response: Where was your free will to choose to be born a girl or a boy? Or choose to be born of a Filipino or American parents? Or to choose to be born in the century of your choice? Or even to choose not to be born at all? Indeed, where is your free will to choose as to when exactly you would like to die one day? And if you really have a free will, why then do you pray daily to God to lead you not into temptation? And why pay for your sins as the results of free will? Now where was Adam’s free will to choose his kind of woman? Or Eve’s free will to choose her kind of man? More to the point – why would God give a serpent not only free will but also the free ability to talk and tempt Eve to fall with Adam in order to prove that divine grace for the coming human race will end up in nothing but a total disgrace? Free will is theological hogwash. Poch Suzara

The Mission of Jesus

Another reader comments: Jesus' original mission in the world is to redeem mankind from sin, not to destroy the devil.
My response: How? By fasting without food for forty days? By walking on water? By curing leprosy not on a permanent basis?
Crucified on the cross Jesus cried out: “My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me?” Are those the utterances of a redeemer or a savior? Surely, those are the cries of a failure. After all, Jesus failed miserably to destroy the devil as was his mission to do so. Poch Suzara

College-educated

The college-educated men and women of this country have yet to ask: how come there are no atheists or agnostics or humanists working for our government? How come only the college educated Christians are in government keeping it as corrupt as ever? In fact, the President of our Republic recently admitted that “God put me here.” Perhaps God is truly behind the power of college education in the Philippines. Poch Suzara

The Poor Filipino

The poor Filipino has no government. It has been stolen away from him. He also has no money. The consolation, however, is that the poor Fellow is often reminded that everything is just fine and dandy because after he is dead, he will begin to enjoy eternal wealth and health and happiness in heaven as a reward for his never- ending faith in God. After all, te bible assures us that the poor are God's favorite people.
In the meantime, the priesthood industry in this God-forsaken country has not ceased living off the backs of the poor Filipinos, profits from their degradation, and benefits from the ignorant and the oppressed, specially from the faithful and obedient Filipinas. Poch Suzara

The Bible says

With God, all things are possible. Is this true? How come, after billions of years of existence, God has not yet found it possible to learn from experience? For example, learn how to co-exist with love and health and wealth with the whole of humanity to live happily and gracefully together globally. In this way, we will have time and energy to explore not each other's hate, but explore our love for this world. Our world. Poch Suzara

Why do I Bother

Why do I bother writing about Christianity as another word for holy baloney? It is because Christianity has had more than 2,000 solid years of existence behind the power of God to have regenerated the world. Look at the devout and faithful Christians themselves. They do not love the world. Their own holy bible teaches them to “love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any one love the world, the love of God is not with him .” Look at the Philippines. It is probably the only Christian country where there is so much love for God up there, but only via so much hate for one another down here.
And to think that the bible also admits that: “With God all things are possible.” Mark 10:27. Poch Suzara

Only in the Philippines

According to the Department of Health, more than 98 per cent of Filipinos suffer from tooth decaying, molars rotting, and gums bleeding. And yet, the Filipino dentists practicing dentistry in the Philippines are more active and involved with what is written in the Old and in the New Testament than what’s written in the latest on the science of dentistry.
Indeed, only in the Philippines: Under our Christian values and beliefs, even the highly university trained Filipino doctors have not the slightest inkling just how sick we Filipinos are as the Sick Man of Asia. In fact, look at those Filipinos already dead in our society. They are not yet buried. They are still roaming aimlessly around waiting for the Second Coming of Christ to resurrect them back to life. Poch Suzara

Theological dilemma

If God created man gifted with a free will, and human free will have turned out to be just as messy as divine will, then maybe God should have already ceased creating man in his own image and likeness. After all, according to the bible, in the end, “the many are called, but only the few are chosen.” And to think that more than 100 BILLION people have already lived and died on this earth since the days of Adam and Eve together with their pet snake, a Talking Serpent also gifted with free will from God! Poch Suzara

