INTELLIGENT DESIGN IN NATURE? NO KIDDING?

The creationists continue to amaze me. Specially those who insists that if there were no Creator, there would be no “intelligent design in nature.” Let’s examine, with a healthy dose of imagination, the creationists’ proposition. I should submit at once that if there were intelligent design in nature, such designs are as intelligent as the hairstyle of the evangelists preaching sacred lies on television. Let’s briefly explore “intelligent design” in the cosmos. How intelligent is it that everything out there, billions of galaxies are existing too far away from each other and traveling and getting farther every second away from each other? How are we to travel to the other planets and stars? Even nearby Andromeda, the closest galaxy to our Milky Way, is 2.2 million light years away (a light year is about trillion miles). One heck of a long and boring journey. Our own solar system, while relatively compact, is still a traveler’s nightmare. It takes our fastest probes years to reach the outer planets, and once we get there, we find not angelic nor demonic spacemen, but only find frozen rocks or giant balls of gas. The point is: design implies a designer; but more than that, design implies purpose. It’s hard enough to prove that the universe was designed by a designer. What’s even impossible to prove is that the existence of the universe has a purpose. The inner planets are almost as inhospitable. Mars is a dead, airless, dry, and frigid planet. One day, however, with scientific intelligence, Mars will probably be terraformed to make it habitable for humans. Venus is caught in an endless loop of a runaway greenhouse effect. Mercury’s surface temperature is over 450 degrees Celsius. Earth is our only home and we have yet to learn to love our home planet earth. But thanks to our conflicting religious beliefs, we only love God in heaven up there by hating one another down here on earth. Now comes the major premise of intelligent design - that life, specially, human life, is too complex to have just happened. If the creator had power, wisdom, and knowledge, it was shown by his creation of man. Unfortunately, we came not from among the best blueprint. In fact the creator failed to look at His master plan before starting work. Look at the facts. First, if we admit the desirable aspects of nature as products of design, we must also admit the undesirable aspects of nature as products of design. After Adam and Eve, who was the designer who designed the Talking Serpent who caused the Fall of Adam and Eve? Oh well, let’s leave that behind. Now there’s the problem of sexual reproduction. Requiring two people to make babies is so inefficient, painful and messy. Sexual reproduction breeds not only children, but also contempt. The male contribution to the process of making babies is so insignificant. It is accomplished in just a few seconds. The female then spends the next nine months in discomfort waiting the birth. The male, on the other hand, gets on with his life bragging about his God-given erectability. Now if the creator were an intelligent designer, Why would he just take a rib off Adam to design an Eve? Now look at babies born into this world. They come out of mother’s womb wet, hungry, crying, and indeed, as unbelievers of the faith. None of the baby boys born have one less rib than the baby girls. Now if circumcision were important to the creator, why did he put that extra foreskin in the boy’s genital to begin with? Sounds unintelligent to me. But then again, why couldn’t the creator designed the human stomach exactly like that of the Boa Constrictor, ( in order to survive, that snake needs only one full meal a month ). In this way, with a better designed stomach - the 800,000,000 women and children throughout the world need not go to sleep hungry every night. Next comes the fact that we are bipedal. That means when we are young we fall down a lot. And when we are old we fall down a lot. The other day, my best friend, who is neither young or old, but a devout Christian, fell down from bed and painfully broke his leg. And it wasn’t even his God-fearing wife who was with him in bed. Man is intelligently designed? How come we can’t breath water? Is that important? Think about it – what creator would make us so we can only breath oxygen, then puts us on a planet which is 78% water? Hello? Anybody home out there? The creator gave us a useless organ like the appendix, but couldn’t afford to throw in fins and gills as part of our physical nature so that we may live deep in the sea as well. All knowing and powerful, indeed. We are intelligently designed? From caducity to senility, we get sick, grow bald, get fat, lose our sense of hearing, teeth fall out, skin sag, bones become brittle, sexual performance fades, vision fails, arteries clog, senses become dull, memory becomes unreliable. Children are born ignorant in that the priesthood industry takes advantage of the situation by making it even more ignorant for the glory of God in heaven. Really, how so intelligent a design is the human body? Is it really a sacred temple of God? But the human body is also the happy home of some 2 billion germs, viruses, bacteria and other nasty little monsters trying hard everyday to kill vital human organs always at war against the human immune system. In the long run, however, as in cancer, a group of these little monsters engages in a career of imperialism, and in bringing the rest of the human body to death, these little monsters would decree its own death too. Most obviously the argument against intelligent design is the fact that we have a free will. We experiment. We observe. We discover. We think. We theorize. We disagree. We quarrel. We extrapolate. We make war against each other. If humans were the result of a master plan, the creator could have made us gifted not with a free will, but only with a good will. In this way, we need not doubt the existence of a creator or doubt the claims of his inspired writers of the bible. We could then learn to live peacefully and intelligently together as one big happy family exploring deeper the wonders in nature of which we not apart, but precisely a part of nature. In the final analysis, intelligent design is an argument from ignorance. It is equivalent to the “true or false” or “none of the above” test category. Intelligent design is a sophisticated way of admitting “I don’t know.” It is like asking: who designed the “turtle’s shell?” “I don’t know.” “You don’t know.” “Therefore we both know that the creator designed the turtle’s shell.” Indeed, an intellectually honest person, when confronted with something he knows nothing about, will admit at once that he knows nothing about it. In the meantime, in order to conclude that an object was designed, we must first establish that it was manufactured. Therefore, in order to conclude that the natural universe was designed, we must first establish that it was manufactured by an intelligent manufacturer. Nobody is perfect; but however scientifically well-informed many of us have become, the creationists would still insists that we all came from dust and unto dust we shall all return. But really, if the Creator made man in his own image and likeness, it follows that the Creator too is made of dust. Now, isn’t it rather silly to pray to a Creator who is made of dust to save our silly souls that’s made of dust too? Poch Suzara

Supernatural Light

Jesus said: “I have come as a light into the world, that whoever believes in me should not abide in darkness.” John 12:46

Oh Jesus, my dear Jesus, why all the drama? If you were a bright radiant luminous light yourself, darkness in the land of your birth yesterday need no longer continue to be in darkness today! Poch Suzara

As an Atheist

I have no access to radio, television, newspaper, and magazine – all are owned and control by the theists.

I have no access to express my views in the schools, colleges, and universities – all are owned and controlled by the theists.

I have no access getting into politics because if I admit my atheism I am automatically disqualified. Indeed, belief in God is mandatory in order win a government position.

I have no access to speak in the halls of Congress or in the Senate or even to speak to the General Assembly of the UN – all are under the eyes and ears of the theists.

I have no access to express my views to my friends, relatives, and associates as they have virtually banned me from their premises.

And yet, via the internet, as I am able to expound a bit of the views of an atheist, it is immediately branded as “atheistic propaganda.”

Well, Bertrand Russell, always on my side, summarized it for all of you: The love of “knowledge is very much more often useful than harmful and the fear of knowledge is very much more often harmful than useful.” Poch Suzara

The Religiously Ignorant

The religiously ignorant are so impressed with these words written in the bible:

“Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” Matt 16. 18-19.

Thus, the Catholic church is founded on Peter whom, four verses later, Jesus openly calls Satan.

“But he turned, and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence unto me.” Matt.16:23

Well, according to the bible itself, if the Catholic church is founded on Peter, it is founded on Satan – a fact I have long suspected ever since I was first year high school (1952) at De La Salle University. Poch Suzara

On Death

Death is the experience of nothing. Paradoxically, nobody dies of nothing. We all got to die of something.

The so-called near-death-experience is a not local, but a universal – hogwash. In fact, near-death experience is an occurrence by each and every one of us on a daily basis. Consider the day we are born, it is the day we also begin to experience dying.

Now I am told that in my death-bed, I will change and beg God to forgive my sins? I say: No way will I do such a thing! Over my dead body. I’d rather kill myself first.

No doubt, we all have talent for self-deception. Especially when our emotions are stirred and there are few notions more stirring than the idea that there is a better world to come after death. I ask: isn’t it better if there were a better world to create after birth rather than just believe that there is a better world to come after death?
Indeed, the very word afterlife is contradictory? How could there be a life after death when there is no such thing as a life before birth? What really is being suggested here is that life never ends and the first part of a human life takes place in a body and then that's disposed of but we somehow go on living with a soul. What a crock of superstitious crockery. It is all so childish as a belief and so infantile as a value unworthy of self-respect and human dignity.

In the meantime, I am indeed, dying and while I am at it beyond my control, I am living, thinking, learning, questioning, and thought-provoking.

The rest of my friends, relatives, associates, classmates, and schoolmates are doing nothing too but simply just dying too. It is nature's decree - the day we are born is the day we begin to live in a dying body.

Well, I asked it before, I ask it again: Why should we not try to leave this world a better place than we found it? Not for the sake of a sick divinity, but precisely with a healthy sense for humanity? Poch Suzara



Poch Suzara

Oh, Jesus

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have life everlasting.” John 3:16 This is the same Son of God Jesus, in Matthew 18:3 who said, “Verily, I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.” Well, it looks like Jesus himself never grew up. He was also an abused child. Crucified on the cross, he cried out loud: “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” Too frightened while crucified on the cross, Jesus could hardly hear the voice of God who said: “I help only those who help themselves.” And to think that in the Sermon of the Mount this is the same Jesus who exhorts the multitude: “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.” Matt. 5:48 For my part, I thank God I was an atheist when I arrived into this world and will be an atheist when I depart dead out of this world. In the meantime, I have no fear of death because I have already experienced death for billions of years before I existed on this earth. Poch Suzara

Please Read Your Bible

My atheism comes from reading and studying the bible. What about you dear reader? What do you really know about the incredible foundation of your religious beliefs that make for our sick society? I am not asking you to ignore, on the contrary, I am begging you to read and to study your own book.

