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

Jose Rizal a Heretic not a Catholic

We Filipinos are not winning in the struggle to achieve for ourselves a sane and a healthy society. We only believe what Ninoy Aquino believed that: “the Filipino is worth dying for.” And to think Ninoy died because the Filipino killed him. Unless we reform with the radical reform of humanitarian ideals, we will just carry on dying destructively as a people rather than living creatively as a nation. The Philippines is on the way towards extinction. No, we have not found the power that would destroy us. On the contrary, we have not found the truth that should save us. In 1896 Jose Rizal was put to death. He was executed because he was a heretic. He loved the power of reason. He was always at work to challenge deviltry as he was never comfortable with the promises of theology. He believed that the discovery of truth entails free inquiry and free expression. He wrote the Noli and Fili – two great books about our faith in sacred lies and other ecclesiastical deceptions. The same faith, in fact, that’s keeping the Filipino poor as a people and the Philippines backward as a nation. And to think that those in authority responsible for Rizal’s death are still the very same authority today that continue to dominate the minds and hearts of our children in schools, colleges, and universities. In the meantime, in this 21st century, we Filipinos are still bereft of national identity. We are still victimized to love not our country, but love only divinity. Rizal did not care to believe in the next world to come after death. A rarity as a thinking Filipino that he was, he believed, instead, in a better life for the Filipino living in a better country that needs always to be made better. Especially with the power of knowledge that frightens not, but joyfully enlightens the minds of men, and cheerfully strengthens the hearts of women. Rizal’s enemy was not the Filipino. He was executed by mindless and heartless believers - the real enemy that’s keeping the Philippines still pretty much defeated in the race as a nation to achieve peace and unity, security, social and political and environmental sanity, and indeed, economic prosperity. Rizal cared much for life not after death, but for life after birth. He cared much for the good life - one inspired by love and guided by knowledge. Indeed, Rizal believed in the pursuit of endless education rather than the final preparation for eternal salvation. After all, in the ultimate analysis, eternal salvation is the condition of dead Filipinos who refuses to believe that they are already dead. Poch Suzara

Prayer To Afflict the Comfortable

For Michael Moore: Thank you for writing STUPID WHITE MEN. It is one of the most thought-provoking books I have read. I particularly enjoyed reading page 234-235 – A prayer to Afflict the Comfortable. How stupid of me not to have written that myself. It's a classical piece of thought that provokes thought. With your kind permission, I am publishing same in my blog: Thoughts To Provoke Your Thoughts. A Prayer to Afflict the Comfortable Dear Lord ( God/Yahweh/Buddha/Bob/Nobody): We beseech You, O merciful One, to bring comfort to those who suffer today for whatever reason You, Nature, or the World Bank has deemed appropriate. We realize, O heavenly Father, that You cannot cure all the sick at once – that would surely empty out the hospitals the good nuns have established in Your name. And we accept that You, Omniscient One, cannot eliminate all the evil in the world, for that would surely put Thee out of a job. Rather, dear Lord, we ask that You inflict every member of the House of Representatives with horrible, incurable cancers of the brain, penis, and hand (thought not necessarily in that order). We ask, Our loving Father, that every senator from the South be rendered addicted to drugs and find himself locked away for life. We beseech You to make the children of every senator in the Mountain Time Zone gay – really gay. Put the children of senators from the East in a wheelchair ad the children of the senators from the West in a public school. We implore, Most Merciful One, just as you turned Lot's wife into a pillar of salt, that You turn the rich – all the rich – into paupers and homeless, wiping out their entire savings, assets, and mutual funds. Remove from them their positions of power, and yea, may they walk through the valley and into the darkness of a welfare office. Condemn them to a life of flipping burgers and dodging bill collectors. Let them hear the wailing of the innocents as they sit in the middle seat of row 43 in coach and let them feel the gnashing of teeth that are abscessed and rotted like the 108 million who have no dental coverage. Heavenly Father, we pray that all white leaders (especially the alumni of Bob Jones University) who believe black people have it good these days be risen from their sleep tomorrow morning with the skin as black as a stretch limo so that they may enjoy the riches and reap the bountiful fruits of being black in America. We humbly request that Your anointed ones, the bishops of the holy Roman Catholic Church, be smitten with ovaries and unplanned pregnancies and a pamphlet about the rhythm method. Finally, dear Lord, we call upon You to have Jack Welch swim the Hudson he has polluted, to force Hollywood's executives to sit and watch their own movies over and over and over, to have Jesse Helms kissed on the lips by a man of his own gender, to make Chris Matthews go mute, to let the air – quickly – out of Bill O'Reilly, and turn to ash all who are responsible for those who smoke in my office. Oh, yes, and unleash with a fury a plague of locusts to nest in the toupee of the Senate Minority Leader from the great state of Mississippi. May you hear our prayers and grant them, O King of Kings, Who sit on high and watches over us as best You can, considering what screwups we are. Grant us some relief from our misery and suffering, as we know that the men You shall smite will be swift in their efforts to rid themselves of their misfortune, which in turn may rid us of ours. With this we pray, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit –Who-Used-to-be-a- Ghost. Amen. Poch Suzara Twitter# Facebook# Google#

Love of the USA

One of the most pathetic facts about the United States of America is the teaching of our boys and girls to love America. To prove it, however, they could wear a uniform and kill people in other countries. Look how the US government has profitably monopolized this global business for a long time now. Young Americans in the US Army, Navy, Air force, and the Marine Corps find themselves in some foreign land to be a part not of individual terrorism, but state-sponsored terrorism so that after these poor countries are liberated, these foreigners will begin to love America, especially the American economy under freedom and democracy. In the meantime, there are increasing indications that the economic cost of military power weaken the economy in specific ways and, to that extent, national security. Many jobless Americans, however, are so grateful not only to the Lord, but also to the US Military-Industrial-University-Oil Complex for giving them jobs. Be that as it may,
according to the American economy under freedom and democracy, never mind if more than half of the world’s population is seriously malnourished or struggling to live on a dollar a day income. God Bless America? You better believe it! Poch Suzara

Humanity and Generosity

My friend Victor Murillo, a freethinker, wrote an excellent letter in the PDI. It was published in 7/20/2006. I entirely agree with him, as a freethinker myself, I totally endorse his message:
“It makes one wonder if the Catholic Church, with its vast tax-free wealth accumulated through many centuries, would be willing to match even if only half of the humanity and generosity of Warren Buffet’s $37.4 Billion dollar donations, through Bill Gates’ foundation, for the poor, especially in Third World countries.”
And if I may add, Warren Buffet and Bill Gates are not only billionaires. These men are not poor in spirit. On the contrary, they are very rich in spirit as both men are globally known to be freethinkers too. Poch Suzara

It is Incredible

It is, indeed, incredible how highly educated columnists of this country believe that Rizal did not retract only because they believe. first and foremost, the famous historian/theologian Father Horacio de la Costa, S.J. who claimed to have discovered that Rizal never retracted. Upon what evidence? The Jesuit de la Costa never produced.
For my part, I simply take it from Jose Rizal’s own writings, and from his life and times to prove to me that the great thinker that he was, never regretted or retracted. He was a man of the deepest intellect who struggled against religion that encourages not only spiritual poverty, but also promotes human stupidity. I do not need the opinion of a theologian to tell me anything about Jose Rizal – the scientist who was put to death by a theocracy. After all, it was the Catholic friars themselves who had him executed to protect and defend the lucrative business of the Catholic Church selling Christianity in the Philippines.
In the meantime, in this country, in Catholic universities, roll all the professors of theology and history into one personage they would not equal the intellectual courage of a Jose Rizal. Poch Suzara

