Sending a powerful message fit the definition of terrorism. Sending a message to a child about the existence of God is the worst kind of terrorism. Especially if the message were accompanied with threats of eternal punishment. Thus, due to religious terrorism, most children grow up believing in cruel God. They live in fear as they do not want to suffer eternal damnation punished forever in hell after death.
For my part, I was lucky. I managed, somehow, to see through clearly the childish message. I saw the existence of God as something superstitious, nay, excrementitious, based upon nothing but childish terrorism. Indeed, if God exist, I refuse to believe that such a loving God, such a Supreme Being should allow such scatological nonsense be taught to children about Him. Poch Suzara
Wednesday, August 02, 2006
The Poor, Sick and Filthy
If I were poor, sick and filthy, I have no right to have children because my children have no right to be poor, sick and filthy. No doubt God provides wealth, power, and glory; unfortunately, only for the priesthood industry. As for the poor, the sick, and the filthy, - these children of God, in a devastating typhoon, are not even allowed to take temporary shelter inside the House of God called “Churches” and “Cathedrals.” Poch Suzara
Root of all evil
The killing of Hypatia in the 5th century, the onslaught of the Dark Ages from the 5th to the 15th century, the Inquisition organized by the Church, Copernicus exiled, Galileo silenced, Bruno burned at the stake, Jose Rizal publicly executed by a theocracy in the late 19th century, not to mention, time and again, the Church blocking the way towards the advancement of knowledge and emancipation of the human mind. In brief, the good life - one inspired by love and guided by knowledge - is not possible in our world for as long organized religions – Christianity, Judaism, and Islam continue to retard the spiritual growth and the intellectual development of human beings born on this earth. Organized religion, indeed, is the root of all evil. Poch Suzara
Thanks to Faith
Thanks to our Christian values and beliefs, we enjoy having faith not only in things we know nothing about, but also in things that we know are not true. It spares us from the ordeal of having to think for ourselves as a people, and from the ordeal of having to take responsibility for ourselves as a nation.
Indeed, thanks to our faith in Christian values and beliefs our population growth is making sure that our natural resources are depleting faster than the rate nature can replenish or have them regenerated.
In the meantime, as the bible says: love not your country, neither the things that are in your country. If any one loves his country, the love of God is not with him. See John 2:15. Poch Suzara
Indeed, thanks to our faith in Christian values and beliefs our population growth is making sure that our natural resources are depleting faster than the rate nature can replenish or have them regenerated.
In the meantime, as the bible says: love not your country, neither the things that are in your country. If any one loves his country, the love of God is not with him. See John 2:15. Poch Suzara
Beliefs and Facts
The religious and the superstitious share a common denominator mutually together. They do not alter their beliefs to fit the facts. They would rather alter the facts to fit their beliefs. They are even proud to call it “blind faith.” Poch Suzara
The Catholic Bishops
Eternal damnation is what is in store for the Filipino newspaper columnist who ventures any criticism against the Catholic Bishops of the Philippines. There is not a single one of these columnists that I know of who does not live in mortal terror of the power of this religious group. If the Catholic Bishops can bluff its way into a preferred position, the fault lies not only with the Bishops but due mostly with our frightened columnists. And to think that these Bishops are not even answerable to our society under a democracy. As citizens of the Vatican State, they report to the Pope who is answerable to a higher power under a theocracy. In the meantime, the most that our college-educated columnists can do with their precious talents and valuable abilities is to sell them to the Catholic Bishops – the major owners, if not the stockholders of major newspapers of this country.
As a high-school dropout, I do not believe that the mind is a terrible thing to waste; on the contrary, I believe that it is a terrible thing to waste the mind. Poch Suzara
As a high-school dropout, I do not believe that the mind is a terrible thing to waste; on the contrary, I believe that it is a terrible thing to waste the mind. Poch Suzara
The Psychotic
One of the most idiotic, if not imbecilic, nay, moronic facts about our time is the stupid fanatic who is just as pathetic as he is a lunatic. He actually believes with all sincerity that everyone else is just as intelligent as he is! Poch Suzara
The Religious Attitude
Whether one is a Christian, or a Muslim, or a Jew – each would readily admit something like: - so what if this world were embroiled with poverty, pain, cruelty, violence, suffering, hate, murder, and wars?
There is always a better world to come after death with God, says the Christian. There is always a better world to come with Allah, says the Muslim.