Indeed, no other book has done more harm to the Filipino as a people and to the Philippines as a nation than the destructive messages written in the bible.

Take, as an example: “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not with him.” John 2:15. Or, “Repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Matt 3:1.. Or, “Take no thought for your life or for the morrow…” Matt. 6:24-35. Or, “Jesus prepares a special place for believers in heaven.” Thess 4:13-18

We Filipinos hardly know that the preachers of these messages have ended up not only as the owners of the Vatican Bank – the richest and the most powerful bank in the world today, but also the owners of the Philippines especially as it is a religious banana Republic. Poch Suzara

Nature

My dear reader, nature will kill you one day. At my age of 72, however, I am sure nature will kill me first ahead of you.

Nature is cruel. It is apathetic. Indifferent to the plight of humanity. Nature is devoid of love and bereft of compassion. Millions upon millions of people nevertheless do not call it nature. They prefer to call it God. In fact, they believe the cruelty in nature is really the will of God. They are the religious morons of this world. They have neither the inclination nor the fascination to study nature, like the scientists are doing, exploring the possibilities in how nature, like a wild animal, can be tamed to behave not recklessly, but friendly and harmoniously.

Perhaps, I may not be on this earth when that day comes. But science will one day will make longevity a matter of lasting creativity. Science will conquer death. Indeed, immortality of the human body will be one day soon a reality. I hope for that day to come soon. Especially as it will finally mean the death and burial of silly theology in a Catholic cemetery. Poch Suzara

Hope for the Philippines

We are told that as long as there is life, there is hope. Unfortunately, since we are already dead spiritually as a people, and, already dead intellectually as a nation - how can there be hope for the Philippines? We are, indeed, a hopeless country due to our hopeless system of education. Look how in this already 21st century, our educators are still pretty much concerned not with science shortage, the scientific way of thinking shortage, or technology learning shortage, but only stupid classroom shortage. As if the development of the Filipino minds and hearts can be the result from stupid classrooms! We Filipinos are the Sick Man of Asia. For us Filipinos, there could only be more of the same - more of the same prayers to forgive our sins against divinity and to forgive our crimes against our own country and - all for the glory of Christianity in the Philippines. Poch Suzara

Think of It

The great religions of the world, especially Christianity, Judaism, and Islam have enemies. No, not only the animosity of one against the other. The enemy is religion itself. This is due to faith in a local divinity that spreads stupidity globally.

To think that after all of these past thousands of years of God here, and God there, and God everywhere - the world today is still in a spiritual mess, still in a moral mess, and still in a religious mess. Especially due to fear hear, ignorance there, and human stupidity on the march everywhere. Poch Suzara

The Atheists

Unlike the Christians, the Muslims, and the Jews who have not ceased hating and killing each other – we atheists have no fixed or dogmatic faith. We atheists do not hate or kill other atheists for not believing in God. Indeed, we atheists do not kill people. With the power of reason we would rather kill mindless arguments or thoughtless testaments.

In the meantime, to encourage false beliefs and to protect them by discouraging, if not prohibiting, honest discussions and free inquiry may well be the road towards social sanity. Those who assume that some beliefs, even if false, are necessary to preserve morality have an infantile notion of morality.

For social cohesion morality is best when it is based upon the veracity of reality. It is worthless as it is based upon fantasy to please a divinity so at home with mendacity. Poch Suzara

Bertrand Russell – the Atheist

I am told that as the Head of the Bertrand Russell society of the Philippines, Russell must be turning over in his grave bothered by my logical inconsistencies and mathematical inefficiencies. I am duly flattered. However, after he died, Russell was not buried in a grave. He was cremated. His ashes were scattered over Welsh hills. I hope the Lord in heaven will not have a hard time resurrecting the ashes of Bertrand Russell during Judgment Day.

Russell was a man of enormous intellect. A rare genius. He deeply understood the power of creative thought. Indeed, there is neither logic nor mathematics in creative thought. Creativity makes its own rules. Genius transcends them. Russell shook the foundation of mathematics by reducing it into logic and showed how little logic can do especially in the search of the truth.

Russell was one of the founders of the computer age. In human affairs, he had the stature and the voice to speak up. Towards the end of his life, Russell became a world figure for global sanity, especially for the young. They read his books, listened to his broadcasts on radio and saw him on television. Russell helped set the tone for future protests and encouraged young people to challenge entrenched political and social ideologies. He had no respect for authority and encouraged everyone to share in his distrust of conventional politics and politicians. And for this alone many people will remain forever grateful. Especially this high-school dropout from De La Salle University in the Philippines.

Years before his death, atheist Russell wrote: “I may have thought the road to a world of free and happy human beings shorter than it is proving to be. . . Nevertheless, many (of us) still share the pursuit of a vision, both personal and social. Personal: to care for what is noble, for what is beautiful, for what is gentle: to allow moments of insights to give wisdom at more mundane times. Social: to see in imagination a society that is to be created, where individuals grow freely and where hate and greed and envy die because there is nothing to nourish them.” Poch Suzara

What is God’s Role

Who should we blame for all the troubles and problems of our world – the United Nations? But then again, when she was founded and then established, the Vatican State eventually became a member of the United Nations. God did bless the United Nations, didn’t He? So, what’s God’s almighty role in our world to begin with? Poch Suzara

Inspired Authors of God

In the ancient world they were called soothsayers, seers, charmers, shaman, prophets, enchanters, sorcerers, wizards, astrologers, medicine man, astrologers, channelers, imposters, magicians, barbarians, and the primitives.

In the modern world, they are called preachers, evangelists, clergymen, Opus Dei, Couples for Christ, El Shaddai preachers, bigots, hypocrites, Jesuits, Christian Brothers, Dominican priests, Franciscan bishops, cardinals, and pope.

They all share something in common together: They are precisely the kind of men that God would readily inspire to be the writers of the Holy Bible. Poch Suzara

Prayer of an Atheist

Oh God, my dear God, – you do not have to forgive me. I know what I am doing. I also know exactly where I am going. If, however, I am to meet with you after death, I hope you will be together with your friend and associate - Satan. I really would like to meet and give you and Satan a few suggestions on how to be more intelligent and constructive rather than continue to be mutually insane and destructive especially in this world of ours. To begin with, I’d like to suggest that you both need not forever be like the supernatural Saps you both are still so eager to win more silly human souls for yourselves. Why are you still in desperate need for human souls? Haven’t you already won billions upon billions of silly souls for yourselves during these past centuries. Really, my dear God, my dear Satan, I ask: – what’s the big deal about the human souls that you both have not ceased needing them with since the days when the Talking Serpent fucked the souls Adam and Eve to death, huh? Poch Suzara Twitter# Facebook# Google#

Likeness of God

If God made man in His own image and likeness, how come man is not a spirit, like an invisible God? Indeed, if God were a spirit and an invisible being, how did the theologians arrive at the silly conclusion that an invisible God make man in his own visible image and likeness? Oh well, what can one really expect from the subject of theology which is the study of the invisible nothing? Poch Suzara

George H. Smith

In his book – ATHEISM - THE CASE AGAINST GOD, Smith wrote: ”Just as Christianity must destroy reason before it can introduce faith, so it must destroy happiness before it can introduce salvation. It is not accidental that Christianity is profoundly anti-pleasure especially in the area of sex. Pleasure is the fuel of life, and sexual pleasure is the most intense form of pleasure that man can experience. To deny oneself pleasure, or to convince oneself that pleasure is evil, is to introduce frustration and anxiety and thereby become potential material for salvation.” Well, for my part, thanks to atheism, I duly discovered that it is better to select rather than avoid pleasures in life. The noblest of pleasures, indeed, is the joy of understanding through free inquiry. Poch Suzara

Multiply and Replenish

We faithfully follow God’s word about multiplying and replenishing the earth. We Filipinos are busy making babies (and busy at praying too, of course). We produce 3 babies a minute or 1.8 million babies yearly in the Philippines. If you haven't had at least 4 to 7 kids yourself, you're just not going to make it to Heaven with God. Sorry, but God needs more Filipinos to love, worship, and adore him, given that his ego (and insecurity) is unstable, nay, insatiable. Never mind that under this plan, after a few more years, there won't be any room left on our land for Filipinos to be standing on. We can just stand on each other’s shoulders. This is fine and dandy. We can still make babies standing up -- in the missionary position, of course.

It's a good thing, too, about all that food that God provides us to eat. We'll need it. Eventually, though when we run out of rice, fish, pork, and beef, we can always eat the unbelievers like the pocholos and other heretics who just won't believe the myths no matter how much they're coerced or tortured or expelled out of high school. Those little bits of Christ's body and blood they serve in church on Sunday will just be a cannibalistic hors d'oeuvre. The main course will be atheist poch kabob--cooked on a spit, or perhaps slow roasted secular humanist or freethinker. Our Christian brothers during the Dark Age in Europe already perfected the technology of burning people at the stake. Doing it for a meal will take on an even deeper religious significance as a wholesome and nutritious family values bonding experience for Pinoys and Pinays and their legitimate as well as illegitimate sons and daughters. Poch Suzara

Thanks to Christianity

Thanks to Christianity and its teachings since the 16th century, we Filipinos look forward only to that better world to come after death with God in heaven. The price we pay for such biblical messages is much too dear: The mindless surrender of our pride as a people and the thoughtless mutilation of our intellect as a nation.