Jose Rizal Retraction Lies

Hours before he was executed, in his last poem and testament, Rizal wrote: I am going where faith does not kill. And yet teachers and professors, historians and newspaper columnists of this country all believe that hours just before he was executed, Rizal cried like a little boy, went to confession, heard mass and received communion, had a scapular around his neck and a rosary in his hand and retracted from his writings against Christian values and beliefs. What a childish nonsense to believe about the first scientist and the greatest humanist thinker the Philippines, thus far, has ever produced. I suggest to you religiculous morons to please visit Manila City Hall. There is a blowup photo of Jose Rizal there taken by an American tourist while Rizal was being executed at the Luneta. Yes, I will give l0,000 pesos to your favorite charity if you can find in that photo a scapular around Rizal’s neck or a rosary in Rizal’s hands. Indeed, in this 21st century God-forsaken country, I dare say, our historians and columnists still believe the silly theologians who lied about Rizal’s last few hours of his life on this earth. It is even speculated whether Rizal’s soul went to heaven. In the meantime, we remain as the Sick Man of Asia still clinging with childish faith over a lot of religious hogwash. Poch Suzara

Only In The Philippines

Quite a few of our men in prisons are not necessarily criminals but the victims of criminals; especially by those corrupt to the core otherwise known as “corrupt lawyers,” “corrupt Prosecutors,” and “corrupt Judges,” keeping the judicial system of the Philippines corrupt as ever. These highly corrupt men in the legal profession would connive to handle first the lengthy legal court cases of those who are rich and powerful and famous; but hardly consider with as much attention and speed the legal cases of those who are impoverished without money, influence, fanfare, or publicity. Poch Suzara

Born-Again Christian

The most childish, if not most gullible individuals I have met were not only the confused, but also the misguided Christians. Instead of growing up, they are just proud to be Born-Again!
But then again, I also have devout Christian friends who would, during odd moments, bitterly criticize Christianity in the Philippines. Most of the time, however, they do not know what exactly they are talking about. They only display a shallow emotional drama, if not an infantile medulla oblongata. Their criticisms have neither intellectual basis nor social impact nor historical value in them. There is only that terror of the fear of punishment in hell as against the hope of a reward in heaven.
In the meantime, as a nation, this is our religious motto: “There is victory in surrender when the conqueror is not only Christ, but also Christianity.”
And that is how poor and defeated and backward we are as a nation. Poch Suzara

God Out of the Way

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

Failures

There were, indeed, quite a few failures in this world who eventually enjoyed success. There are examples of Soldiers, Admirals, Judges, Boxers, Farmers, Doctors, Actors, Writers, Lawyers, Scientists, including Women Thinkers.
Unfortunately, there were also failures in the early centuries who are still the same failures in this century: the Theologians. They have yet to succeed in discovering incontrovertible evidences of the existence of God.
For my part, this much I can say: Prove to me that God exists or introduce God to me and I would still be the same atheist as I have been since birth. I would still refuse to love, worship, and adore such a God especially since he is always omni-absent; never omni-present. What is a God for if He is always lazy on the job not even pretending to correct the needless mistakes he committed when he created this world? If I were God I never would have created the Christians, the Jews, and the Muslims - the trouble-makers that have not ceased destroying our home planet earth. Poch Suzara

College Education

College education in the Philippines is mostly about accreditation, certification, and indeed, graduation. It is hardly about the lifetime adventure in the never-ending search of the truth. Indeed, nothing to do with the habit of more and deeper learning through serious reading. As a matter of fact, throwing books out the window is the fun part of college graduation celebration in our sick society.
I often ask my college-educated friends why is there more of the spread of intellectual poverty than there is the bread for cultural prosperity in this God-forsaken country? Their reply: “Huh?” Poch Suzara

Poverty in the Philippines

The war against poverty in the Philippines can only be won with the creation of wealth. Unfortunately, wealth can never be produced unless there is first the birth and growth of mental health. In this country, children at home and in school are taught to be greedy, selfish, stupid, and insane - in brief, taught to be poor in spirit. Thus, there is always the problem from those who are not rich in spirit. They are deprived of the power to nourish mental health. It certainly discourages, by and large, the creation of wealth as a responsibility of every grown-up man and woman in the Philippines.
In the meantime, the population uncontrolled growth in the Philippines is a greater evil than the evil of poverty. The population explosion is depleting our natural resources faster than nature can regenerate or replenish them. Indeed, our rain forest is beginning to look growthless. Just like the Lunar landscape that's lifeless. Poch Suzara

Search of the Truth

In the search of the truth, it is more reliable to be on the side of science than it is to be on the side of religion. In order to get a bigger picture of the truth, if any, science, for example, will not only study carefully the balance of nature, but also even more carefully study the nature of balance. Another example, science would look at the molecular rather than the spiritual basis of life. After all, the spiritual cannot be tested and observed inside a cathedral. The molecular basis of life, however, can be tested and observed inside a laboratory for further experimentation and analysis. In the religious way of thinking, the search of the truth is a waste of time since the truth has already been revealed. In the meantime, science is not only a body of knowledge; it is more of a process, a method of discovering the truth, if any. In science, knowledge can generate more knowledge and can be improved upon, it can be changed, and this emendation represents a natural growth and development of the scientific spirit. Poch Suzara

Terrorism

Sending a powerful message fit the definition of terrorism. Sending a message to a child about the existence of God is the worst kind of terrorism. Especially if the message were accompanied with threats of eternal punishment. Thus, due to religious terrorism, most children grow up believing in cruel God. They live in fear as they do not want to suffer eternal damnation punished forever in hell after death.
For my part, I was lucky. I managed, somehow, to see through clearly the childish message. I saw the existence of God as something superstitious, nay, excrementitious, based upon nothing but childish terrorism. Indeed, if God exist, I refuse to believe that such a loving God, such a Supreme Being should allow such scatological nonsense be taught to children about Him. Poch Suzara

The Poor, Sick and Filthy

If I were poor, sick and filthy, I have no right to have children because my children have no right to be poor, sick and filthy. No doubt God provides wealth, power, and glory; unfortunately, only for the priesthood industry. As for the poor, the sick, and the filthy, - these children of God, in a devastating typhoon, are not even allowed to take temporary shelter inside the House of God called “Churches” and “Cathedrals.” Poch Suzara

Root of all evil

The killing of Hypatia in the 5th century, the onslaught of the Dark Ages from the 5th to the 15th century, the Inquisition organized by the Church, Copernicus exiled, Galileo silenced, Bruno burned at the stake, Jose Rizal publicly executed by a theocracy in the late 19th century, not to mention, time and again, the Church blocking the way towards the advancement of knowledge and emancipation of the human mind. In brief, the good life - one inspired by love and guided by knowledge - is not possible in our world for as long organized religions – Christianity, Judaism, and Islam continue to retard the spiritual growth and the intellectual development of human beings born on this earth. Organized religion, indeed, is the root of all evil. Poch Suzara