There is always a better world to come with Yahweh, says the Jew.
Such is our unpredictably trouble-infested world. Thanks to religious attitude – the root of human stupidity lasting much longer than infinity. Poch Suzara
There is always a better world to come after death with God, says the Christian. There is always a better world to come with Allah, says the Muslim.
There is always a better world to come with Yahweh, says the Jew.
Such is our unpredictably trouble-infested world. Thanks to religious attitude – the root of human stupidity lasting much longer than infinity. Poch Suzara
Money
“Our society,” Bertrand Russell wrote, “is so imbued with the belief that happiness consists of financial success that men do not realize how much they are losing, and how much richer their lives might be if they cared less about money. But the results of their instinctive dissatisfaction are all the worse for being unconscious.”
In the Philippines, however, even those who are not suppose to be in the business of making money are busy making money on the side – teachers and professors, congressmen and senators, and, among the most successful – the priests and nuns. Such religious men and women of God are able to collect and then remit, quite successfully, tons of tax-free money yearly to the Vatican bank. It is already worth In the trillion of dollars today. Thanks to so-called Catholic Charity.
In the meantime, most of my college-educated friends and relatives struggle in life over nothing except to earn or make more millions, if possible. They are the poor in spirit. For my part, I’d rather struggle in the search of the truth. The truth, after all, is worth far more than billions. Moreover, even if I were poverty-stricken, I would rather be happy getting richer in spirit. There is nothing quite like it in all the joys found in nature. Poch Suzara
In the Philippines, however, even those who are not suppose to be in the business of making money are busy making money on the side – teachers and professors, congressmen and senators, and, among the most successful – the priests and nuns. Such religious men and women of God are able to collect and then remit, quite successfully, tons of tax-free money yearly to the Vatican bank. It is already worth In the trillion of dollars today. Thanks to so-called Catholic Charity.
In the meantime, most of my college-educated friends and relatives struggle in life over nothing except to earn or make more millions, if possible. They are the poor in spirit. For my part, I’d rather struggle in the search of the truth. The truth, after all, is worth far more than billions. Moreover, even if I were poverty-stricken, I would rather be happy getting richer in spirit. There is nothing quite like it in all the joys found in nature. Poch Suzara
Theological Rubbish
One of the ugly things about our society: millions of our children in school are still indoctrinated with threat of eternal damnation to believe and have faith in a higher power otherwise known as the Supreme Being.
There is, however, an uglier side to this sad horror. Most of the grown-up men and women in our sick society today still believe in the same old childish rubbish. They even believe in the Revealed Truth that has yet to the revealed.
As a schoolboy, once during weekly confession, I asked the priest to please reveal to me the whereabouts of my dead loved-ones? Are they in heaven or in hell? In what level of happiness are they in heaven? Or in what level of punishment are they suffering in hell? Today, as a grown-up, I am asking as to the whereabouts of the more than 1,000,000,000 Filipinos who already lived and died in the Philippines since Christianity arrived here some 500 years ago. How many Filipinos made it to heaven and how many have been damned to hell? I am told, however, that even among the brightest of the Jesuit theologians, no one knows as it is still one of God’s great mysteries.
In the meantime, critics today are asking me to explain what triggered my hatred of Catholicism. So that they could psychoanalyze my bigotry. It seems to be alarmingly translucent, however, that these critics are the same type of believers who had Jose Rizal put to death by musketry. What a bunch of faith-based, priestly-indoctrinated cowards. No, my friends, I do not hate Catholicism. I hate the lies and falsehoods behind the history of the Catholic Church. Poch Suzara
There is, however, an uglier side to this sad horror. Most of the grown-up men and women in our sick society today still believe in the same old childish rubbish. They even believe in the Revealed Truth that has yet to the revealed.
As a schoolboy, once during weekly confession, I asked the priest to please reveal to me the whereabouts of my dead loved-ones? Are they in heaven or in hell? In what level of happiness are they in heaven? Or in what level of punishment are they suffering in hell? Today, as a grown-up, I am asking as to the whereabouts of the more than 1,000,000,000 Filipinos who already lived and died in the Philippines since Christianity arrived here some 500 years ago. How many Filipinos made it to heaven and how many have been damned to hell? I am told, however, that even among the brightest of the Jesuit theologians, no one knows as it is still one of God’s great mysteries.