The Next World

The ticklish part about enjoying eternal bliss in the next world in heaven after death is that, to begin with, there is no road map available that shows the way how to get to there. Nobody knows where exactly heaven IS located or precisely situated. Then there is the matter of the means of transportation available on how to get there. Imagine yourself already dead and traveling as a corpse to the next world! In the meantime, what about hell? How could a material lake of fire burn forever the immaterial souls of men who offended God? The God lives in heaven that nobody, but nobody knows anything about its existence anywhere in the universe? For my part, it does not at all bother me to realize that for millions of years before I was born, I was existing as a nothing. It also does not bother me to realize now that for millions of years after I am dead, I will again be existing as the same old nothing. So what is there to be frightened or bothered about? Poch Suzara

Religion

Throughout history religion has been connected with what is best and noblest in human beings. The question is: - which religion? Christianity? Islam? Judaism? Religious attitudes and behavior have always led not only to widespread suffering and humiliation, but also to hate and violence.
Look how religions look at each other as the religion of demons.
Look at the Philippines – the famous Christian country in Asia. Since the 16th century Christianity has kept the Filipino not only impoverished spiritually, not only bankrupt morally, not only backward economically, not only ignorant in science and technology, but also in God’s name and for his glory - we are all insane socially. Poch Suzara

Bible Prophecy

Jesus said: “I came not to bring peace, but a sword.” Indeed, Jesus was quite prophetic. His disciples today are still carrying a sword trying to impose ways and means to spread the Word of God.
Anyway, we are told that Jesus is coming and He will install peace for the next 1,000 years on this of speck of dust called earth. By the way, that promise was made by Jesus 2,000 years ago. Poch Suzara

The Chinese People

The Chinese are the greatest among the Asian people. They venerate their scholars and sages. The rest in Asia, like the Filipinos - venerate their famous movie stars, champion athletes, and corrupt politicians; specially those not jailed, but promoted to higher position in the government. Poch Suzara

Only in the Philippines

Jesus, in the bible, declared: “I am the King of the Jews.” There is nothing written in the bible where Jesus also announced: “I am the King of the Filipinos.”
The bible also warned: “Many are called, but only the few are chosen.” And to think that the Jews are already the Chosen People of God. We Filipinos are not Jews. We are Filipinos. What makes us think that we can qualify be among the chosen people of God - The King of the Jews. Poch Suzara

Albert Ellis

This famous psychiatrist wrote: "In a sense, the religious person must have no real views of his own and it is presumptuous of him, in fact, to have any. In regard to sex-love affairs, to marriage and family relations, to business, to politics, and to virtually everything else that is important in his life, he must try to discover what his god and his clergy would like him to do; and he must primarily do their bidding."
I love Albert Ellis. If he were one of my teachers in La Salle, I never would have dropped out of high school. I was not being educated. In fact, I was only being indoctrinated to live on a diet of fear of all kinds. Indeed, my teachers tried so hard to devalue my character, to belittle my personality, and what was even more dreadful, I was being taught to believe that it is a sin against God if I entertained the potentials of my intellectual capacity. Outside academic wall, I gradually learned through self-study how to examine my own life and why I should find it worth living.
As for my class-mates and school-mates I am all so sad for them. They stayed on to acquire college education. Most of them are the kind of men directly or indirectly working for our government and keeping the government as rotten and corrupt than it has been already. Poch Suzara

Philippine Historical Fact

As a matter of historical fact, our troubles are mostly derived from the teachings of the holy bible.
Christianity has had every opportunity to regenerate the Philippines during the last 500 years. It is, however, plain nonsense to believe our beloved country today is any wiser, healthier, wealthier, or even any happier.
Almost a BILLION FILIPINOS have already lived and died since Christianity conquered and ruled the Philippines in the 16th century. Now in this 21st century, however, nothing has changed, except that more and more Filipinos are still being created by God in his own image and likeness. And to think that we are all told to 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 Poch Suzara

Philippine Military

The under-funded military, poorly trained, and conflictingly commanded are in the field fighting three wars - against Filipino Communist revolution, against Filipino Muslim insurgency and against a vicious band of Filipino terrorists called Abu Sayyafs.
As if that were not enough the military is also preoccupied with a fourth war that seems just as intractable. Indeed, within its own ranks, Filipino soldiers are fighting each other seeking to acquire higher rank for a higher pay.
Thanks, however, to our Christian values and beliefs in this famous Christian country in Asia, even our men and women in the military hate each other for the love of God. Poch Suzara