Thanks to Faith

Thanks to our Christian values and beliefs, we enjoy having faith not only in things we know nothing about, but also in things that we know are not true. It spares us from the ordeal of having to think for ourselves as a people, and from the ordeal of having to take responsibility for ourselves as a nation.
Indeed, thanks to our faith in Christian values and beliefs our population growth is making sure that our natural resources are depleting faster than the rate nature can replenish or have them regenerated.
In the meantime, as the bible says: love not your country, neither the things that are in your country. If any one loves his country, the love of God is not with him. See John 2:15. Poch Suzara

Beliefs and Facts

The religious and the superstitious share a common denominator mutually together. They do not alter their beliefs to fit the facts. They would rather alter the facts to fit their beliefs. They are even proud to call it “blind faith.” Poch Suzara

The Catholic Bishops

Eternal damnation is what is in store for the Filipino newspaper columnist who ventures any criticism against the Catholic Bishops of the Philippines. There is not a single one of these columnists that I know of who does not live in mortal terror of the power of this religious group. If the Catholic Bishops can bluff its way into a preferred position, the fault lies not only with the Bishops but due mostly with our frightened columnists. And to think that these Bishops are not even answerable to our society under a democracy. As citizens of the Vatican State, they report to the Pope who is answerable to a higher power under a theocracy. In the meantime, the most that our college-educated columnists can do with their precious talents and valuable abilities is to sell them to the Catholic Bishops – the major owners, if not the stockholders of major newspapers of this country.
As a high-school dropout, I do not believe that the mind is a terrible thing to waste; on the contrary, I believe that it is a terrible thing to waste the mind. Poch Suzara

The Psychotic

One of the most idiotic, if not imbecilic, nay, moronic facts about our time is the stupid fanatic who is just as pathetic as he is a lunatic. He actually believes with all sincerity that everyone else is just as intelligent as he is! Poch Suzara

The Religious Attitude

Whether one is a Christian, or a Muslim, or a Jew – each would readily admit something like: - so what if this world were embroiled with poverty, pain, cruelty, violence, suffering, hate, murder, and wars?
There is always a better world to come after death with God, says the Christian. There is always a better world to come with Allah, says the Muslim.
There is always a better world to come with Yahweh, says the Jew.
Such is our unpredictably trouble-infested world. Thanks to religious attitude – the root of human stupidity lasting much longer than infinity. Poch Suzara

Money

“Our society,” Bertrand Russell wrote, “is so imbued with the belief that happiness consists of financial success that men do not realize how much they are losing, and how much richer their lives might be if they cared less about money. But the results of their instinctive dissatisfaction are all the worse for being unconscious.”

In the Philippines, however, even those who are not suppose to be in the business of making money are busy making money on the side – teachers and professors, congressmen and senators, and, among the most successful – the priests and nuns. Such religious men and women of God are able to collect and then remit, quite successfully, tons of tax-free money yearly to the Vatican bank. It is already worth In the trillion of dollars today. Thanks to so-called Catholic Charity.

In the meantime, most of my college-educated friends and relatives struggle in life over nothing except to earn or make more millions, if possible. They are the poor in spirit. For my part, I’d rather struggle in the search of the truth. The truth, after all, is worth far more than billions. Moreover, even if I were poverty-stricken, I would rather be happy getting richer in spirit. There is nothing quite like it in all the joys found in nature. Poch Suzara

Theological Rubbish

One of the ugly things about our society: millions of our children in school are still indoctrinated with threat of eternal damnation to believe and have faith in a higher power otherwise known as the Supreme Being.
There is, however, an uglier side to this sad horror. Most of the grown-up men and women in our sick society today still believe in the same old childish rubbish. They even believe in the Revealed Truth that has yet to the revealed.
As a schoolboy, once during weekly confession, I asked the priest to please reveal to me the whereabouts of my dead loved-ones? Are they in heaven or in hell? In what level of happiness are they in heaven? Or in what level of punishment are they suffering in hell? Today, as a grown-up, I am asking as to the whereabouts of the more than 1,000,000,000 Filipinos who already lived and died in the Philippines since Christianity arrived here some 500 years ago. How many Filipinos made it to heaven and how many have been damned to hell? I am told, however, that even among the brightest of the Jesuit theologians, no one knows as it is still one of God’s great mysteries.
In the meantime, critics today are asking me to explain what triggered my hatred of Catholicism. So that they could psychoanalyze my bigotry. It seems to be alarmingly translucent, however, that these critics are the same type of believers who had Jose Rizal put to death by musketry. What a bunch of faith-based, priestly-indoctrinated cowards. No, my friends, I do not hate Catholicism. I hate the lies and falsehoods behind the history of the Catholic Church. Poch Suzara

Superman and Jesus

In the Da Vinci Code movie – Jesus is a depicted as a man married to Mary Magdalene.
In the Hollywood movie, Superman is depicted as a hero to the millions crying out for a Savior.
Superman is a greater fictional savior than the biblical Jesus. A savior should not put his power in abeyance, nor should he be inefficient at his job. Consider how Jesus as a Savior has been hiding since his resurrection from death on the cross centuries ago! Poch Suzara

Faith

A Christian says: I have faith in God because my mother and father raised me as a Christian as both were themselves Christians.
A Muslim says: I have faith in Allah because my mother and father raised me as a Muslim as both were themselves Muslims.
A Jew says: I have faith in Yahweh because my mother and father raised me as Jewish as both were themselves Jewish.
Faith indeed is not a matter of free will, but a matter of accident as to which parents gave birth to each and every one of us. If our parents were Buddhist, we, most likely, would have been raised and indoctrinated as Buddhists.
My parents were both devout Catholics. Happily, they played no role during my free choice to decide for myself as to which freedom I should wish to entertain: the freedom of religion or the freedom from religion.
In the meantime, there is, indeed, something bigger and a greater power than my own existence to love and respect in this world. No, not a mysterious God out there; but my family, my country, and indeed, the whole of humanity down here. Poch Suzara

Jews and Muslims and Christians

To establish peace on earth and goodwill to all men, may I suggest that the Jews and Muslims should only sit down together and stop behaving like the good Christians. Indeed, they should all stop emulating the Christian way of hating and cutting each other’s throat and stabbing each other back in God’s name and for his glory in heaven. Look at the Catholics and the Protestants. After all this past centuries, look how they have not yet learned to love and respect each other’s beliefs in the same Jesus Christ to help establish local and global sanity! Poch Suzara

Adam and Eve

According to the bible, our first parents - Adam and Eve were the first couple to worship God. They were also the first human couple to be rejected by God. In His wrath over a meaningless, nay childish issue God punished and expelled Adam and Eve out of the Garden of Eden.
As a descendant of Adam and Eve, can you blame me for believing that God was such an ungodly God to our first parent? I say: Phooey to such a God! Phooey also to the Devil in the shape of a Talking Serpent! And if you, my dear Born-again Christians do not like to read what I write, then I say phooey on you too. Poch Suzara

The Right to Believe

Is it your right to believe there is a God? Is it your right to believe there is no God? As a matter of fact, you have no right to believe this or to believe that unless you have first fully explored every facet or duly discovered every angle of the belief in question. Indeed, everybody believes this or believes that. Nobody, however, knows exactly what believing means. For my part, I’d rather remain in constant doubt. I’d rather suspend my judgment. I do not care to believe. I only want to know.
In the meantime, we continue to spill blood over what is, at bottom, a conflict of sick beliefs. Arguments for or against healthy ideas have never done any one any harm.
I am a conscious objector. I do not believe in going to war against others just because they have weird beliefs.
The one and only war I approve without any hesitation whatsoever is the war of logic against the concept of the existence of God and the existence of the devil. Until the concept of supernatural monsters are defeated in the minds of men and totally expunged out of the hearts of women, we shall only continue to hate and kill each other for the sake of nothing. We shall never enjoy peace on earth and goodwill to all men. Poch Suzara