In the meantime, critics today are asking me to explain what triggered my hatred of Catholicism. So that they could psychoanalyze my bigotry. It seems to be alarmingly translucent, however, that these critics are the same type of believers who had Jose Rizal put to death by musketry. What a bunch of faith-based, priestly-indoctrinated cowards. No, my friends, I do not hate Catholicism. I hate the lies and falsehoods behind the history of the Catholic Church. Poch Suzara
Superman and Jesus
In the Da Vinci Code movie – Jesus is a depicted as a man married to Mary Magdalene.
In the Hollywood movie, Superman is depicted as a hero to the millions crying out for a Savior.
Superman is a greater fictional savior than the biblical Jesus. A savior should not put his power in abeyance, nor should he be inefficient at his job. Consider how Jesus as a Savior has been hiding since his resurrection from death on the cross centuries ago! Poch Suzara
In the Hollywood movie, Superman is depicted as a hero to the millions crying out for a Savior.
Superman is a greater fictional savior than the biblical Jesus. A savior should not put his power in abeyance, nor should he be inefficient at his job. Consider how Jesus as a Savior has been hiding since his resurrection from death on the cross centuries ago! Poch Suzara
Faith
A Christian says: I have faith in God because my mother and father raised me as a Christian as both were themselves Christians.
A Muslim says: I have faith in Allah because my mother and father raised me as a Muslim as both were themselves Muslims.
A Jew says: I have faith in Yahweh because my mother and father raised me as Jewish as both were themselves Jewish.
Faith indeed is not a matter of free will, but a matter of accident as to which parents gave birth to each and every one of us. If our parents were Buddhist, we, most likely, would have been raised and indoctrinated as Buddhists.
My parents were both devout Catholics. Happily, they played no role during my free choice to decide for myself as to which freedom I should wish to entertain: the freedom of religion or the freedom from religion.
In the meantime, there is, indeed, something bigger and a greater power than my own existence to love and respect in this world. No, not a mysterious God out there; but my family, my country, and indeed, the whole of humanity down here. Poch Suzara
A Muslim says: I have faith in Allah because my mother and father raised me as a Muslim as both were themselves Muslims.
A Jew says: I have faith in Yahweh because my mother and father raised me as Jewish as both were themselves Jewish.
Faith indeed is not a matter of free will, but a matter of accident as to which parents gave birth to each and every one of us. If our parents were Buddhist, we, most likely, would have been raised and indoctrinated as Buddhists.
My parents were both devout Catholics. Happily, they played no role during my free choice to decide for myself as to which freedom I should wish to entertain: the freedom of religion or the freedom from religion.
In the meantime, there is, indeed, something bigger and a greater power than my own existence to love and respect in this world. No, not a mysterious God out there; but my family, my country, and indeed, the whole of humanity down here. Poch Suzara
Jews and Muslims and Christians
To establish peace on earth and goodwill to all men, may I suggest that the Jews and Muslims should only sit down together and stop behaving like the good Christians. Indeed, they should all stop emulating the Christian way of hating and cutting each other’s throat and stabbing each other back in God’s name and for his glory in heaven. Look at the Catholics and the Protestants. After all this past centuries, look how they have not yet learned to love and respect each other’s beliefs in the same Jesus Christ to help establish local and global sanity! Poch Suzara
Adam and Eve
According to the bible, our first parents - Adam and Eve were the first couple to worship God. They were also the first human couple to be rejected by God. In His wrath over a meaningless, nay childish issue God punished and expelled Adam and Eve out of the Garden of Eden.
As a descendant of Adam and Eve, can you blame me for believing that God was such an ungodly God to our first parent? I say: Phooey to such a God! Phooey also to the Devil in the shape of a Talking Serpent! And if you, my dear Born-again Christians do not like to read what I write, then I say phooey on you too. Poch Suzara
As a descendant of Adam and Eve, can you blame me for believing that God was such an ungodly God to our first parent? I say: Phooey to such a God! Phooey also to the Devil in the shape of a Talking Serpent! And if you, my dear Born-again Christians do not like to read what I write, then I say phooey on you too. Poch Suzara
Tuesday, August 01, 2006
The Right to Believe
Is it your right to believe there is a God? Is it your right to believe there is no God? As a matter of fact, you have no right to believe this or to believe that unless you have first fully explored every facet or duly discovered every angle of the belief in question. Indeed, everybody believes this or believes that. Nobody, however, knows exactly what believing means. For my part, I’d rather remain in constant doubt. I’d rather suspend my judgment. I do not care to believe. I only want to know.