Look how during these past centuries under Christian values and beliefs – we Filipinos have learned to love not our country, have learned to love not fellow-Filipinos. We have no sense of common Filipino decency. No sense of growth as a people, and no sense of development as a nation. We have no sense of evolution. We are more into revelation. No sense of law and order. No sense of health, hygiene, and sanitation. No sense of national honor. No sense of direction as a people. We are rudderless as a nation. We have no sense of the good life – one inspired by love and guided by knowledge.

Why should we? Since we believe there is a better world to come after death anyway. Why should we bother with our health as a people and with our natural resources as a nation? We have been told to believe that such things are low, and depraved, and unworthy as they are especially in the eyes of God? We are told that this world is but a stopover on our journey to the next better world. Therefore the less attention placed on living the good and sane life and the more attention placed on God’s kingdom in heaven, the better.

The trouble of Filipinos in this country is caused by superstition. The problem of Filipinos in this country is caused by religion. Indeed, both religion and superstition encourages irresponsibility and an insufficient sense of reality enough to make us the Sick Man of Asia permanently

We Filipinos have yet to realize that knowledge is no mere argument or ornament. Knowledge is power. Knowledge is not an opinion to be held, but work to be done. Sadly, however, our children in schools, colleges, and universities are still being taught how to have more faith in a divinity up there. Never mind putting attention to our sense for common human decency down here. Poch Suzara

On The Uses of Philosophy by Will Durant

ON THE USES OF PHILOSOPHY by Will Durant After Bertrand Russell, here’s another Historian/Philosopher who got to be another of my greatest of teachers in my home library who I also learned to love, respect, and admire - Will Durant. . . If Will Durant were among my teachers in grade school and high school, never, would I have ever played hooky, or skipped classes, or engineered my own expulsion out of La Salle. I would have stayed on to creatively acquire all sorts of college degrees. It is incredible; but if I had not been expelled out of school premises at the age of 15, I never would have discovered Philosopher/Historian like Will Durant. Here, in his STORY OF PHILOSOPHY – are his introductory remarks - On the Uses of Philosophy: "There is a pleasure in philosophy and a lure even in the mirages of metaphysics, which every student feels until the coarse necessities of physical existence drag him from the heights of thought into the mart of economic strife and gain. Most of us have known some golden days in the June of life when philosophy was in fact what Plato calls it, "that dear delight;" when the love of a modestly elusive truth seemed more glorious – incomparably -- than the lust for the ways of the flesh and the dross of the world. And there is always some wistful remnant in us of that early wooing of wisdom. "Life has meaning," we feel with Browning. "To find its meaning is my meat and drink." So much of our lives is meaningless, a self-canceling vacillation and futility. We strive with the chaos about and within, but we should believe all the while that there is something vital and significant in us, could we but decipher our own souls. We want to understand. "Life means for us constantly to transform into light and flame all that we are or meet with!" We are like Mitya in The Brothers Karamazov -- "one of those who don't want millions, but an answer to their questions." We want to seize the value and perspective of passing things and so to pull ourselves up out of the maelstrom of daily circumstance. We want to know that the little things are little, and the things big, before it is too late. We want to see things now as they will seem forever -- "in the light of eternity." We want to learn to laugh in the face of the inevitable, to smile even at the looming of death. We want to be whole, to coordinate our energies by harmonizing our desires, for coordinated energy is the last word in ethics and politics -- and perhaps in logic and metaphysics, too. "To be a philosopher," said Thoreau, "is not merely to have subtle thoughts, or even to found a school, but so to love wisdom as to live, according to its dictates, a life of simplicity, independence, magnanimity and trust." We may be sure that if we can but find wisdom, all things else will be added unto us. "Seek ye first the good things of the mind," Bacon admonishes us, "and the rest will either be supplied, or its loss will not be felt." Truth will not make us rich, but it will make us free." - Poch Suzara Google# Facebook# Twitter# To think that it was Will Durant who introduced me to Bertrand Russell. The philosopher/mathematician/logician already world famous. It was never my teachers in school, but Bertrand Russell who inspired in me to seriously look into the great achievements of great men and women who had the ultimate courage, a power of creating beauty into this world where nature has put only horrors. Poch Suzara Twitter# Facebook# Google#

Unwanted Pregnancies

There are 70 million to 80 million unwanted pregnancies annually, the United Nations says, along with 19 million abortions and 150,000 maternal deaths. Indeed, for as long as women of our world are taught to believe that there is a God out there who will provide – needless unwanted pregnancies and abortions and maternal deaths will continue to prove that divine grace for the human race is really nothing but a global disgrace. Poch Suzara

Fooling Around

I stopped fooling around with women a long time ago. Fooling women during my younger days proved nothing but the perversity of virility, if not the mediocrity of masculinity.

In recent years, however, I found something much more challenging to be fooling around with. Indeed, I daily enjoy fooling around with Christianity. She is so indecent as a mystery, so childish in mendacity, so gross in hypocrisy, always promoting fear of divinity, and never-ending in her tradition to support misery and to maintain poverty. Especially against the creation of a healthy society for the sake of promoting common human decency. Poch Suzara

Talking Serpent

Where did the Talking Serpent come from? Who inspired it to play a leading role in the Fall of Man in the Garden of Eden? On which day of the six days was the Talking Serpent created? After God made the beast of the earth of his kind. . . and God saw that, “it was good.” It was good how and for whom? Poch Suzara

Clarence Darrow

Clarence Darrow wrote: "In spite of all the yearnings of men, no one can produce a single fact or reason to support the belief in god and in personal immortality."

Yes, I quite agree. That is why, for a great many years busy writing, I have not ceased reminding my readers that infinity and stupidity are one and the same perversity. Except that stupidity is way way ahead of infinity. Poch Suzara

Darwin's Evolution

You got to give credit to Philippine politics. It has proved Darwin wrong. There is no such thing as evolution in the Philippine government. What it was last century, it is still the same rotten government run by corrupt government officials in this century.

Perhaps, there is an exception. There is, in fact, evolution in this only Christian country in Asia. Last century we Filipinos enjoyed national delusion. This century, however, there is an evolutionary improvement: we Filipinos are now enjoying national confusion. Poch Suzara

Peter’s Rock

“And I say unto thee also, that thou art Peter and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” Matt 16:18

In the meantime, if there were no hell, there would be no need to build a church. Poch Suzara

Asian Countries

Other Asian countries are way ahead of the Philippines. Especially in the race for higher standard of living and thinking. It is mainly due to the power of science, the scientific way of thinking, and technology. They have nothing to do with maintaining or sustaining traditional dross.

The Philippines, however, has been left behind. It is still stuck in the race due to the power of prayer and theology that have mostly to do with the way of the cross. Poch Suzara

This World, Our World

My friends and relatives want me to go back to church. Be a repentant Catholic, and believe once again in the existence of God. Well, ok. Here, however, are my conditions:

I need meaningful miracles. I need from God an annual report as to the well-being or, as the case may be, - the ill-being of my dead loved ones, dead closed friends, and my dead great mentors. I need to know how happy are they in heaven or, as the case may be, how unhappy are they in hell. After I get this report, I should be proud once more to believe a God in heaven and to believe in the existence of a devil in hell.

Now if my conditions were not possible to meet, then just point out to me where exactly is it mentioned in the bible that God is a Catholic, and I will go back to being a faithful Catholic once again.

Otherwise, as an atheist, I shall only continue to embrace the most decent of my goals in this life - to leave this world one day a better place than I found it or there is very little reason for my having lived. Poch Suzara

Religious Friends

My religious friends get angry at me each time I challenge them to seriously read the bible for themselves. However, when I point out to tem religious garbage, If not ecclesiastical trash written in the bible - they get angrier at me.

In the meantime, there are a lot of Jews still existing today. They are same Jews mentioned in almost every page in the bible. Now there are also a billion Catholics existing in the world today. But where are they recorded or reported in the bible? Even Jesus was not a Catholic. He was a Jew – born and raised by Jewish parents living in a Jewish culture in a Jewish land that is still Jewish today. Poch Suzara

Poverty and Population

We are told that poverty in our country is not due to population growth, but due to corruption. No doubt, it is. Corruption of the worst kind: the corruption of self-respect as a people and the corruption of dignity as a nation. Indeed, in our corrupt society, we are not poor because we are corrupt; on the contrary, we are corrupt because we are poor. Via our schools, colleges, and universities we are taught to believe that contraception inside marriage is a sin. Outside marriage, it is immoral. What is not a sin or immoral, however, is to be vocal about the rights of the unborn for as long as one is silent and indifferent to their plight as soon as they are born. In the United States, abortion is legal. In the Philippines, abortion is a crime. But we consider ourselves good and faithful Christians. We do not abort. Instead, we allow babies to be born, we give them a fighting chance, and then kill them with poverty, filth, malnutrition, lack of hygiene and sanitation. In this God-forsaken only Christian country in Asia, we produce 3 babies every minute according to government statistics. That adds up to 180 babies born every hour; 4,320 babies born every day; 126,900 babies born every month; or, 1,522,800 babies are born yearly. Allowing for 20 per cent mortality birthrate, those are still impressive figures. What is even more impressive, however, is that the majority of those babies born under the horrors of religious nonsense will have no purpose in life except that when they are old enough, they too will multiply and replenish the Filipino for the glory of Christianity in the Philippines. Pro-lifers are so proud to teach God’s commandments in this country; especially the fourth - honor thy mother and thy father – to children even those living under subhuman conditions in the streets of our major cities. As if strength of character, or a high I.Q. is a requirement to bring forth children into our sick society. Yet the physical position that a man and a woman must assume in order to increase the human population has got to be one of the ridiculous positions assumed by would-be mothers and fathers. Honor is not something given. It is deserved and earned. In the meantime, since the 16th century, we Filipinos have been carrying Christianity on our backs. We are bent and twisted and crippled by its weight. We love only God up there. For the sake of gaining that better world to come in the next life, we must hate not only life but also hate one another down here. And that, my dear reader, is what poverty is all about in this already 21st century Philippines. Poch Suzara

Hereafter

Hundreds of millions, nay, billions have been frightened to believe that there is a better world to come after death. We can see the deadly results of what such stupid beliefs have done to our planet earth.