Atheism

Charles Bradlaugh was one of the greatest atheists who ever lived. I challenge you believers to discard your logical fantasy by listening carefully to this man’s logical reality: “Atheism is without God. It does not assert no God. The atheist does not say that there is no God, but he says "I know not what you mean by God.” I am without the idea of God. The word God to me is a sound conveying no clear or distinct affirmation. I do not deny God, because I cannot deny that of which I have no conception, and the conception of which by its affirmer is so imperfect that he is unable to define it for me.” Poch Suzara

An Anonymous Critic wrote

“Poch is a failure. You are rehashing your arguments for ages, like mustard seeds falling on arid soil.”
“It would be interesting though to read what triggered your hatred against Catholicism, so we can pychoanalyze your bigotry.”
“Catholicism or none, man is predisposed to supernatural beliefs. Just live with it. This diversity makes the world colorful. God--oops, did I offend you?-- I could not imagine living in a world with one train of thought, certainly not following yours.”
My response: the superstitious primitives are always predisposed to supernatural beliefs. They are the poor in spirit. For my part, I would rather be a failure at natural disbeliefs than be a success at supernatural beliefs. I have no desire to be successful at promoting ancient stupidity especially if it means embracing faith in the false foundation of Christianity. I was raised and indoctrinated to be a questionless Christian and so, eventually, in order to regain my self-respect, I dropped out. However, instead of believing more of the same old childish pursuits, like be a Born-again Christian, I decided to simply grow up.
In the meantime, my dear critic, please stop revealing your infantile contempt for human intelligence. It is always a virtue to be able to think for one’s self. Please stop displaying the inferiority of your childish faith. Instead, try to manifest your mind as something brightened and superior, and not something as frightened and inferior. Argue your case with the power of reason. Do not fault me for taking the side of science, humanity, respect for life, reverence for nature and understanding of our place in evolution, caring for our biological heritage and for the future of our children’s children. The higher power that you are referring to can only be found in the better part of ourselves as humans on this earth. It is we who must realize that love and happiness and the joys in life do not come from somewhere vague out there. They are clearly the beauties found right here as they come from our own minds and hearts, experiences, passions and compassions, laughter, friends and family. Poch Suzara

Purpose Driven Life

Pastor Rick Warren writes: “Long before you were conceived by your parents, you were conceived in the mind of God.” Imagine a Hitler, Stalin, Mussolini, Truman, Chiang Kai-Shek, Emperor Hirohito, Noriega of Panama, Batista of Cuba, Somoza of Nicaragua, Diem of South Vietnam, Shah of Iran, Saddam Hussein, Bin Laden, Eisenhower, Nixon, Johnson, Carter, Reagan, Bush, Clinton, Tony Blair, and Marcos of the Philippines. Imagine also the leaders of other countries too created not only in the mind of God but also installed by the US government to serve the interest of the US military that serves the interest of the rich US armament corporations own by the wealthy few and the powerful in America. Since the time of Jesus, hundreds of billions people already lived and died on this earth. Among them were the Christians, the Jews, and the Muslims. They lived hating and died cutting each other’s throats in God’s name and for His glory in heaven. For my part, I find it incredible to believe that the children of the Christians, the children of the Jews, and the children of the Muslims were once all conceived in the mind of God. If I were present with the Lord when he made man, I would have said, Lord, make the Christians, make the Jews, and make the Muslims; but Lord, if you want peace on earth and goodwill to all men, please do not make man in your own image and likeness! To Pastor Rick Warren, the author of PURPOSE DRIVEN LIFE, a best seller, I should wish to congratulate you. Also, I should wish to convey to all of your faithful readers: It is good to be Born-Again. It is, however, much better to grow up! Poch Suzara

Humanism - Behind Bar

The essay below was hand written and mailed to me by Roy G. Angana, a prisoner, among the 1,000 prisoners in Dapecol, Maximum Compound, Davao Del Norte, Philippines. I typed it for you readers in the hope that you too can help this prisoner and his group materialize their aims and ambitions. I have been sending these men magazines and articles including used books in the hope that I can help to keep their spirit free and rich. For their further studies in the search of the truth, they need more reading materials, pocket book dictionaries, ball-pens, notebooks, pads of paper and, most useful would be a donation of old typewriters. Any other contribution, I am sure, will also be highly appreciated.
I have been in correspondence with these people since 6 years ago. It is encouraging to know how men in prison can write good articles and still be involved with civility and humanity. I should wish to invite you to enter into the picture and correspond directly with Roy G. Angana. After all, even while in prison, he too is seeking the good life – one inspired by love and guided by knowledge. For the pleasure and the attention of my readers residing in some 90 countries around the world, I am publishing Roy G. Angana's piece in my Blog
www. thoughtstoprovokeyourthoughts.blogspot Poch Suzara

HUMANISM – BEHIND BARS

by: Roy G. Angana – July 2006

Humanism is not innate in our being human. As humans living in the materialistic world, we are inherently governed by our natural instinct well-defined by Darwin as the survival of the fittest by natural selection. However man’s capability to think and reason makes him to be far more superior than any other mundane life-forms. Being highly intelligent, he is capable of changing and controlling his own environment to make it suitable for habitation, hence, he can also choose and direct his own destiny. Yet, in spite of human progressive advancement and modernity, man can easily turn inhuman quarreling with each other like savage animals due to his unbridled greed for wealth and power which caused so much pain and misery to all humanity.

And through his mental faculties, man has also produced lots of ideas, sometimes insane ideas and misguided philosophies, a product of his vain attempt to explain the mysteries of the unknown with total disregard to scientifically established facts. Born-out of his ignorance and the fear of the unknown, he created a system of beliefs for the supernatural and called it a religion. Consequently, he invented the gods and the goddess of all sorts. The pre-Socratic Greek philosopher Xenophanes rightly concluded that the gods had been created by humans in their own image. With these he also promulgated religious laws and doctrines which as history itself has testified, wrought untold havoc and the trail of blood since the earliest dawn of man. Religion is a self-serving human enterprise that promotes nothing but self-preservation, dominance and moral ascendancy to other human beings. Today, the world is not only geographically divided but more so, divided by man’s religious beliefs and understanding of the supernatural that produce open or silent hatred and intolerance among the humankind. Finally after the enlightenment, a new era of self-realization emerged and the understanding of the natural world has arrived. It started when it dawned on man that he has moral obligations and capabilities to change his world for the better, thereby took the responsibility. It is self-awareness which gave birth to humanism. Humanism is basically acquired and learned that will give a better chance of survival of the human species. Man started now to question critically the wisdom, if not the folly of his previous actions and beliefs and started to seek to understand the nature of his character. Indeed, it is only through the use of rational and critical thinking man can have a fair chance to resolve the problem of his character and understand the consequences of his actions.