In the meantime, we continue to spill blood over what is, at bottom, a conflict of sick beliefs. Arguments for or against healthy ideas have never done any one any harm.
I am a conscious objector. I do not believe in going to war against others just because they have weird beliefs.
The one and only war I approve without any hesitation whatsoever is the war of logic against the concept of the existence of God and the existence of the devil. Until the concept of supernatural monsters are defeated in the minds of men and totally expunged out of the hearts of women, we shall only continue to hate and kill each other for the sake of nothing. We shall never enjoy peace on earth and goodwill to all men. Poch Suzara
In the meantime, we continue to spill blood over what is, at bottom, a conflict of sick beliefs. Arguments for or against healthy ideas have never done any one any harm.
I am a conscious objector. I do not believe in going to war against others just because they have weird beliefs.
The one and only war I approve without any hesitation whatsoever is the war of logic against the concept of the existence of God and the existence of the devil. Until the concept of supernatural monsters are defeated in the minds of men and totally expunged out of the hearts of women, we shall only continue to hate and kill each other for the sake of nothing. We shall never enjoy peace on earth and goodwill to all men. Poch Suzara
Atheism
Charles Bradlaugh was one of the greatest atheists who ever lived. I challenge you believers to discard your logical fantasy by listening carefully to this man’s logical reality: “Atheism is without God. It does not assert no God. The atheist does not say that there is no God, but he says "I know not what you mean by God.” I am without the idea of God. The word God to me is a sound conveying no clear or distinct affirmation. I do not deny God, because I cannot deny that of which I have no conception, and the conception of which by its affirmer is so imperfect that he is unable to define it for me.” Poch Suzara
An Anonymous Critic wrote
“Poch is a failure. You are rehashing your arguments for ages, like mustard seeds falling on arid soil.”
“It would be interesting though to read what triggered your hatred against Catholicism, so we can pychoanalyze your bigotry.”
“Catholicism or none, man is predisposed to supernatural beliefs. Just live with it. This diversity makes the world colorful. God--oops, did I offend you?-- I could not imagine living in a world with one train of thought, certainly not following yours.”
My response: the superstitious primitives are always predisposed to supernatural beliefs. They are the poor in spirit. For my part, I would rather be a failure at natural disbeliefs than be a success at supernatural beliefs. I have no desire to be successful at promoting ancient stupidity especially if it means embracing faith in the false foundation of Christianity. I was raised and indoctrinated to be a questionless Christian and so, eventually, in order to regain my self-respect, I dropped out. However, instead of believing more of the same old childish pursuits, like be a Born-again Christian, I decided to simply grow up.
In the meantime, my dear critic, please stop revealing your infantile contempt for human intelligence. It is always a virtue to be able to think for one’s self. Please stop displaying the inferiority of your childish faith. Instead, try to manifest your mind as something brightened and superior, and not something as frightened and inferior. Argue your case with the power of reason. Do not fault me for taking the side of science, humanity, respect for life, reverence for nature and understanding of our place in evolution, caring for our biological heritage and for the future of our children’s children. The higher power that you are referring to can only be found in the better part of ourselves as humans on this earth. It is we who must realize that love and happiness and the joys in life do not come from somewhere vague out there. They are clearly the beauties found right here as they come from our own minds and hearts, experiences, passions and compassions, laughter, friends and family. Poch Suzara
“It would be interesting though to read what triggered your hatred against Catholicism, so we can pychoanalyze your bigotry.”
“Catholicism or none, man is predisposed to supernatural beliefs. Just live with it. This diversity makes the world colorful. God--oops, did I offend you?-- I could not imagine living in a world with one train of thought, certainly not following yours.”
My response: the superstitious primitives are always predisposed to supernatural beliefs. They are the poor in spirit. For my part, I would rather be a failure at natural disbeliefs than be a success at supernatural beliefs. I have no desire to be successful at promoting ancient stupidity especially if it means embracing faith in the false foundation of Christianity. I was raised and indoctrinated to be a questionless Christian and so, eventually, in order to regain my self-respect, I dropped out. However, instead of believing more of the same old childish pursuits, like be a Born-again Christian, I decided to simply grow up.