For crimes and brazen lies against humanity, If I had my way, I would have all the insane religious leaders arrested, tried in court, and then jailed. For two thousand years – the great religions, instead of civilizing, they have only been preparing us for that next life in that so-called next world to come. Indeed, instead of increasing better qualities of life in the here and now, the great religions have only been augmenting the worse – cruelty, greed, selfishness, corruption, fear, hate, war, stupidity, and insanity. Poch Suzara

The Holy Bible

Bible contents are recycled myths. It is not only essential that you throw your bible out the window. It is even more sensible that you cease to believe in the existence of supernatural beings. Indeed, they do not exist. If, however, they do exist – they are not worth believing. After all, supernatural beings have never introduced themselves to any one of us. We don’t even know if such beings are bright, radiant, shinning, or luminous.

We do know, however, that if God exists, he is existing as a black supernatural Being existing in pitch darkness. He had to create the sun to light up the gloomy darkness around Him, didn’t He? Poch Suzara

Money - the Root of All Evil

St. Paul wrote a letter to a young Christian, and said that the root of all evil is the love of money. (I Timothy 6:10).

This is an amazing claim since we know that there are rich people who made money for the love God. In fact, for the glory of God up there, rich people have their monies deposited in the Vatican bank – one of the richest and the most evil of banks in the world today. Poch Suzara

Why more Believers

There are, indeed, more believers than there are unbelievers existing in our sick society. The reason for this anomaly is due to a simple fact: - only the unbelievers bother to read the bible from cover to cover. Millions of believers do not care to read as they are afraid to read the bible as a whole book. Isaac Asimov said: “Properly read, the bible is the most potent force for atheism ever conceived.” Indeed, in this only Christian-God-forsaken country in Asia – millions of believers have no idea whatsoever what’s actually written in the bible. They are just told that if they should begin to doubt that the bible is God’s word – then there is eternal punishment in hellfire created for them after death. As for me, an atheist, I would rather be unhappy burning in hell with the truth than be happy in heaven with lies and deception. Thus last 3 words in my death-bed will be: fuck the bible! Poch Suzara

Only In the Philippines

A high school expelled student of decades ago is able to rattle up the religious complacency of college educated men and women in this God-forsaken only Christian country in Asia since the 16th century.

There is really nothing special about this already senior citizen today except that when he got expelled out of high school years ago, he enrolled as he is still enroll as a student in the greatest of all universities – it is but a collection of books. He had never ceased to question everything. His mind moves not on hinges, but on wheels – always willing to think - the very reason why, at the age of 15, during First Year high school, for being a bad influence to his classmates, he was thrown out of De la Salle University. He is, yours truly, Poch Suzara

My Low I.Q.

I deeply regret that nature gifted me with only ½ of 1 percent of the logical capacity and mathematical capability of a Bertrand Russell. Nevertheless, I am so grateful. Bertrand Russell saved not my silly soul, but educated, instead, my precious mind. Especially to habitually think. Indeed, Bertrand Russell even encouraged me to question his 98 years of voluminous work and variegated accomplishments. After devoting most of his life in the search of the truth, he was honest enough to have concluded: “All human knowledge is uncertain, inexact, and partial.”

Bertrand Russell was honest when he was wrong. He was honest when he was right. He was even more honest when he did not know. I love Bertrand Russell – he inspired in me to explore the good life – one inspired by love and guided by knowledge. Poch Suzara

Where is Melchisedec Today

For this Melchisedec, king of Salem, priest of the most high God, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings, and blessed him; To whom also Abraham gave a tenth part of all; first being by interpretation King of righteousness, and after that also King of Salem, which is, King of peace; Without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days, nor end of life; but made like unto the Son of God; abideth a priest continually. Hebrews 7:5 A lot of my friends and relatives and associates are horrified by my atheism. Well, I should be willing to flush my atheism down the tube if any of you can show me the whereabouts of Melchisedec. Obviously he is God living as a priest somewhere on this earth today. But where? which country? Do any of you know? I’d like to meet and ask Melchisedec a great many questions! I’d like to learn from his vast knowledge and experiences in life. Poch Suzara Twitter# Facebook# Google#

Misleading the World

Most men of wealth, power, and glory are not leading, but are misleading the world into becoming a messier place. It is so glaringly obvious, if not alarmingly transparent in recent decades in America - not the land of the free or the home of the brave, but a nation of the greedy, the selfish, the criminal, and the insane. Indeed, we Americans have yet to learn how to exist in peace and harmony with the rest of the world in dire need for reconstruction, not destruction. Poch Suzara

Insane Religion

If you were a sinner and found yourself in heaven, God will see to it that you will be painfully punished forever and ever.

If, however, as a sinner you found yourself down in hell, Satan will be most happy to welcome and reward you forever and ever for a job well done.

And that, my dear reader, is just how insane the basis of our religion has been founded since the birth, death, resurrection, and the Second Coming of Jesus – the Jewish Son of God, the Jewish Prince of peace, the Jewish Savior and the Jewish Light of the world. Poch Suzara

Religion

Religion is God’s failure on earth. Consider, in this already 21st century. We are still into praying daily to God to give us this day our daily bread, and to lead us not into temptation; and we are also still praying to Mary, the Mother of God, to pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death, amen.

If religion were already a success on this earth, no one need waste any more time and energy praying to Mary, the Mother of God to pray for us sinners. As if Mary could not tell her Son off about the silly horrors still repeated again and again in this God-forsaken world of ours. Poch Suzara

Broken Record

Religion is God’s failure on earth. Consider, in this already 21st century. We are still into praying daily to God to give us this day our daily bread, and to lead us not into temptation; and we are also still praying to Mary, the Mother of God, to pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death, amen.
If religion were already a success on this earth, no one need waste any more time and energy praying to Mary, the Mother of God to pray for us sinners. As if Mary could not tell her Son off about the silly horrors still repeating and repeating like a broken record in this God-forsaken world of ours. Poch Suzara

The Bored and the Restless

The bored and the restless love to pretend that they busy doing something. They are, in fact, accomplishing nothing and always running away from everything. They are more into acquiring the symbols of wealth instead of cultivating mental health which is the greatest of wealth. They love to feel the excitement of killing time. Hardly do they realize, however, that time is already killing them.

In the meantime, the bored and the restless have yet to appreciate Socrates, the Greek philosopher. More than three thousand years ago, he said: “The un-examined life is not worth living for man. I love Socrates. He cared for the future of man who will one day venture and explore the galaxies. Poch Suzara

Supernatural Dust

The bible says: – “dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.” Gen 3:1

Well, if God made man in his image and likeness, then God must be made of dust too. Now, do you religious morons really believe in the existence of a supernatural Dust? Poch Suzara

42 Daily Newspapers

There are 42 daily newspapers in the Philippines today. Each one praying daily to win over readership of approximately 9 million readers from a population of 90 million Filipinos. Too bad for the print media we are not a nation of active intelligent readers. We are more into passive silly prayers.

In the meantime, there is much evil in Philippines journalism. By giving readers the views or opinions of the superstitious, if not the religious, the media keeps us in touch with historical fears and traditional ignorance keeping our country perpetually poor and eternally backward. Poch Suzara

War

War is a friend of the rich, not the poor. After all, war is big business. In war, the few rich get richer and ahead. The many poor, however, get poorer and dead.

It is time for the world to stop the war business. International disputes should be settled not with ammunition, but with the illumination that precisely established the United Nations. Poch Suzara

Logic and Mathematics are one and the Same Animal

Logic has become mathematical and mathematics has become logical with the slight difference that does not matter except Bertrand Russell as he discovered the fact a century ago. In fact, according to Russell, the two are one. They differ as boy and man: logic is the youth of mathematics and mathematics is the manhood of logic. Though he never knew it, Russell was one of the logical mathematicians who fathered the computer industry. It is incredible how the religious morons are utilizing their computer machine to spread the Word of God. For my part, I love, worship, and adore Bertrand Russell. He encouraged me to get involved with the power of creative thought. Even if there were little logic or mathematics in the activity for creativity. Indeed, there are no rules, no equations, no measurements for creative thinking. There is only the beauty and the reliability and the efficiency of questioning everything. Poch Suzara Twitter# Facebook# Google#

Philippine Progress

If we Filipinos want sane growth as a people and healthy development as a nation – the first thing we must do is to keep our sick politicians and our sick theologians out of it. If there is anything that keeps the Filipino sick as a people, it is due to the lies and deception from our sick church officials. And if there is anything that keeps the Philippines sick as a nation, it is due to our sick government officials. Oh well, it is hard to blame these sick men and women. After all, they all share something in common: they all have acquired a college diploma. Poch Suzara

Christian Welfare Agencies

Christianity has done charitable work for the poor, but never, as it ever, in all of its history, has done anything at all to get rid of poverty, totally, out of our sick society. Christianity could never be serious in alleviating poverty because, to begin with, she has a vested interest in human misery and suffering otherwise euphemized as “sacrifices.” For all of its alleged concern for the “poor in spirit,” Christianity has been in no field of hypocrisy more shameless – proud of her great success in promoting spiritual poverty in tandem with moral bankruptcy as a way to control the Filipino minds and hearts in the Philippines since the 16th century.