Thus, humanism in Dapecol is born. The common existential self-awareness that whenever or wherever we can always do something for the good of society in particular and humanity in general. A realization that against the back-drop of a fast-paced society outside in a race of a never-ending quest for selfish gain and survival, we could slowly but surely plant a seed of reciprocal altruism among us and learn to co-exist in a win-win situation thereby surviving together in this hostile environment. Of course pessimist may think that behind bars is the most unlikely place for humanism to start with, however, it is the most challenging too. And we believe that our own efforts towards humanist ideals will serve as a catalyst for inspiration to other humanist in the free world. In here is the most acid test for humanism workability because it is in behind bars where the primeval survival of the fittest instinct rules. People in the free society considered prisons as the haven of lawlessness, ruthless and hardened criminals, though I know being an insider, this is an overstatement. There are still many of us who are trying to retain any semblance of human dignity and cling to whatever left of our morality while continually hoping to be given a second chance to live a normal and a decent life again upon re-integration into society. At present, we are slowly gaining grounds in promoting humanist ethics and philosophy despite lack of resources, mobility and only minimal outside support. What is the most important is that, though we are still in prison, our thoughts are free. That constitutes a big difference. We learn to value free thought being purveyor of humanism. Fred Edwords, a famous humanist, explicitly puts it, “free thought isn’t just a set of abstract philosophical ideas or critique of religion. It is and always has been a commitment to social change and social action, having a profound and positive impact on the advancement of civilization.” Thus, we look forward to the day when our country is no longer held captive of the caprices of the few and a prisoner of poverty, ignorance, and superstitious beliefs that have enslaved us for so long, but instead to be a truly free country that adheres to truth and justice and reciprocal altruism for the sake of our children’s children.

Roy G. Angana
Dapecol, Maximum Compound
Davao Del Norte, 1801

You Have Got a Problem, Buddy

You've Got a Problem, Buddy! I find it incredible that you ask me to believe that the earth was created in six literal days; women come from a man’s rib; a snake, a donkey, and a burning bush spoke human language; the entire world was flooded, covering the mountains to drown evil; all animal species, millions of them, rode on one boat; language variations stem from the tower of Babel; Moses had a magic wand; the Nile turned to blood; a stick turned into a snake; witches, wizards, and sorcerers really exist; food rained from the sky for 40 years; people were cured by the sight of a brass serpent; the sun stood still to help Joshua win a battle, and it went backward for King Hezekiah; men survived unaided in a fiery furnace; a detached hand floated in the air and wrote on a wall; men followed a star which directed them to a particular house; Jesus walked on water unaided; fish and bread magically multiplied to feed the hungry; water instantly turned into wine; mental illness is caused by demons; a “devil” with wings exists who causes evil; people were healed by stepping into a pool agitated by angels; disembodied voiced spoke from the sky; Jesus vanished and later materialized from thin air; people were healed by Peter’s shadow; angels broke people out of jail; a fiery lake of eternal torment awaits unbelievers under the earth ... while there is life-after-death in a city which is 1,500 miles cubed, with mansions and food, for Christians only. If you believe these stories, then you are the one with the problem, not me. These myths violate natural law, contradict science, and fail to correspond with reality or logic. If you can’t see that, then you can’t separate truth from fantasy. It doesn’t matter how many people accept delusions inflicted by “holy” men; a widely held lie is still a lie. If you are so gullible, then you are like the child who believes the older brother who says there is a monster in the hallway. But there is nothing to be afraid of; go turn on the light and look for yourself.

The Philippines

The land blessed with a democracy but not separated from a theocracy. The land of a troubled public in dire need of a healthy republic. The land of bible studies, blind faith, prayer rallies, and other miracles. The land of deadly faith-healers; but hardly a land of truth-seekers. The land where schools are about religious indoctrination, not about scientific education. The land where priests, ministers, seminarians, and pastors are venerated more than college professors are respected. The land where school teachers enjoy a higher standard of earning doing household chores in other Asian land. The land where the few filthy rich are getting richer, and the many filthy poor are getting poorer. The land of undelivered vows, broken promises, missed opportunities, empty celebration, and historical degradation. The land where progress is not about good government, but progress as promised only from the New Testament. The land where the sinners in government are far more destructive than the sinners in the Old Testament. The land where the matured thinkers are wasted, neglected and rejected; but the childish believers are always tolerated, accepted and rewarded. The land where life in general is a competition to be the criminal rather than be the victim of the criminals. The land where thoughtless values on top of worthless values pretty much describe the nature of our social values. The land where three babies are born every single minute of the day adding to 1.5 million children every year. Most of them unwanted and unloved. The land where children struggle to survive under subhuman conditions are believed to be one of the mysteries of a higher power known as God. The land where we believe that a divinity is responsible for our spiritual leaders. That if we do not listen to the pronouncement of these holy men, such as the Catholic Bishops, Bro. Mike of El Shaddai, Bro. Eli of Dating Daan, Bro. Eddie of Jesus is Lord Movement, Bro. Manalo of Iglesia Ni Cristo, etc., – the love of God up there will no longer benefit any one down here. The Philippines - the land of the angelic, the diabolic, the lethargic, the fanatic, the evangelistic, the apologetic, the fatalistic, the apathetic, the frantic, the melancholic, the sadistic, the cleric, the masochistic, the unscientific, the prophetic, not to mention the millions of Filipinos who would rather be identified as Catholic than they be considered patriotic or nationalistic. For my part, I love the Philippines, the country of my birth. I am proud to be a Filipino as I am, more than anything else, Asiatic. I have no taste to be theistic, in fact, I thank God I am atheistic! I have learned to be no longer a religious lunatic! Poch Suzara

My Critics

My critics tell me that I am a failure. That I have been rehashing my arguments for ages, like mustard seeds falling on arid soil. Oh well, I say, what can you expect from a high-school expelled student out of a Catholic school? Anyway, here is the arid soil my critics are referring to. Please check your GOOGLE in the internet and please reflect on: Poch Suzara in BBC Poch Suzara in CNN Poch Suzara in ABS,CBN Poch Suzara in Manila Standard Today Poch Suzara in Philippine Daily Inquirer Poch Suzara in Malaya International Poch Suzara in Business World Poch Suzara in the Manila Bulletin Poch Suzara in Philippine Star Poch Suzara in Newsbreak Magazine Poch Suzara in Davao, Cebu, Bacolod Times, Poch Suzara in the Philippine Free Press Poch Suzara in Gabriela Poch Suzara in Philippine History Poch Suzara in American History Poch Suzara in the San Francisco Public Library Poch Suzara in the Los Angeles Public Library Poch Suzara in the Berlin Public Library Poch Suzara In the Swiss Public Library Poch Suzara in Newsweek, USA Poch Suzara in Time, USA Poch Suzara in New York Times Poch Suzara in Los Angeles Times Poch Suzara in International Tribune Poch Suzara in the US Senate Poch Suzara in the Vatican Poch Suzara in the Opus Dei Poch Suzara in the Catholic Church Poch Suzara in the Jesuit Order Poch Suzara in the Born-Again Christian Poch Suzara in the Intl Church of God Poch Suzara in Adamson University Poch Suzara in De La Salle University Poch Suzara in Santo Thomas University Poch Suzara in Ateneo University Poch Suzara in University of the Philippines Poch Suzara in Letran, San Beda, Miriam College Poch Suzara in Harvard University Poch Suzara in Princeton University Poch Suzara in Yale University Poch Suzara in Cornell University Poch Suzara in Stanford University Poch Suzara in Mcmaster University, Canada Poch Suzara in Tokyo University Poch Suzara in Singapore University Poch Suzara in Sidney University Poch Suzara in City College of New York Poch Suzara in the United Nations Poch Suzara in the American Atheist Association Poch Suzara in the Central Intelligence Agency Poch Suzara in the White House, USA Poch Suzara in the Pentagon, USA Poch Suzara in Iran, Bangladesh Poch Suzara In the Islamic world Poch Suzara in the Buddhist world Poch Suzara in the Hindu world Poch Suzara in the holy bible Poch Suzara in the Bill Gates Foundation Poch Suzara in the Humanist Association, USA Poch Suzara in the B Russell Peace Foundation Poch Suzara in the B Russell society, USA Poch Suzara in the B Russell Society, Philippines Poch Suzara in the Pinoy Atheist Association Poch Suzara in the Philippine Society of Rational Humanists Poch Suzara in the Moral League and Enlightenment Society Poch Suzara in the High-School Dropout Assn of the Philippines Cheers!