Supernatural Explanations

A supernatural explanation is usually a hogwash of contradiction. It is impossible to explain the unknown in terms of the unknowable. The difference between a “natural” explanation and a “supernatural” explanation is the difference between explanation and no explanation at all.
Science is efficiently clear at explaining what is knowable. Theology is efficiently vague at explaining what is unknowable. That is why in science there is always the achievement of something. In theology there is only the accomplishment of nothing. Poch Suzara

The Trouble with Science

The trouble with science is not science but the psuedo-scientists. They sold themselves to the highest bidders more popularly known as the rotten businessmen, the corrupt politicians, and the mediocre theologians. Weapons of mass destruction have been the products of science for these college-educated morons to carry out their ambitions in the commercial or political or ecclesiastical agenda. Poch Suzara

Aristotle

Aristotle said that what is eternal is circular, and what is circular is eternal.
The eternal and the circular mixed, however, inextricably together - the complexity could not be as mind-boggling as the infinity of human stupidity. Poch Suzara

Sex and Love

When sex is an expression of love, the emotion experienced at the moment of orgasm should not be hostility or enmity. There should only be, for each other, a sense of unity, beauty, harmony, felicity and to hell with everything else specially with deviltry or divinity as derived from silly theology. Poch Suzara

Albert Einstein

Einstein said that - the most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science.
Yes, this is true. Especially if we experience the mysterious while standing up serious with our heads, and not frightened or timorous on our bended knees.
Science, at its best is a rebellion against authority. At its greatest, it is a rebellion against religion. Science is not science unless it deals with reality not as a mystery, but something worthy of understanding especially with logical, if not mathematical, clarity. Poch Suzara

Walter Cronkite

Walter Cronkite was famous as the most honest personality in the American US Television industry of the 20th century. He always concluded his nightly CBS news with the gracious sentence: “And that’s the way it is, good night.”
Walter Cronkite could have been more famous and honest, however, had he summarized his nightly sick TV news for the tens of millions of his frightened viewers with this truthful words: “And that’s the way it shouldn’t be, good night.” Poch Suzara

A Great Civilization

“A great civilization,” wrote Will Durant, “is not conquered from without until its has destroyed itself within. The essential causes of Rome’s decline lay in her people, her morals, her class struggles, her failing trade, her bureaucratic despotism, her stifling taxes, her consuming wars.”
In our modern world, The USA is another civilization on the way down – thanks to our never- ending supply of mediocre and faith-soaked politicians. They are much more in love with freedom of religion that's destroying America rather than respect the freedom from religion that precisely made America the greatest nation the
world has ever known. As an American citizen, I am so sad for America. Poch Suzara

US Foreign Policy

The United States government can best serve foreign countries by staying out. Especially those foreign countries that are rich in natural resources. Freedom and democracy can never flourish in any country by making its poor people filthy poorer. Poch Suzara

ALL GREAT RELIGIONS

All great religions have their holy books that are regarded as “divinely inspired.” The Christians their bible; the Jews, their Talmud; the Muslims, their Koran; the Buddhists, their Sutras; the Confucians, their Analects; the Taoist, their Tao-Te-Ching; the Hindus, their Bhagavad Gita; the Vedantists, their Upanishads; etc., all written by superstitious crackpots inspired not by any reference to a telescope or a microscope, but only to a silly horoscope. Surprisingly, they were all very correct when they wrote about nothing. Un-surprisingly, however, they were all very wrong when they wrote about something. And to think that in this 21st century we humans are still hating and killing each over the correct interpretation of such ancient literature whose authors never even knew anything about the molecular basis of life, or that life is related to all other forms of life on this earth. Poch Suzara

Hume’s Dictum

It is far more crucial for a wise man not to believe, but to know. Indeed, to find out, as the wise man has no beliefs. Thus, the difference between a theologian and a scientist.
The theologian wants to believe; he does not bother to discover or to know. Specially more. He pretends to know that he already knows the truth. The search for the truth, therefore, means a waste of time to the theologian. Poch Suzara

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