In the meantime, in our sick society, everybody is impressed with the aims and goals of the Christian welfare charity organizations. Especially as such organizations are getting richer while the poor they are helping are getting poorer and increasing in great numbers. Thanks to the business of “mercy” as inspired by the priesthood industry. It is never really interested to remedy, permanently, poverty but only to seek popularity and indeed more money. The Christian welfare agencies have no qualms about our needless population growth especially as it is forcing a fantastic rise in malnutrition, illiteracy, and indignities. In fact, what we are told to believe is that what is important in the end is to please a divinity up there even if it means degrading humanity down here. Acts of charity in this country? Most are about gross hypocrisy wrapped in Christian piety benefiting not human society but only the priesthood industry. Poch Suzara

Religions

If religions were fundamentally silly, why is it that so many millions of people have a religion to believe in?

Here, however, is a deeper question: If religion was necessary to all men, why is it not equally intelligible to all men? Indeed, why must we all love God up there but only by hating one another down here? Nay, here’s more: if religion were the most serious of matter in human existence, why is the subject of religion the least we judiciously examine or, for that matter, critically discover for ourselves? Poch Suzara

Atheist/Scientist Carl Sagan

Listen to these words of this famous atheist/scientist – the late Carl Sagan. In his best-seller book COSMOS, he wrote: “Was there a tiny universe, devoid of all matter, and then the matter suddenly created from nothing? How does that happen? In many cultures it is customary to answer that God created the universe out of nothing. But this is mere temporizing. If we wish to courageously pursue the question, we must, of course ask next where did God come from? And if we decide this to be unanswerable, why not save a step and decide that the origin of the universe is an unanswerable question? Or, if we say that God has always existed, why not save a step and conclude that the universe has always existed?” Poch Suzara

Nature

Nature is but a name of an effect whose cause is God. Phil Star Feb. 6/2009.
Who knows if that cause – God – is still alive? Specially since God is always invisible within the realm of the unknowable, and never ever visible within the arena of the knowable.

The most basic law of physics states that matter and energy cannot be created or destroyed; they can only be transformed into different states. In the meantime, existence exists and nothing can exist outside existence. Now where is God located? Inside or outside existence? More to the point – how could God exist outside the universe since there is nothing existing outside the universe? In fact, everything that exist can only exist inside the universe! Now where in the universe is God? Poch Suzara

I Hate Religion

I hate religion as I no love for anything that's based on fear. Fear never promotes mental growth. Fear is never a reflection of intellectual maturity. I hate religion because it enhances deadly believing, not lively thinking. Nothing evolved in religion. The religious lies and deception during the first century are still same lies and deception in this 21st century. If religion had been more about the courage to live, and not about the fear of death; indeed, if religion were about the search of the truth, and not that this or that is the truth – I would have learned to love passionately, not hate religion justifiably. Religion has been more about being a part of the security system organized by the church. It is a great business for gaining wealth, power, and glory. Sadly, however, there is no such thing as a security system anywhere in this world. Not as long as there is birth, growth, death, and decay. In the ultimate analysis, however, if religion had never taught that to be human means to be evil, fallen, and in need of rescue - religion need not have proceeded to be one of the greatest of evils that keep the human race still pretty much bogged down in disgrace. Poch Suzara

Filipino Education

We are still into the fear of believing rather than into the courage of thinking.
Take sex, for example. We still fear what the church has always preached that sex
is a sin, and naturally to keep it sinful, it’s been necessary to keep it fearful.
In the meantime, we believe that propagating the species is a matter of divine grace; but sexual activity is a matter of divine disgrace. In either case, however, we have yet to hear from would-be mothers and would-be fathers enjoying mutual orgasms declaring, at the same time, that nothing matters during sexual engagement except replenishing the Philippines with more babies even if unwanted or unloved. Poch Suzara

Religious Morons

They would not bother to ask where the places of burial are of the dead bible characters – Adam, Eve, Cain, Abel, Noah, Lot, Abraham, Moses, Joshua, Job, Paul, the apostles of Christ, etc – men and women who were famous and in personal communication with God.

The religious morons of this world, however, would easily get excited over the so-called discovery of one or two rickety chariot parts rotting at the bottom of the Red Sea to prove that three thousand years ago, Pharaoh’s men – thousands of them – all drowned while chasing after Moses crossing the Red Sea with 3,000,000 of his Jewish people in search of the Promise Land that obviously never existed. Poch Suzara

Science vs Pseudoscience

Science and pseudoscience are the opposite ways of viewing nature. Science relies on -- and insists on -- self-questioning, observation, testing, and analytical thinking that make it hard to fool yourself or to fool others. Indeed,, science is never definite. It is never conclusive. Science is always tentative, never final. Thus, in science, questions are far more important than the answers.After all, in time, the answers become obsolete.

Pseudoscience, on the other hand, preserves the ancient, natural, irrational, unobjective modes of thought that are hundreds of thousands of years older than science -- thought processes that have given rise to superstitions and other fanciful and mistaken ideas about man and nature – from woowoo to voodoo; from the flat earth to the house-shaped universe with God in the attic, Satan in the cellar, and man on the ground floor; from doing rain dances to torturing and brutalizing the mentally ill to drive out the demons that possess them.

Pseudoscience encourages people to believe anything they want. It supplies specious "arguments" for fooling themselves into thinking that any and all beliefs are equally valid. Science begins by saying, let's forget about what we believe to be so, and try by investigation to find out what actually is so. These roads don't cross; they lead in completely opposite directions. One, heading towards veracity; the other heading towards faith in mendacity. Poch Suzara

Limits of Science

Science cannot explain why as human beings we are persons, not merely objects... Science can tell us nothing why the mind exists and functions well as it does... Science cannot define or explain ethical principles nor can add to the inner quality of life... Science is unable to tell us why or when exactly the universe came into being... Science is unable to explain why there are scientific or natural laws, or why they are consistent and dependable... Science cannot explain why the universe is so amazingly fine-tuned to support intelligent life on our planet... Well, what about religion? What can it tell us? Is it true? Is there a God? And if God is the Creator of everything that exist – why would God create science to deal precisely with the questions that religion has never been able to answer? Questions like: Where is God? How come he is always nowhere? Always omni-absent. How come God is never omni-present anywhere? In fact, if God exists, why is God such a cold-blooded perfection? Why is God so lost in self-admiration? Why is God so fanatical about eternal salvation who never extended a decent hand during the birth, growth, and development of human civilization? Poch Suzara

World Peace

Prove to the world that the mammalian side of your brain (science) works better than the reptilian side (religion) – and hopefully the world will step aside to let you pass for you know exactly where you are going. Poch Suzara

Yes, death is biblically final.

Job 7:9
As the cloud is consumed and vanishes away, so he that goeth down to the grave shall come up no more.

Job 14:10. 12
But man dieth, and wasteth away: yea, man giveth up the ghost, and where is he? ... So man lieth down, and riseth not: till the heavens be no more, they shall not awake, nor be raised out of their sleep.

Job 20:7
Yet he shall perish for ever like his own dung.

Psalm 6:5
For in death there is no remembrance of thee: in the grave who shall give thee thanks?

Psalm 31:17
Let the wicked be ashamed, and let them be silent in the grave.

Psalm 88:5
The dead ... whom thou rememberest no more.

Psalm 115:17
The dead praise not the LORD, neither any that go down into silence.

Ecclesiastes 3:19
For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts; even one thing befalleth them: as the one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they have all one breath; so that a man hath no preeminence above a beast.

Ecclesiastes 9:5
The dead know not anything, neither have they any more a reward.

Ecclesiastes 9:10
For there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest.

Isaiah 26:14
They are dead, they shall not live; they are deceased they shall not rise.

Isaiah 38:18
For the grave cannot praise thee, death can not celebrate thee: they that go down into the pit cannot hope for thy truth.

Dear Fr. Shay Cullen

The only way we can save our planet is via family planning and birth control practices. Indeed, we should aim for zero population growth - the same number
of births and the same number of deaths. Nobody is destroying the planet earth except people - billions of people with distorted minds and twisted hearts taught
to believe that, at any rate, no matter what, there is a better world to come after death anyway. One would think that if there is really a better world out there, the good God should have created people to live there to begin with.