Teachers

Bertrand Russell compared the work of teachers with those of philosophers. “The teacher, like the artist, the philosopher, and the man of letters, can only perform his work adequately if he feels himself to be an individual directed by an inner creative impulse, not dominated and fettered by an outside authority.” For my part, I was most unhappy with my teachers in La Salle grade school and high school. They were such that I could not admire nor respect nor to emulate them. I imagine myself today as as individual like most of my teachers were then - habitually and utterly thoughtless. No thanks. I am most happy to have accomplished getting expelled out of high school in order to acquire real education through a lifetime of self-study via reading books, books, and books. Poch Suzara

Jesus as a Failure

Many a good man is a failure from a worldly point of view, but failure is not what one should wish to emulate. Jesus sought to save the world. Is there a dispute that Jesus as a “savior” has proved to be a global failure? Is our world today safer and saner or even a more humane place than it was during the time of Jesus? On the contrary, his plan of salvation was a failure. An ideal savior is needed now as much as 2,000 years ago. Right here in the Philippines, the biggest Catholic country in Asia, millions of Filipino families are crying daily for a Savior!
In the meantime, we are told that tolerant religious people can unite peacefully with non-religious people for a change. I agree. But before that could transpire, religious people must first learn to be tolerant of each other before the non-religious people can peacefully entertain and welcome the unity. Poch Suzara

The Catholic Church

The Catholic Church is a commercial enterprise masquerading as a religion. The pope is the chairman of the board and its CEO, the curia is the board of directors, the cardinals are the regional vice-presidents, and the priests are the sales managers. The customers are the 700 million Catholics living in Catholic countries.
Each and everyday, millions of faithful Catholics contribute to their Church. Specially as Catholics are told “to lay not up for yourselves treasures upon the earth . . . A rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven . . . It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God . . . Woe unto you that are rich.” And so, the Vatican Bank had to be established. Its deposits are now in the trillions of dollars.  The Catholic Church is the richest organization in the world.
Both the Catholic Church and the US government mutually share a common denominator: each other’s source of tremendous wealth, power, and glory comes from exactly the same traditional evil: fear and ignorance, on the one hand; and, on the other, hate and war.
In the meantime, Bertrand Russell wrote: “What the world needs now is not only love, but the also the greater knowledge about the nature of love, in all of its complexity.” Poch Suzara








































Theocracy and Democracy

Has not the church its own network of schools and parishes? And, as an aside, via the faithful disciples of the Lord Jesus – does not church also own and control major newspapers and magazines; radio and television stations propagating daily religious matters throughout the Philippines? What about banks, corporations and other commercial enterprises owned by the Opus Dei, the Jesuits, the Christian Brothers, the Franciscan Order, Dominican Order, not to mention the wealth, power, and glory of Iglesia Ni Cristo and El shaddai organization and the Jesus is Lord Movement!
Indeed, in this country, before we can begin to enjoy the freedom from mediocrity, or the freedom from bigotry, or freedom from stupidity, we must, first and foremost, enjoy the freedom from Christianity. It is, only in this way, that we can enjoy a true democracy.
The Catholic Bishops speak daily of corruption rampant in our sick society. How come our newspaper columnists have not had the spirit to write about the daily corruption of the Bishops themselves who are keeping the Filipino spiritually poor as a people and keeping the Philippines backward morally as a nation? In the meantime, in this God-forsaken country, thanks to our Christian values and beliefs, we are told that there is no salvation outside the Church. Hell, to prove just how poor and backward we are, millions of Filipinos also admit that there is no salvation inside the government either. Indeed, there is only corruption both inside the church and inside the government. But then again, what can be expected of a theocracy and a democracy together pretending mutually to solve the nation’s troubles and problems? Poch Suzara
Moral Strength
“It may be that religion is dead, and if it is, we had better know it and set ourselves to try to discover other sources of moral strength before it is too late.” -- Pearl Buck, What America Means to Me, 1947.
Moral strength, indeed, is not only a beauty, but also a necessity. Its basic sources, however, must always be found upon the search of the veracity, and not based upon easy beliefs in sacred mendacity. Moral strength is a matter of facing the problems of the human race that’s clear down here. It has nothing to do with the troubles of divine grace that’s vague up there. Poch Suzara






Rizal’s Biographer
Leon Ma. Guerrero was a faithful Catholic more than he was a faithful biographer. It is, indeed, incredible that after studying Rizal’s life and works, Guerrero had no idea what Rizal, a genius, lived and died for? Imagine a biographer asking of his subject: “Was he innocent or guilty? If innocent, then why is he a hero? If guilty how can he be a martyr? The answer is that he was neither guilty nor innocent.”
Rizal believed in the power of education to shape character and in the power of character to shape history. Innocent as a hero or guilty as a martyr had nothing to do with what Rizal precisely stood in his fight to liberate the minds of men and the hearts of women of his country.

Blind Faith

There is no such thing as the power of the God. There is only the power of the church. If we were unable to distinguish this simple truth, it is clearly due to another power. It is called: - blind faith. In the meantime, to the mediocre, mediocrity is the highest form of felicity. Never mind poverty or human misery or social insanity. After all, in faith, what we must always protect and defend in the Philippines is Christianity. Poch Suzara

College-educated Fools

College-educated friends and associates regularly email me pornographic materials, on the one hand; and, on the other, email me reading materials on the evils of family planning and birth control practice in this country. These are the same college-educated individuals who believe that even if our population were growing at the rate of 1.5 million babies a year, it poses no problem on our society because there is always God who will provide. Most of these children, however, are unloved and unwanted and abandoned by their parents. In fact, millions of these children - the future citizens of the Republic of the Philippines, are struggling to survive under subhuman conditions in the streets of our major cities. Poch Suzara

A Genuine Atheist

I have the highest respect for the genuine atheists. They are aware just how terrestrially fruitless have been the belief in the existence of God. These are atheists, however, who are gutless, if not just as thoughtless as those exactly like the millions of believers who have been indoctrinated to be utterly mindless. For my part, as an atheist, I have no desire to support financially or morally those who carry on spreading the Word of God. I do not care to contribute one way or the other for the expenses of the oldest, largest, and among the richest of industry in all history – the priesthood industry. Poch Suzara

The Most Sellable Item

The most sellable item in the world is a lie. Try, however, selling the truth; it is the most difficult, if not the most impossible, - task. There are no buyers. The ridiculous part about this whole pathetic state of affairs, however, is that the truth does not even exist; it has not yet been found. The search of the truth goes on forever in the light of eternity!
In the meantime, we are the victims. Our attitudes and beliefs have been formed by lies and deception otherwise more known as "education." Poch Suzara

