Thursday, October 14, 2004

Hope for Peace

Is there hope for peace? Yes, there is. The bow and arrow were once weapons of attack and defense with an aim to destroy, but today it is an art of Archery - a pure exercise in skill. Fencing and sword fighting too have become a sport in the Olympic Games. Who knows, one day, our nuclear weapons may be used to offset killer meteors on the way to destroy the planet earth. Poch Suzara

Terrorism

"Terrorism is the best political weapon as nothing drives people harder than the fear of sudden death." Hitler. Today, US President Bush and his gang are saying exactly the same thing to the American people. Poch Suzara

Destructive

If being destructive were part of human nature, how come we are born crying with mama already on our side? Poch Suzara

Food for body and mind

What is food for the body if it were not ambrosial? The same goes with food for the mind: it has to be controversial. Poch Suzara

Jaime Cardinal Sin

Jaime Cardinal Sin, the Archbishop of Manila, had a heart attack and was rushed to the hospital. Nobody, however, thought of rushing him to church. What happened to the power of prayer? Poch Suzara

Religion

Why is it that religion has all the answers for everybody and yet has solutions for nobody? Poch Suzara

Love your enemies

Love your enemies according to Jesus and turn the other cheek if someone smite thee on thy right cheek. On the other hand, Jesus also said: "Depart from me you cursed one, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels. Matt. 25:41. Yet we are told that Jesus was the paragon of love, the prince of peace, the savior of the world. Poch Suzara

If we die

If we die, shall we live again? Job 14:14. I ask: If we shall live again after we are dead and gone, doesn't that make death nothing but a sick joke? Poch Suzara

God so loved the world

God so loved the world in that He gave his only begotten Son. Too bad God had no begotten daughter. She could have done a better job in straightening out the mess in this world. Poch Suzara

Washing evil out

Washing evil out of this world is not our business for it is beyond our power to do so. Nevetheless, if we can choose from among the lesser evils as a consolation, why couldn' the Creator choose too from among the lesser evils as a decent reflection? Poch Suzara

The closer we get to God

Why do we need to get closer to God if God were already everywhere? And why is it that the closer we get to God the more he gets farther away from us. And why does God continue to hide away from the problems of his children otherwise also known as the Human Race? In the meantime, the bible says: "Draw near to God and He will draw near to you." James 4:8. I ask: when is it suppose to happen? Poch Suzara

The greatest crime

The greatest crime is the crime of taciturnity; especially as it is encouraged by timidity and inspired by stupidity. Poch Suzara

Instead of killing people

Instead of killing people with stupid beliefs, why not kill instead the stupid beliefs that got people to be stupid to begin with? The power of reason should play a role. Poch Suzara

Women

Women may be selfish, greedy, stupid, and insane. They may be murderers, adulterers, thieves, and liars. But there is one thing that remains totally lovable and highly respectable about women: Not one of them ever wrote a silly line in the silly book known as the holy bible - a silly book written by silly men authors of a silly God. Poch Suzara

Bush and Bin Laden

George W Bush wants to liberate the Arabs in the Middle East away from Islam. Osama Bin Ladin wants to liberate the Americans in America away from Christianity. For my part, I want to thank both God and Allah for having liberated me as I am better off as a faithful atheist. Poch Suzara

Tuesday, October 12, 2004

There is Nothing Tragic

THERE IS NOTHING TRAGIC

There is nothing tragic about having been raised by ignorant parents at home; or educated by ignorant teachers in school; or indoctrinated into one’s faith by ignorant priests in church.

What’s truly tragic, however, is if, in later life, under the inspiration of more fear and ignorance, we do not search for the truth. We just carry on with our children and grandchildren to have faith in the same old religious mendacity; to believe in the same old political hypocrisy; and to contribute to the same old social insanity – that’s keeping us spiritually poor as a people and morally bankrupt as a nation.

Undoubtedly, our system of education is nothing but a euphemism for the evils of stupidity. Regretfully, however, only by replacing such evils with faith, especially faith in supernatural mediocrity. Who benefits in the end? Obviously not the people in desperate need of a higher standard of living and thinking; but only the superstitious primitives supporting the so-called believers behind the most profitable of commercial enterprises in the Philippines - schools, colleges, and universities! Poch Suzara

Wednesday, October 06, 2004

Dear Fellow-Americans

Oct. 4, 2004

Dear Fellow-Americans,

I am a Filipino-American residing in the Philippines. The U.S. Bill of Rights is precious to me. It has made it possible for me to think freely, to articulate my views, however unpopular or heretical they might be. Indeed to write what follows without fear of suppression or repercussion. I should wish to put on public record my shame of the U.S. government. The central government in Washington has become a source of national malady and international ills rather than the potential for local and global sanity.