Fr. Shay, surely, we can save our planet. But we can only do so by first saving precious human minds and precious hearts. Indeed, save it from being twisted with religious lies and save it from being distorted with political deception.
Best regards.
Poch Suzara

Dear Poch,
Thank you for your thoughtful and commonsense comments.
I will put them in our feedback section. Many will be inspired.
Fr. Shay Cullen

Impressions from a Reader

“My impressions of your character from the communications you sent to me (and I hope am wrong) are in summary, in these words, that you are: abrasive, abusive, antagonistic, argumentative, averse, bitter, bothersome, complaining, crafty, creepy, crummy, destructive, difficult, discontented, disturbing, divisive, envious, fickle, foxy, harsh, horrible, incompatible, irksome, irresponsible, lousy, maladjusted, manipulative, mean, meddlesome, nagging, nauseating, objectionable, obnoxious, offensive, pestilent, remorseless, sacrilegious, slanderous, sour, spiteful, tricky, unfaithful, ungrateful, unpleasant, useless, vindictive, vicious, wrongheaded...okay enough! AND NOW YOUR LIST OF EXPLETIVES are to be expected. Nevertheless, have a nice day!”

Obviously, I have been most successful in provoking not the thoughts, but the infantile beliefs of this reader with my thoughts.

Oh well, that’s how I started myself with my own impressions against the childish beliefs of my teachers during grade school and high school. They were teaching me not to think, but only to believe. I thought then that I must fight these utterly thoughtless morons. However, I have had no other recourse but to engineer my own expulsion and to make a name for myself as a “high school dropout.”

Well, this April 26 I will be 72 years old and I truly regret to admit that I have not yet began the serious fight still ahead of me.

Contrary to what many religious morons believe - atheism is not a neurotic rebellion or a mental disease. It is vigorous and a courageous philosophy that makes us face life with self-respect, and not run away from it like thoughtless cowards. Poch Suzara

The Pinay

Imagine the Pinay no longer going to church, no longer contributing time, no longer giving energy to the institutions that oppress them. The Philippines can once again be what it once was - famous throughout the whole of Asia as the “Pearl of Orient.”

The most heinous crime of the Church has been perpetrated not against churchmen but against the Pinay - the churchgoers. With its poisonous concepts of sin and divine punishment, it's warped and inhumane doctrines, it is impossible to calculate the psychic damage that has been inflicted on the Pinay character. Indeed, the Pinay who might have grown up into healthy, happy, productive, zestful women devoid of the burden of corruption, fear and guilt ingrained in them by the Church. This alone is enough to condemn Christianity that has inspired the Pinay to be the Mother of the Sick Man of Asia. Poch Suzara

Employment Overseas

If only our schools, colleges, and universities were educational, and not commercial enterprises. If only our system of education were not based upon destructive believing, but rather more about the art of learning constructive thinking - especially to gain self-respect as a people and dignity as a nation – the hundreds of thousands of our college educated men and women need not yearly seek employment in foreign countries. Many could be self-employed. Millions could be playing constructive parts of nation-building with the power of science and technology right here in our own country.

World War II Filipino Veterans

Filipino veterans during World War II in this Asia’s only Christian country fought and died for freedom and democracy. Fortunately, freedom for the few rich to get filthy richer; and, unfortunately, democracy for the many poor to get filthy poorer. Poch Suzara

Kindness

In a poor and sick society, kindness, such as sharing with others food, clothing, shelter, and medicine is something great and admirable. However, if ours were a sane and a healthy society managed by a sane and a healthy government, being kind to anyone need be commendable.

After all, in a sane and healthy society everyone should already be enjoying not kindness or charity, but enjoying the growth of self-respect and the maturity of human dignity. Poch Suzara

The Sick Man of Asia

They are among the sick believers of the faith. Ironically, they are also among the sick unbelievers of the faith. I suppose the former is due to silly divinity; and the latter is due to the complexity of social insanity. In either case, however, both the sick believers and sick unbelievers all seem to be mutually inspired by the crab mentality all pulling each other down in order to maintain our popularity in the world as the Sick Man of Asia. Poch Suzara

Schools, colleges, and Universities

We still think of education as the transmission of certain body of beliefs, when it should be the development of the power of thought.

Thus, stagnation as a nation has little to do with nature’s decree. It has more to do with college degree. Indeed, one should only look at the corrupt state of affairs of our nation under a corrupt government run by corrupt men and women all blessed with college education.

In the meantime, for as long as we are taught in our schools, colleges, and universities that there is a better world to come after we are dead – we Filipinos will never enjoy growth as a people. We will never enjoy maturity as a nation. We will always remain like little children that the bible has taught us to live by and to emulate. Especially from the Lord who said: “Verily, I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.” Poch Suzara

Old Saying

“What goes up must come down.” This, however, is not always true. Human stupidity never comes down. It always goes up. In fact, if there is anything that defies the law of gravity - it is due to another more powerful law – the law of human stupidity. Especially the kind that’s always about fear of deviltry for the sake of love of divinity. Poch Suzara

Decent Hell

A decent hell where I could again be with my family and friends would be a much better place for me than be in a heartless paradise where I never hear from any of my loved-ones. Somehow, a simple message of how they are all doing, how well they are all situated up there would be most welcomed, if not to me - gratifying.

After my own death, I have no wish to be situated in a heartless paradise. A place where I could not be in touch with the loved-ones left behind on earth. Poch Suzara

The Creator

Yes, only God can make a tree, lively and lovely as it is. Only man, however, can make a silly religion, deadly and ugly as it is. Poch Suzara

Einstein's Famous Phrase

“The most incomprehensible fact of nature is that it is comprehensible.” Albert Einstein.

Well, it was great that Einstein was such a polite scientist. He could have been more truthful, however, had he added also: “The most comprehensible fact about the existence God is that it is utterly incomprehensible. Otherwise the existence of God need no longer remain a mystery.”

Einstein also said: “A legitimate conflict between science and religion cannot exist. Science without religion is lame; religion without science is blind.”

Well, I think Einstein again was just being polite. After all, if God exists, specially a God who is tame, not lame; a God who is kind, not blind, there would be no need for religion and science to quarrel or, for that matter, even need to exist. Poch Suzara

No Atheists in Government

My dear reader, have you ever pondered on this simple truth: - just as much as there are no atheists in foxholes, there are also no atheists in government? All government officials are faithful believers. They all love, worship, and adore God.

In fact, ours has never been a government of the atheists, by the atheists, and for the atheists. On the contrary, ours has always been a government of the corrupt believer, by the corrupt believer, and for corrupt believer.

Under Article 7, Section 5 of the Philippine Constitution before the president enters on the execution of his/her office, the President shall take the following oath or affirmation: "I do solemnly swear [or affirm] that I will faithfully and conscientiously fulfill my duties as President [or Vice-President or Acting President] of the Philippines, preserve and defend its Constitution, execute its laws, do justice to every man, and consecrate myself to the service of the Nation. So help me God.

I ask: where is God to help out? How come instead of being omni-present, God is only always omni-absent? Especially in this only Christian country in Asia since the 16th century! Poch Suzara

Freethinkers Forum 2/28/2009

To: Freethinkers Forum Feb. 28, 2009
Fr: Poch Suzara, chairman, Bertrand
Russell Society, Philippines
Subject: Message

We were all taught to believe that in this country there exists the so-called “Communion of Saints” for the glory of a savior.

Well, I ask: couldn’t we also establish for ourselves the “Communion of Freethinkers” for the glory of sane and a healthy society?
Yes, we can. But first, let us always consistently recognize that in a democracy reason and science will always be our greatest allies.

Our enemy is not each other. Our enemy is precisely the reptilian, and not the mammalian side of the human brain. In this connection therefore, there is no use disparaging each other’s work. Instead of being “detractors,” let us play more positive roles as “baloney detectors” of our sick society. These are the evils we must always struggle against as they act in our schools, colleges, universities, and indeed active in our corrupt churches and entrenched in our corrupt government.

Bertrand Russell wrote: “The good life is one inspired by love and guided by knowledge.” As freethinkers, let us live the good life.

Let’s work harder and think deeper together. May our tribe increase with more power – the production of intended results. Let us see to it that the Philippines will one day become more famous as a nation of matured and courageous freethinkers, and famous no more as the only Christian country in Asia populated by childish, and indeed, frightened believers.

To those of you who have emerged openly for public scrutiny as the freethinkers of our society - I congratulate you. I am on your side always. Especially as we continue to struggle in putting lively beauty into our society than there is deadly insanity.

Imagine – for Gina Lopez

The Pasig River is 26 kilometers long, 50 meters wide, and an average of four to six meters deep. The river basin includes: Pasig City, City of Manila, Pateros, Caloocan City, Marikina City, Pasay City, Taguig, Quezon City, San Juan city, Mandaluyong City, and Makati City. The Pasig River basin area is 570 sq. km.

Imagine what it would mean to Filipinos working off the wealth of the Pasig River. Filipinos as the commercial breeders of fishes, shellfishes, crabs, shrimps, and prawns farmed in the Pasig River. Food for local consumption. Food for global exportation. Imagine the thousands of jobs created for Filipinos nourishing the life and beauty of the Pasig River. Indeed, imagine the Pasig River flowing not with vulgarism submerged in barbarism, but overflowing, instead, with tourism!

But then again, our traditional way of life tells us to never imagine such things; especially the good life – one inspired by love and guided by knowledge. What we must only follow is what is written in the holy bible such as: “love not this world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not with him.” John 2:15. So why, for heaven’s sake, should we Filipinos give a hoot about the existence of the Pasig River?

Oh yes, the life we live as a people is the life we conceive for ourselves as a products of education. We Filipinos, however, have yet to grasp the reality of what it truly means to be the healthy masters of learning, not the sick victims of it. Indeed, to be the masters of education that’s not about love of a divinity or a mystery; but more about enhancing the reality of social sanity under love of country!