Church and State Separation Mockery

The separation of Church and State does not exist in the Philippines. All the officials of the State, first and foremost, are faithful members of the Church. All the officials of the Church, however, have citizen’s allegiance to the Vatican State; moreover, they do not give a hoot about the Philippines. After all, the church teaches “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.” In the Philippines, democracy is not a reality. It is not even a necessity. It is a mockery as inspired by a theocracy under the wealth, power, and glory of Christianity. Poch Suzara

Justice to Criminals

How can we make the death penalty law effective in deterring criminals? It is very easy. Legislate a better law to the effect that would-be parents should only propagate babies that they can love and want and need, and not replenish the Philippines with unwanted, neglected and abandoned children.This would be not only the most sensible step in bringing not criminals to justice, but precisely bringing justice to criminals. What better justice could there be available for would-be criminals other than to prevent their existence via the feasibility and the sensibility of family planning and birth control measures? Poch Suzara

A Nation of Prayers

We have been taught in our schools, colleges, and universities to believe that what we do for Christ in this life will be rewarded in the next life to come in heaven.
I ask: what life to come? After we are dead, and our body begins rotting, with what rotting eyes shall we see? With what rotting ears shall we hear? With what rotting nose shall we smell? With what rotting skin shall we feel? With what rotting palate shall we taste? And indeed with what rotting brains shall we be able to believe anything as rotten as death itself?
We Filipinos are poor as a people and the Philippines is backward as a nation? Why are we still deeply entrenched with silly religion that encourages human stupidity? In this 21st century, we have yet to touch the surface of the power of science that encourages human intelligence as much as human benevolence. Poch Suzara

Science

If your theories or ideas were science based, you will continue to make not only more discoveries, but will also continue to make more observations which is precisely what science is all about. In the meantime, asking questions and observing reality is a never-ending task. Science, however, is honest enough to admit that it only understands 1 per cent of what it observes in reality. Poch Suzara

John Milton, the Poet

He was disinherited by his father “because he kept not the Catholic religion” and he was caught reading the Bible. “
As for me, however, after reading the bible a great many years, I walked out of the Catholic Church. Bible contents certainly inspired in me to embrace the beauty of Atheism. God as depicted in the Bible is not the supernatural character worth loving. The devil too as depicted in the Bible as a supernatural character is not worth fearing.
I refuse to be intimidated by anything supernatural. Indeed, if supernatural beings exist, they can do what they want with me; but never, will they ever win my love and respect for either of them. Not in this life, or even in the next world to come, if any. Poch Suzara

Mary Magdalene

The church says Mary Magdalene was a prostitute. What was Jesus then doing with a prostitute during his crucifixion? According to the bible, she was also the first person Jesus appeared to right after his resurrection!
Let’s face it: if Mary Magdalene turned out to be the wife of Jesus, then the Vatican is in trouble with sacred lies. On the other hand, if Mary Magdalene was a prostitute, the Vatican is still in trouble with more sacred lies. Imagine Jesus – the Son of divinity, the paragon of purity, the epitome of respectability, the prince of tranquility, the savior of humanity - sexually involved with Mary Magdalene – a patuti, if not a tuti- frutie!
For my part, as an rational humanist, I ask: - what has Jesus, Mary, Joseph, Mary Magdalene, Peter, Paul, James, Judas and all the rest of the apostles of Christ – all belonging to Jewish families born in Israel during the 1st century have anything of human value to do with Filipino families born in the Philippines in the 21st century? Poch Suzara

Pure Baloney

God allowed Satan in the shape of a talking serpent to deceive Eve. Adam, however, was depicted as a coward too thoughtless to stand up for Eve. I said it before, I say it again: To believe this bible story as something true and holy is pure baloney. It degrades humanity.

For my part, if I were Adam, I should have been more responsible for Eve. I would have told both God and Satan to take a hike or to stick to their own kind of woman! Why bother with my one and only love?

Is it possible that we are all sick in this country because we love, worship, and adore a sick God who is always friendly and tolerant, - of a sick devil? It is time to dump Christianity as it is all based upon a silly mythology. Consider Christianity in history. She has had 2,000 years of opportunity to straighten out the mess in this world. Now it is getting more alarmingly translucent, if not glaringly transparent that Christianity has never been the solution simply because she has always been the problem to begin with. Not only in matters of spiritual poverty; but look at the hate and wars that have been declared in God’s name and for his glory ever since man evolved on this planet.

Let us, instead, as a human family, love one another. There is no such thing as divinity. It is time to pay more attention to the plight of humanity. There is absolutely nothing more precious globally. Poch Suzara

Die for an Idea

It is heroic to die for an idea; it is, however, tragic to die for an idea that is false. What is even more terrible, however, is to die while intoxicated with the belief that brazen religious lies are among the most sacred of revealed truths. Poch Suzara

Masonry

Masonry was never a political party or a religious organization. It has always been a humanitarian and civic association. In fact, speaking as a Mason, Rizal once said: “Humanity cannot be redeemed while reason is not free, while faith would want to impose itself on facts, while whims are laws, and while there are nations to subjugate others. For humanity to be able to attain that lofty destiny toward which God guides it, it is necessary that within its fold there should be no dissensions nor tyranny… and no groans and curses be heard in its march … Masonry believes in God who guides mankind in its progress.”
No, I am not a Mason, though I was invited to be one. But as I openly declared myself an atheist, the invitation was withdrawn. Quite a few of my lawyer-friends are Masons. Be that as it may, I think, however, that the Catholic friars were rather stuck in the quagmire of mediocrity. They had nightmares of getting Rizal to retract from his errors against Masonry. Poch Suzara

Nothing

Nothing can be more degrading than to see millions of poor Filipinos have nothing going for them in this life except God – another nothing! My dear reader, have you ever heard of Filipinos who became rich for believing that God is bad? And yet millions of Filipinos are poor for believing that God is good.
But then again, it is just as degrading to see millions of rich Americans have nothing going for them in this life except money – another nothing.
My dear reader, have you ever heard of rich Americans who, in this life, before they died, converted their cash into traveler’s checks to take along with them in the next life? Poch Suzara

Beliefs

People believe this or believe that. People will even kill other people for not believing this or for not believing that. I think, however, it is time to take a good look at our harmful beliefs responsible for so much hate and killings in our world. Indeed, time has elapse. If we wish to save our world, we must learn to entertain more realistic and intelligent non-beliefs than have faith in our fantastic and stupid beliefs.Poch Suzara

Philippine Media

The Philippine media could mold public opinion to admire science rather than religion; to prepare for peace rather than to work for war; to love philosophy rather than theology. Indeed, the media could very well promote all that is creative for our society, and so diminish the impulses and desires that center round Filipinos getting more selfish, greedy, stupid, and insane. And yet, Filipino editors and columnists of newspapers and magazines; teachers and professors of schools, colleges and universities; producers and directors of the movie and television industry - all share a common interests together in this country: - they all try their utmost best to keep all of their readers and students and audiences as thoughtless as ever so as not to displease the Catholic Bishops enjoying theological and political control of the Philippines. And to think that these are the same Bishops who are the experts with the Revealed Truth that have yet to be revealed.
In the meantime, thanks to power of our media, we remain rudderless as a nation as we continue to be leaderless as a people. Poch Suzara