More than half the population of the world is under-nourished, not because it need be, but because the U.S. government prefers to be in the business of killing rather than helping poorer countries achieve a higher standard of living. For example, instead of sending to the Philippines materials for human welfare, the U.S. government sends materials for enemy warfare. The result, thus far: - the Filipino is becoming more sophisticated in the business of killing fellow-Filipinos. Meanwhile poverty, hunger, disease, unemployment, and the continuing population explosion continue to be problems for divine intervention, and not attention for Philippine government confrontation.

Yesterday, killings were about the fight against “communists,” in possession of weapons of mass destruction. Today, it is called the fight against “terrorists” in possession of weapons of mass destruction. What’s the difference? In fact, many countries possess “weapons of mass destruction.” Half of the world calls it “faith in God.” The other half calls it “faith in Allah.” And under whichever faith, the faithful believers see nothing immoral to cut each other’s throat, especially since both cannot agree as to what will happen to them after their throats have been cut. Now isn’t it obvious that our enemy is not another human being, but organized conflicting faiths based on sacred barbarism?

Bertrand Russell once asked: “Have we all become savage? Why do we turn, inevitably, towards ferocity in dealing with political opponents – towards maiming or killing or sentencing them to disproportionately long imprisonment? I think it is because we live in an atmosphere of fear bred by political policies. We have been conditioned to accept cruelty, even the threat of extermination, as the sole means of defending a way of life that seems to prove itself, by such result, hardly worth defending.”

The greater crime we face today is the crime of silence. It is time to speak up. I am most proud of Michael Moore. In the film document FAHRENHEIT 9/11, he proved it no longer a theory, but a paradoxical fact that as far as the United States government is concerned, nations of this world can only keep alive by preparing to kill each other. The main economy of the United States continues to be based on revenues not for health and community development, but for war, death and destruction, and the preparation for future wars.

Nothing breeds more hate and terror than the spread of fear based on lies. Our young men and women in military uniform, no doubt, have the courage to die in battle; unfortunately, they do not have the courage to question what it is that they are dying for in Iraq today. Immoral acts breed immoral acts. Must we therefore continue to commit atrocities because we cannot discontinue to believe absurdities?

I appeal to fellow-Americans to support Americans with a conscience everywhere today who give the USA a good name. One such thinking American is Ramsey Clark. He referred George W. Bush, James Baker, Richard Cheney, Colin Powell, and others to the International War Crimes Tribunal – a commission of inquiry for evidences of war crimes against Iraq and crimes against humanity.

Let us work and vote for a government of construction and not a government of destruction. In this 21st century, there is no longer any need for American wealth and power to be based upon past wars, present wars, and the preparation for future wars. The power and wealth of America should be founded upon the pursuit of the truth, the spread of liberty, and the advancement of science for peace and goodwill to all men, women, and children throughout the world.

Yours faithfully,

POCH SUZARA
Bertrand Russell Society, Philippines
San Lorenzo Village
Makati city, Philippines

Wednesday, September 29, 2004

It is said

It is said that those who deny God deny Him because of their despair at not finding Him. I believe this to be a delusion born of fear. A God who has not ceased hiding away from the problems of the human race is not worth finding to begin with. Indeed, the important question is not whether we believe in God; but does God believe in the human race? If God does care and provides for us, how so, and where is He? Poch Suzara

Tuesday, September 28, 2004

Belief in God

Belief in God is not knowledge; in fact, most people deny knowledge in order to make roon for faith in God. And as long as we continue to cut each other's throat since we cannot agree as to what will happen to us after our throats have been cut, we shall always have faith in God; or, as the case may be, we shall always have "faith in Allah." Poch Suzara

Jesus

Jesus was a typical Christian. He was comfortable to be around fishermen, sheepherders, and carpenters; but he was not happy to be in the company of writers, thinkers, and philosophers. In fact, not one of his apostles was a recruit from the intellectual community. Poch Suzara