In the late 1980s, I was employed as the special assistant to Doris Ho, president of the Tourist Belt and Businessmen Association of Ermita, Malate. (TBBA). We tried planning and working to rehabilitate the Pasig River with all the possible technology available from Holland to do the job. The wife of President Fidel Ramos, Lady Amelita “Ming” Ramos also tried hard to clean up in order to resurrect the dead Pasig River. Nothing happened except that the Pasig River is still very much dead in filth and dirt – the exact reflection of our so-called “sacred beliefs and traditional values.”

Gina, I ardently hope you will succeed where others failed. Yours is a rare opportunity. I am rooting for you. If I could be of any help, I offer my services free of charge. In the meantime, I urge you to seriously look into the Filipino consciousness. It is mostly derived from our corrupt system of education. Indeed, the kind of education that makes us ignore filth and corruption here, filth and corruption there, and filth and corruption everywhere in our sick society. Nay more, it also makes us proud to “take no thought for tomorrow” since we are told that there is a better world to come after death. We Filipinos may not be among the “Chosen People of God,” but we are certainly the “Saved Sick Children of Asia.”

In the meantime, we simply cannot keep the Pasig River clean and vital by collecting garbage thrown into it. The sources of that filth and dirt come from our schools, colleges, and universities. The sick institution that must first be treated. Our Asian neighbors like Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, etc. have done it. China is doing it now. It all begins not so much with the power of money, but simply with the power of love - love of country.

Perhaps, after great success in rehabilitating the Pasig River, we can also begin cleaning up another mess far messier than the Pasig river: The messy streets of Metro Manila. Many of them are no longer streets. They are now the dirty factories for making babies. Three ( 3 ) babies are born every minute or 1.5 million babies are needlessly born every year in the Philippines. The same babies who will eventually enroll in our schools, colleges, and universities. There, to learn not how to love a meritorious earth down here, but only to love a mysterious heaven out there. Indeed, to learn how to play more important roles in the rat-race for eternal salvation. But hardly to learn to take advantage of the power of love and knowledge that pertains, especially, to the health, sanitation, growth, and development of Philippine civilization. Poch Suzara

Christianity

Christianity has quite effectively accomplished great things in the Philippines: Frightened the Filipino. Divided the Filipino. Controlled the Filipino. Deluded the Filipino. Misguided and corrupted the Filipino.

For the love of the next world out there, Christianity has effectively converted the Filipino to hate his world down here. Indeed, we Filipinos love saving our silly souls for the next life in heaven. We hate saving instead our precious minds and priceless hearts for the sake of creating a sane and a healthy society for ourselves here and now. Human love and compassion hardly exist in our sick society. Thanks to the teachings of Christianity, we fear and hate the existence of the beauty of nature all around us. Take a good look at the Pasig River. Even the angels of God in heaven, or the stupid devils of Satan in hell would not drink the deadly water from the Pasig River. Poch Suzara

The Cries of the Poor

God hears the cries of the poor. Well, if this is true, how come the poor are getting poorer and their cries are getting louder?

Indeed, how come those who are among the rich getting richer in this country are among the first to declare that God hears the cries of the poor?

The question is: which God hears the cries of the poor? The God who is always omni-absent, or the God who is never omni-present?

In the meantime, millions of Filipinos still do pray daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly to God to: “Give us this day our daily bread.”

Divine intervention? It has yet to fix the traditional troubles of the Filipino as a people. Thus far, what we enjoy year in and year out is theological illusion inextricably mixed with political confusion for the sake of our social delusion derived mostly from the bible as written by divine inspiration. Poch Suzara

Our Overseas workers

Our workers are better paid and indeed highly respected for the hard work they do in foreign countries.

In our own God-forsaken country, however, instead of giving our workers their due earnings and due respect, they only survive on more of the same hand to mouth existence. But we never stop asking God to bless them and we never stop thanking God for the hard work that they do for the rich. In the meantime, in our sick society, the filthy poor are getting poorer. The filthy rich are not only getting richer, they are also getting holier. Poch Suzara

Sick and Corrupt

The Sick Man of Asia is not only a patient inside our hospitals. He is not only a teacher or a professor inside our schools, colleges, and universities. He is not only preaching bombastic nonsense inside our television Sets. Indeed, he is also the college-educated man or women holding office inside our Judicial, Legislative, and Judiciary branches of government.

In our sick society, it does not matter whether we are coming or going. What counts is that we all love God up there even if we were all sick and corrupt down here. Poch Suzara

Guardian of Freedom

I regard myself as a guardian of freedom. Especially intellectual freedom. I refuse, however, to respect nor do I try to preserve the rights of people who are unable to tell the difference between beauty and vulgarity, between reality and fantasy, between fact and fiction, between lies and deceptions, or between truth and falsehood. After all, freedom should have nothing to do with the freedom to enjoy stupidity especially as it inspires social insanity. Freedom can certainly promote peace and social sanity if we all love, not hate, - this life in this world. Our world. Thus, the number one enemy of freedom has always been deadly religion. Especially the religion that teaches us to love not this world neither the things that are in the world because if any man love the world, the love of God is not in him. 1 John 2:15 I said it before, I say it again: far more precious than the freedom OF religion is the freedom FROM religion. Poch Suzara

God’s Will and Plan

If there is indeed such a thing as God’s will or God’s plan, why should we waste precious time and energy praying daily to Mary, the holy Mother of God, “to pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death, amen?”

No doubt, we are all sinners and with prayer we shall all be saved. Too bad we also do not pray to God to save the greatest sinner of all time – the stupid devil? Poch Suzara

A Pinoy Prisoner

After 15 years in prison for the crime of murder, this Pinoy prisoner was released. He was pardoned by the President of the Republic. In an interview with a newspaper reporter this criminal disclosed that he “had learned a lot in prison. I met God there.”

Well, obviously God is not, after all, everywhere. God only makes himself known to murderers while they are in prison. Wouldn’t it be wonderful, however, if criminals were to meet with God minutes before they committed their stupid crimes? Poch Suzara

Troubled Life

We are told that if your life is in trouble, there is always God to fix it. We are not told, however, that everybody’s life is in trouble of some kind or the other. In fact, nobody’s life is free from trouble. Consider the day we are born: it is the day we also begin to live in a dying body.

In terms of eternity our troubled life on this speck of dust called “earth” is but a split of a second long. What value is there in human life not long lasting enough for God to bother fixing?

As an atheist, I am not afraid to face the facts. I have no wish to distort such facts into an insane pattern. Indeed, just like everyone else, I too was born an atheist. Surely, one day, I shall die as an atheist. After all, for billions of years before my birth I existed as a thoughtless nothing; and for billions of years after my death – I will then be again existing as a thoughtless nothing. - Poch Suzara

Suffering

“Suffering can teach us about what we can’t learn in any other way.” Philippine Star, Feb. 18,2009

On the contrary, if I may borrow from Bertrand Russell: what we all need now is not only love but also greater knowledge about the nature of love, in all its complexity. A beauty one can hardly learn from any of the schools, colleges, and universities owned and managed by the Catholic church. Poch Suzara

Scientist Richard Dawkins

Scientist Richard Dawkins wrote In his great book THE GOD DELUSION: “The God of the Old Testament is arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction: jealous and proud of it; a petty, unjust, unforgiving control-freak; a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser; a misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, sado-masochistic, capriciously malevolent bully.” I entirely agree. I would like, however, to add that the God of the New Testament is even more unpleasant. In order to save the world away from sin, instead of getting the devil captured and crucified dead on the cross, He had, instead, his own Son Jesus arrested, abused, and nailed to a cross who, while nailed to a cross, cried cried out loud: “My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me.” Really, I ask: are these the words of a Redeemer or a Savior? In the meantime, I do not consider it a threat or a chill, but rather a joy and a thrill to be identified as an atheist. I have no taste to be a man of faith, A man of faith is a drunkard who clings to a lamppost for support, not illumination. Poch Suzara

Two Billions Years Ago

“Two billion years ago,” wrote Carl Sagan, “our ancestors were microbes; half-billion years ago, fish; a hundred billion years ago, something like mice; ten million years ago, arboreal apes; and a million years ago, proto-humans puzzling out the taming of fire. Our evolutionary lineage is marked by the mastery of change. In our time, the pace is quickening.”

Oh my dear Carl, you are so right as you were always seldom quite wrong with your scientific attitude towards the pursuit of knowledge. It is truly pathetic, however, that most religious morons of this world belittled your findings. They actually believe that the earth is only some 6,000 years old created by God in the year 4004 B.C. in October at 9 a.m. according to a certain Bishop James Ussher – known to be a fine biblical scholar. Poch Suzara

Same Mysterious Hogwash

The “unknown” and the “supernatural” are one and the same mysterious hogwash. Explaining the unknown by means of the supernatural, or explaining the supernatural by means of the unknown is really more about explaining the existence of a mysterious hogwash.

Here’s one example of a hogwash that is always mysterious to me. Every time I have a question for God, it is never God who gives me the answer. It is always the religious morons that do. Poch Suzara

Strengthen Ties

Every time a high official is installed in the United States government or installed in the Philippine government – the first they do is to visit each other to renew commitment to strengthen RP-US Ties. As to the nature of what exactly those commitments are all about, nobody knows. The ties, however, are more about graft and corruption enjoyed mutually together by both governments to benefit the rich getting richer in the USA at expense of the poor getting poorer in the Philippines. Poch Suzara

Hate, not Love

We are more prone to hate than we are to love. Hate is more contagious than love. Even among the believers of the faith there is more hate than love for each other. Golly, even among the unbelievers - the atheists, agnostics, infidels, heretics, humanists, and the freethinkers of our sick society – they too hate each other. They hate each other’s intellectual capacity. The unbelievers pay less attention to the horrors of insanity behind the traditional belief in silly divinity that gives everyone a sense of false serenity.