My Own Retraction

I am told by my Catholic friends that I too will eventually retract from my errors against God and from my errors against Christianity. I say, over my dead body. I’d rather die first. Indeed, in this life, I would rather enjoy the madness in my search of the truth than feel saved, secured, and mindless having faith in sacred lies.
In the meantime, my dear reader, never mind your free will. It is a piece of spiritual garbage as compared to the precious free will that God has gifted the devil. Poch Suzara

My Atheistic Religion

If I had to choose a religion, I should worship the sun. It is the universal giver of life. The sun is also much bigger and greater and older than the planet earth. One million planets the size of earth can fit inside the sun. What could be more worthy of worship! I should love and worship and adore the sun. She has never threatened me with eternal punishment if I did not believe in her life-giving grandiosity, not to menton her existence as the greatest of glory. Poch Suzara

Obedience

Obedience is not a virtue but a tool to enslave those who have been indoctrinated to have faith in their free will. Consider virtues. They consist in obedience to God's will and nobody knows anything about God's commands except the priests. In the Philippines, obedience saves the vast majority of Filipinos from the trouble of having to think together as a people and from the problem of having to work together as a nation. Indeed, in this country, our sick attitude towards each other can be summarized with these words: “Sila sila, kame kame, tayo tayo, – bahala ka na sa dios mo.” Poch Suzara

Rizal’s Biographer

Leon Ma. Guerrero was a faithful Catholic more than he was a faithful biographer. It is, indeed, incredible that after studying Rizal’s life and works, Guerrero had no idea what Rizal, a genius, lived and died for? Imagine a biographer asking of his subject: “Was he innocent or guilty? If innocent, then why is he a hero? If guilty how can he be a martyr? The answer is that he was neither guilty nor innocent.”
Rizal believed in the power of education to shape character and in the power of character to shape history. Innocent as a hero or guilty as a martyr had nothing to do with what Rizal precisely stood for in his struggle to liberate the minds of men and the hearts of women of his country.
In the violent opposition of mediocrity against greatness, what Albert Einstein said of Bertrand Russell, Einstein could have said exactly the same thing to our Jose Rizal: “Great spirits have always found violent opposition from mediocrities. The latter cannot understand it when a man does not thoughtlessly submit to hereditary prejudices but honestly and courageously uses his intelligence.”
It must have been a sin for Guerrero to write truthfully about Rizal’s real motives in his struggles against theocracy. Thus, because of Catholic writers like Guerrero, most Filipinos believe Rizal retracted and died repentant. Indeed, in this predominantly Catholic country, Filipino historians, school teachers, college professors, and newspaper columnists have all tried their best to avoid discovering Rizal’s real nature as a rare man. Only the esoteric few know the real Jose Rizal who, at the expense of his own precious life, had the spiritual courage put more philosophical beauty in the Philippines where the Catholic Church, for centuries, has only put theological horrors. Poch Suzara

My Opinion

I would rather have an opinion on the question rather than on the answer. And opinion should always be tentative, never definite or dogmatic. It is always subject to change or emendation. If you point out errors in my opinion, I would just be happy to change my mind, and make the necessary corrections, especially if your own opinion made more sense than mine. In the meantime, please remember that no one has the right to an opinion on anything. You are entitled to such rights only after you have thoroughly studied every aspect and explored every facet indeed only after you are converstant with all sides of the issue in question. Poch Suzara

Moral Strength

“It may be that religion is dead, and if it is, we had better know it and set ourselves to try to discover other sources of moral strength before it is too late.” -- Pearl Buck, What America Means to Me, 1947.
Moral strength, indeed, is not only a beauty, but also a necessity. Its basic sources, however, must always be found upon the search of the veracity, and not based upon easy beliefs in sacred mendacity. Moral strength is a matter of facing the problems of the human race that’s clear down here. It has nothing to do with the troubles of divine grace that’s vague up there. Poch Suzara

Theocracy and Democracy

Has not the church its own network of schools and parishes? And, as an aside, via the faithful disciples of the Lord Jesus – does not church also own and control major newspapers and magazines; radio and television stations propagating daily religious matters throughout the Philippines? What about banks, corporations and other commercial enterprises owned by the Opus Dei, the Jesuits, the Christian Brothers, the Franciscan Order, Dominican Order, not to mention the wealth, power, and glory of Iglesia Ni Cristo and El shaddai organization and the Jesus is Lord Movement! Bro. Eli soriano of Dating Daan is on TV daily for hours and hours selling what millions of Filipinos are readily buying - Jesus Christ in the bible.

Indeed, in this country, before we can begin to enjoy the freedom away from mediocrity, or the freedom away from bigotry, or freedom away from stupidity, we must, first and foremost, enjoy the freedom of Christianity. It is, only in this way, that we can enjoy a true democracy.

The Catholic Bishops speak daily of corruption rampant in our sick society. How come our newspaper columnists have not had the spirit to write also about the daily corruption of the Bishops themselves who are keeping the Filipino spiritually poor as a people and keeping the Philippines backward morally as a nation? In the meantime, in this God-forsaken country, thanks to our Christian values and beliefs, we are told that there is no salvation outside the Church.

Hell, to prove just how poor and backward we are, millions of Filipinos also admit that there is no salvation inside the government either. Indeed, there is only corruption both inside the church and inside the government. But then again, what can be expected of a theocracy always in cahoots with a democracy pretending to mutually solve our history of national insanity? Poch Suzara

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOSE RIZAL

Please be assured that there are those who are carrying on, somehow, what you can no longer do. We are a group composed of freethinkers, atheists, agnostics, humanists, and avid readers. We hope to continue the crusade you so bravely started a century ago. To liberate the Filipino mind from blind faith. Indeed, to banish the evil exploiters, executioners and liars out of our way of life. The evil called "Christianity" that was not only responsible for your death by public execution, but also entirely culpable for the strangulation of the search for truth, knowledge and wisdom for us as a people. Sir, I must sadly tell you that Christianity is the only thing that is a success in the Philippines. During your time, the Catholic friars shaped and controlled the destiny of the Filipino. Today, our country is controlled by the Catholic bishops and their political partners. There is no such thing as the power of God. There is only the power of the church, which maintains itself by teaching successive generations of impressionable Filipino students to embrace faith instead of science, reason and thought. Thus - via our schools, colleges, and universities - Christianity perpetuates the Filipino dream of the next life, whilst the priests and the politicians enjoy wealth, power, and glory in this life. We are taught by the millions to believe in sacred lies that only those biblically frightened would believe – that hours before you were executed – you retracted from your errors against Christianity and Masonry. Imagine Masonry. It was not even a religious organization or a revolutionary society. It was a humanitarian association dedicated to the liberation of mankind from being submerged in ignorance and slavery to progress in science and freedom. As a matter of fact, adherence to intellectual honesty and pursuit of veracity characterized you as a great man at home with scientific rationality. Indeed, you always struggled in the arena of ideas, using truth as your weapon, and reason as your shield. In the meantime, ours is not a system of education that encourages human intelligence. On the contrary, we are still stuck under a basic system of indoctrination that inspires social and moral and political decadence. Sir, you are the first intellectually courageous Filipino put to death by Christianity in the Philippines. It was due to your writings on the values of Filipino dignity, the beauty of a sane society, and love for humanity. You are the one and only great Filipino scientist-humanist-freethinker this country has ever produced. Instead of worshipping the saints of Christianity, for the sake of the good life – one inspired by love and guided by knowledge - we would rather love you, respect you, and admire you! Dearest Sir, Happy Birthday on June 19. Poch Suzara pocholosuzara@gmail.com