In the meantime, my dear critic, please stop revealing your infantile contempt for human intelligence. It is always a virtue to be able to think for one’s self. Please stop displaying the inferiority of your childish faith. Instead, try to manifest your mind as something brightened and superior, and not something as frightened and inferior. Argue your case with the power of reason. Do not fault me for taking the side of science, humanity, respect for life, reverence for nature and understanding of our place in evolution, caring for our biological heritage and for the future of our children’s children. The higher power that you are referring to can only be found in the better part of ourselves as humans on this earth. It is we who must realize that love and happiness and the joys in life do not come from somewhere vague out there. They are clearly the beauties found right here as they come from our own minds and hearts, experiences, passions and compassions, laughter, friends and family. Poch Suzara
Monday, July 31, 2006
Purpose Driven Life
Pastor Rick Warren writes: “Long before you were conceived by your parents, you were conceived in the mind of God.” Imagine a Hitler, Stalin, Mussolini, Truman, Chiang Kai-Shek, Emperor Hirohito, Noriega of Panama, Batista of Cuba, Somoza of Nicaragua, Diem of South Vietnam, Shah of Iran, Saddam Hussein, Bin Laden, Eisenhower, Nixon, Johnson, Carter, Reagan, Bush, Clinton, Tony Blair, and Marcos of the Philippines. Imagine also the leaders of other countries too created not only in the mind of God but also installed by the US government to serve the interest of the US military that serves the interest of the rich US armament corporations own by the wealthy few and the powerful in America. Since the time of Jesus, hundreds of billions people already lived and died on this earth. Among them were the Christians, the Jews, and the Muslims. They lived hating and died cutting each other’s throats in God’s name and for His glory in heaven. For my part, I find it incredible to believe that the children of the Christians, the children of the Jews, and the children of the Muslims were once all conceived in the mind of God. If I were present with the Lord when he made man, I would have said, Lord, make the Christians, make the Jews, and make the Muslims; but Lord, if you want peace on earth and goodwill to all men, please do not make man in your own image and likeness! To Pastor Rick Warren, the author of PURPOSE DRIVEN LIFE, a best seller, I should wish to congratulate you. Also, I should wish to convey to all of your faithful readers: It is good to be Born-Again. It is, however, much better to grow up! Poch Suzara
Thursday, July 20, 2006
Humanism - Behind Bar
The essay below was hand written and mailed to me by Roy G. Angana, a prisoner, among the 1,000 prisoners in Dapecol, Maximum Compound, Davao Del Norte, Philippines. I typed it for you readers in the hope that you too can help this prisoner and his group materialize their aims and ambitions. I have been sending these men magazines and articles including used books in the hope that I can help to keep their spirit free and rich. For their further studies in the search of the truth, they need more reading materials, pocket book dictionaries, ball-pens, notebooks, pads of paper and, most useful would be a donation of old typewriters. Any other contribution, I am sure, will also be highly appreciated.
I have been in correspondence with these people since 6 years ago. It is encouraging to know how men in prison can write good articles and still be involved with civility and humanity. I should wish to invite you to enter into the picture and correspond directly with Roy G. Angana. After all, even while in prison, he too is seeking the good life – one inspired by love and guided by knowledge. For the pleasure and the attention of my readers residing in some 90 countries around the world, I am publishing Roy G. Angana's piece in my Blog
www. thoughtstoprovokeyourthoughts.blogspot Poch Suzara
HUMANISM – BEHIND BARS
by: Roy G. Angana – July 2006
Humanism is not innate in our being human. As humans living in the materialistic world, we are inherently governed by our natural instinct well-defined by Darwin as the survival of the fittest by natural selection. However man’s capability to think and reason makes him to be far more superior than any other mundane life-forms. Being highly intelligent, he is capable of changing and controlling his own environment to make it suitable for habitation, hence, he can also choose and direct his own destiny. Yet, in spite of human progressive advancement and modernity, man can easily turn inhuman quarreling with each other like savage animals due to his unbridled greed for wealth and power which caused so much pain and misery to all humanity.