Bertrand Russell had a healthier view: “No, the greatest men have not been “serene." They have had, it is true, an ultimate courage, a power of creating beauty where nature has put only horror, which may, to a petty mind, appear like serenity. But their courage has had to surpass that of common men, because they have seen deeper into the indifference of nature and the cruelty of man. To cover up these things with comfortable lies is the business of cowards; the business of great men is to see them with inflexible clarity, and yet to think and feel nobly. And in the degree in which we can all be great, this is the business of each one of us.”

For my part, I hate to mingle with either the believers or, as the case may be - with the unbelievers. Especially if either would inspire in me fear of this and fear of that or fear of what-not. I hate living a life of fear. Poch Suzara

Science and Christianity

Science has already proved itself triumphant in all of its respective fields of endeavor. Indeed, science based on reason, is what we know. Religion based on faith, is what we do not know.

Christianity, on the other hand, still refuses to abandon its appeal to faith. Devoid of faith, Christianity can have no more mysterious elements to frighten its believers never to take their eyes off heaven above. Indeed, due to faith everybody hopes to play a prominent part in the rat-race for eternal salvation.

In the meantime, to advocate that a belief devoid of reason must be accepted is to advocate that a belief devoid of proof or verification must be accepted. What is the difference, therefore, in believing in the existence of a Santa Claus and in believing in the existence of a Savior? Poch Suzara

Money

“It is preoccupation with possessions, more than anything else, that prevents men from living freely and nobly.” Bertrand Russell...It is, indeed, sad to see sons and daughters of wealthy families growing up to be occupied with nothing in life in except to make more money believing that all values must be measured in terms of money or that money is the ultimate test of success in this world... “This belief,” wrote Bertrand Russell, “is held in fact, if not in words, by multitudes of men and women, and yet it is not in harmony with human nature, since it ignores vital needs and the instinctive tendency towards some specific kind of growth. It makes men treat as unimportant those of their desires which run counter to the acquisition of money, and yet such desires are, as a rule, more important to well-being than any increase of income. It leads men to mutilate their own natures from a mistaken theory of what constitutes success, and to give admiration to enterprises which add nothing to human welfare. It promotes a dead uniformity of character and purpose, a diminution in the joy of life, and a stress and strain which leaves whole communities weary, discouraged, and disillusioned.” Poch Suzara

The Power of Knowledge

“Science,” wrote Bertrand Russell, “is at no moment quite right, but it is seldom quite wrong, and has, as a rule, a better chance of being right than the theories of the unscientific.”

Knowledge in general otherwise more known as science in particular has been the greatest tool man has discovered to change the ways of the world both for the better and for the future generations to come.
Science, however, put into the hands of bigots and fanatics to promote the power of dominant groups can even be far more destructive. Indeed, far more destructive than all the great religions combined that have dominated this world since only God knows when.

Bertrand Russell explained: “We were told that faith could remove mountains, but no one believed it; we are now told that the atomic bomb can remove mountains, and everyone believes it.” Poch Suzara

The Vatican and the USA

The Vatican State currently maintains bilateral diplomatic relations with 172 countries, which is actually one more than the United States Government. The Vatican State therefore is richer and more powerful than the United States government says religious historian John Peter Pham.

“The Vatican, where the Pope resides, is not just simply a spiritual power for Roman Catholics or a moral power for the non-Catholic world, it is a significant political presence," says Michael Higgins. "[If] you're talking in terms of influence, being an important player at the board when it comes to negotiations, being taken as a serious neutral voice on political and moral affairs, it's very difficult to be a serious competitor with the Vatican.”

In addition to that diplomatic network, the geopolitical significance of a community, a faith community of over a billion adherents around the globe serviced by a network of well over 4,000 bishops and 1,000,000 priests mean not only wealth and glory, but also world power.

Many world leaders still go out of their way to be seen with the Pope. Not just because he's a greater symbol, but because the Vatican is where the higher leaders of the world converge.

The Catholic church as the sole owner of the Vatican bank is the biggest financial power, wealth accumulator, and property owner in existence anywhere throughout the world today.

In the months ahead, let us all hope and pray that the Vatican financial power will help rescue the world economy from its financial woes! After all, the World Bank and the Vatican Bank are one and the same bank married together with children known as the IMF, the Federal Reserve Board of the USA, and indeed, the Bank of America. Poch Suzara

The Richer and the Poorer

The rich get richer and the poor get poorer. The bishops of the Catholic church, the Manalos of Iglesia Ni Cristo, Mike Velarde of El Shaddai, Eddie Villanueva of Jesus is Lord Movement, and Eli Soriano of Dating Daan, etc. couldn’t give a hoot about the poor getting poorer. This is due to the fact that these religious leaders are amongst the rich getting richer while the poor – their believers and followers - are the ones getting poorer. Poch Suzara

Belief

A belief cannot be true here but false there. If a belief were false anywhere, it is false everywhere.

Contradict yourself and you are sure to be wrong. Not giving importance for deadly contradiction is the same thing as not giving importance for serious communication that delivers lively confirmation.

We unbelievers know what we are talking about. The believers, however, do not even know what “knowing” means.

We unbelievers enjoy the flexibility of intellectuality. You believers are only stuck in the fixity of a falsity especially as you all believe that human stupidity has some connection with infinity as inspired by the mystery of a divinity always in cahoots with deviltry. Poch Suzara

Mankind’s Greatest Enemy

Religion, in Latin, means - “to tie back, to fasten or bind together.” No, mankind’s greatest enemy has never been religion, but superstition more known as Christianity, Islam, and Judaism. Each proved that there is wealth, power, and glory to be achieved not by promoting peace on earth and goodwill for one another, but by propagating hate and war against each other for the glory of God. What could be more superstitious than that? Poch Suzara

No Happy Ending

In this life, there is no such thing as a happy ending. We all end up dead whether we like it or not. Unless of course resting in peace while being utterly dead is a form of happiness then there is such as thing as a happy ending. Of course we all know there is no such thing as life in the hereafter. That is why we invented life after death called “the Kingdom of God in heaven”.

In the meantime, the religious morons of this world are all so frightened of the realization that after death, there will be nothing in store for any of us. As if it bothers any of us to realize the fact that for millions of years before birth, – there was also nothing in store for any of us. In fact, there wasn’t even a store. Poch Suzara

Jesus and His Resurrection

If Jesus possessed the power to get himself resurrected from death back to life, what was all that dramatic rigmarole about getting himself crucified dead on a piece of wood for the sins of the world to begin with? Moreover, if Jesus possessed the power to resurrect Himself back to life from death, why should he cry out loud on the cross: MY GOD, MY GOD, WHY HAS THOU FORSAKEN ME? Poch Suzara

Jesus Born Perfect

If Jesus was born perfect, why was he born supot? The faith-healers of his days had to have him circumcised? Who disposed of his holy prepuce? The bible does not say as to what happened to it. Perhaps, the bible scholars can haunt for that bodily part of Jesus. After all, Jesus was the perfect Son of perfect God, wasn’t he? Poch Suzara

Jesus

Was Jesus a man of peace? Hardly. In fact, in the Gospels, Jesus displayed aggressive militarism quite contrary to his conventional image. Jesus announced that he came not to bring peace, but a sword.

In Luke 19:27, however, Jesus declares: “But those mine enemies, which would not that I should reign over them, bring hither, and slay them for me.”

In Luke 22:36, Jesus “said unto them, but now, he that hath purse, let him take it, and likewise his scrip: and he that hath no sword, let him sell his garment, and buy one.” Such was Jesus – a man of war ready to die in battle, but not ready to question what it is that he willing to die for. Poch Suzara

Atheism

Atheism is not therapy but restored mental health. We atheists live in a world of reality, not fantasy. We do not hate to work, on the contrary, we love to work especially for the growth and maturity of human intelligence especially as it promotes human benevolence. If we do hate, however, we hate human stupidity, especially the kind that is the hidden agenda behind the ultimate purpose of education. The majority of our college educated men and women hate more learning. Thus, they hate more reading. Indeed, in our sick society, daily praying is always more respectable than daily reading. Bertrand Russell said: “If we must die, let us die sober, and not drunk with lies.” For my part, as I evolved to become an atheist, I have also ceased wasting my time and energy actively involved as a stupid participant in the rat race for salvation. Indeed, I care about this world. It is the only world we know and at the same time - have. Poch Suzara

Class-mates and School-mates

My La Salle class-mates and school-mates are shocked. They are horrified to hear what in recent years I have been publicly declaring, consistently, and fearlessly that: - I am no longer a Catholic. I have become an atheist. A devout heretic. Well, if they are shocked with me, I am even more shocked at them. These grown-up highly educated men are still pretty much active with the infantile prayer that every La Salle student uttered before and after every class during grade school, high school, and in college: “St. John Baptist De la Salle, pray for us.” “Live Jesus in our hearts, forever.” As I look into the hearts and minds of these college-educated men, what I sadly found there is not love of country; only love for divinity. Indeed, like a bunch of religious morons – they have more love for Jesus, the Son of God, and more love for Mary, the Mother of God than they do have love for their own mother, father, brothers, sisters, and yea, their own life also. I should know. I was once that kind of a religious sap myself when I was in grade school and eventually expelled out of La Salle high school. Poch Suzara