And through his mental faculties, man has also produced lots of ideas, sometimes insane ideas and misguided philosophies, a product of his vain attempt to explain the mysteries of the unknown with total disregard to scientifically established facts. Born-out of his ignorance and the fear of the unknown, he created a system of beliefs for the supernatural and called it a religion. Consequently, he invented the gods and the goddess of all sorts. The pre-Socratic Greek philosopher Xenophanes rightly concluded that the gods had been created by humans in their own image. With these he also promulgated religious laws and doctrines which as history itself has testified, wrought untold havoc and the trail of blood since the earliest dawn of man. Religion is a self-serving human enterprise that promotes nothing but self-preservation, dominance and moral ascendancy to other human beings. Today, the world is not only geographically divided but more so, divided by man’s religious beliefs and understanding of the supernatural that produce open or silent hatred and intolerance among the humankind. Finally after the enlightenment, a new era of self-realization emerged and the understanding of the natural world has arrived. It started when it dawned on man that he has moral obligations and capabilities to change his world for the better, thereby took the responsibility. It is self-awareness which gave birth to humanism. Humanism is basically acquired and learned that will give a better chance of survival of the human species. Man started now to question critically the wisdom, if not the folly of his previous actions and beliefs and started to seek to understand the nature of his character. Indeed, it is only through the use of rational and critical thinking man can have a fair chance to resolve the problem of his character and understand the consequences of his actions.
Thus, humanism in Dapecol is born. The common existential self-awareness that whenever or wherever we can always do something for the good of society in particular and humanity in general. A realization that against the back-drop of a fast-paced society outside in a race of a never-ending quest for selfish gain and survival, we could slowly but surely plant a seed of reciprocal altruism among us and learn to co-exist in a win-win situation thereby surviving together in this hostile environment. Of course pessimist may think that behind bars is the most unlikely place for humanism to start with, however, it is the most challenging too. And we believe that our own efforts towards humanist ideals will serve as a catalyst for inspiration to other humanist in the free world. In here is the most acid test for humanism workability because it is in behind bars where the primeval survival of the fittest instinct rules. People in the free society considered prisons as the haven of lawlessness, ruthless and hardened criminals, though I know being an insider, this is an overstatement. There are still many of us who are trying to retain any semblance of human dignity and cling to whatever left of our morality while continually hoping to be given a second chance to live a normal and a decent life again upon re-integration into society. At present, we are slowly gaining grounds in promoting humanist ethics and philosophy despite lack of resources, mobility and only minimal outside support. What is the most important is that, though we are still in prison, our thoughts are free. That constitutes a big difference. We learn to value free thought being purveyor of humanism. Fred Edwords, a famous humanist, explicitly puts it, “free thought isn’t just a set of abstract philosophical ideas or critique of religion. It is and always has been a commitment to social change and social action, having a profound and positive impact on the advancement of civilization.” Thus, we look forward to the day when our country is no longer held captive of the caprices of the few and a prisoner of poverty, ignorance, and superstitious beliefs that have enslaved us for so long, but instead to be a truly free country that adheres to truth and justice and reciprocal altruism for the sake of our children’s children.
Roy G. Angana
Dapecol, Maximum Compound
Davao Del Norte, 1801
I have been in correspondence with these people since 6 years ago. It is encouraging to know how men in prison can write good articles and still be involved with civility and humanity. I should wish to invite you to enter into the picture and correspond directly with Roy G. Angana. After all, even while in prison, he too is seeking the good life – one inspired by love and guided by knowledge. For the pleasure and the attention of my readers residing in some 90 countries around the world, I am publishing Roy G. Angana's piece in my Blog
www. thoughtstoprovokeyourthoughts.blogspot Poch Suzara
HUMANISM – BEHIND BARS
by: Roy G. Angana – July 2006
Humanism is not innate in our being human. As humans living in the materialistic world, we are inherently governed by our natural instinct well-defined by Darwin as the survival of the fittest by natural selection. However man’s capability to think and reason makes him to be far more superior than any other mundane life-forms. Being highly intelligent, he is capable of changing and controlling his own environment to make it suitable for habitation, hence, he can also choose and direct his own destiny. Yet, in spite of human progressive advancement and modernity, man can easily turn inhuman quarreling with each other like savage animals due to his unbridled greed for wealth and power which caused so much pain and misery to all humanity.
And through his mental faculties, man has also produced lots of ideas, sometimes insane ideas and misguided philosophies, a product of his vain attempt to explain the mysteries of the unknown with total disregard to scientifically established facts. Born-out of his ignorance and the fear of the unknown, he created a system of beliefs for the supernatural and called it a religion. Consequently, he invented the gods and the goddess of all sorts. The pre-Socratic Greek philosopher Xenophanes rightly concluded that the gods had been created by humans in their own image. With these he also promulgated religious laws and doctrines which as history itself has testified, wrought untold havoc and the trail of blood since the earliest dawn of man. Religion is a self-serving human enterprise that promotes nothing but self-preservation, dominance and moral ascendancy to other human beings. Today, the world is not only geographically divided but more so, divided by man’s religious beliefs and understanding of the supernatural that produce open or silent hatred and intolerance among the humankind. Finally after the enlightenment, a new era of self-realization emerged and the understanding of the natural world has arrived. It started when it dawned on man that he has moral obligations and capabilities to change his world for the better, thereby took the responsibility. It is self-awareness which gave birth to humanism. Humanism is basically acquired and learned that will give a better chance of survival of the human species. Man started now to question critically the wisdom, if not the folly of his previous actions and beliefs and started to seek to understand the nature of his character. Indeed, it is only through the use of rational and critical thinking man can have a fair chance to resolve the problem of his character and understand the consequences of his actions.
Thus, humanism in Dapecol is born. The common existential self-awareness that whenever or wherever we can always do something for the good of society in particular and humanity in general. A realization that against the back-drop of a fast-paced society outside in a race of a never-ending quest for selfish gain and survival, we could slowly but surely plant a seed of reciprocal altruism among us and learn to co-exist in a win-win situation thereby surviving together in this hostile environment. Of course pessimist may think that behind bars is the most unlikely place for humanism to start with, however, it is the most challenging too. And we believe that our own efforts towards humanist ideals will serve as a catalyst for inspiration to other humanist in the free world. In here is the most acid test for humanism workability because it is in behind bars where the primeval survival of the fittest instinct rules. People in the free society considered prisons as the haven of lawlessness, ruthless and hardened criminals, though I know being an insider, this is an overstatement. There are still many of us who are trying to retain any semblance of human dignity and cling to whatever left of our morality while continually hoping to be given a second chance to live a normal and a decent life again upon re-integration into society. At present, we are slowly gaining grounds in promoting humanist ethics and philosophy despite lack of resources, mobility and only minimal outside support. What is the most important is that, though we are still in prison, our thoughts are free. That constitutes a big difference. We learn to value free thought being purveyor of humanism. Fred Edwords, a famous humanist, explicitly puts it, “free thought isn’t just a set of abstract philosophical ideas or critique of religion. It is and always has been a commitment to social change and social action, having a profound and positive impact on the advancement of civilization.” Thus, we look forward to the day when our country is no longer held captive of the caprices of the few and a prisoner of poverty, ignorance, and superstitious beliefs that have enslaved us for so long, but instead to be a truly free country that adheres to truth and justice and reciprocal altruism for the sake of our children’s children.
Roy G. Angana
Dapecol, Maximum Compound
Davao Del Norte, 1801
Saturday, July 15, 2006
You Have Got a Problem, Buddy
You've Got a Problem, Buddy! I find it incredible that you ask me to believe that the earth was created in six literal days; women come from a man’s rib; a snake, a donkey, and a burning bush spoke human language; the entire world was flooded, covering the mountains to drown evil; all animal species, millions of them, rode on one boat; language variations stem from the tower of Babel; Moses had a magic wand; the Nile turned to blood; a stick turned into a snake; witches, wizards, and sorcerers really exist; food rained from the sky for 40 years; people were cured by the sight of a brass serpent; the sun stood still to help Joshua win a battle, and it went backward for King Hezekiah; men survived unaided in a fiery furnace; a detached hand floated in the air and wrote on a wall; men followed a star which directed them to a particular house; Jesus walked on water unaided; fish and bread magically multiplied to feed the hungry; water instantly turned into wine; mental illness is caused by demons; a “devil” with wings exists who causes evil; people were healed by stepping into a pool agitated by angels; disembodied voiced spoke from the sky; Jesus vanished and later materialized from thin air; people were healed by Peter’s shadow; angels broke people out of jail; a fiery lake of eternal torment awaits unbelievers under the earth ... while there is life-after-death in a city which is 1,500 miles cubed, with mansions and food, for Christians only. If you believe these stories, then you are the one with the problem, not me. These myths violate natural law, contradict science, and fail to correspond with reality or logic. If you can’t see that, then you can’t separate truth from fantasy. It doesn’t matter how many people accept delusions inflicted by “holy” men; a widely held lie is still a lie. If you are so gullible, then you are like the child who believes the older brother who says there is a monster in the hallway. But there is nothing to be afraid of; go turn on the light and look for yourself.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)