A consolidated copy of the Reproductive Health Bill can be found in the GMA News website. I strongly encourage everyone to read it for themselves and see what the bill seeks to do. I would like to emphasize this invitation to all the freethinkers who have not yet read the bill. While the Reproductive Health Bill is in line with the idea of secularism, beneficence and to a certain extent, equity; this doesn’t mean that we have to fall for all the provisions of this bill. This bill was framed by congress – not the heroes of freethought – so be your usual critical self when dissecting the contents of this document.

The more familiar you are with the bill, the easier it will be for you to verbalize your position on the issue. You may also read more about the issue on Filipino Freethinkers.

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February 1, 2009 was the first day that the members of the Pinoy Atheists mailing list met up at Starbucks Shangri-La. It was a potentially tense environment. One of the biggest cliches regarding putting atheists together in one room is the idea that herding atheists is like herding cats. Atheists, agnostics or anyone who chooses to exercise his or her ability for freethought would likely have a harder time finding common ground. The first few online exchanges were really contentious, but fortunately, it all worked out in the end.

Red Tani (the current president of the Filipino Freethinkers) barged into the mailing list with a lot of attitude – something that was both threatening and annoying to long-time members who weren’t even regularly meeting despite being around for years. Red had a vision to make the group more pro-active and politically-relevant. He wanted to take the discussion away from the echo chamber of an atheist-only organization into the public sphere.

Thanks to the sheer ingenuity, generosity and dedication of members over the past two years, the Filipino Freethinkers have been able to host several activities and now, the organization (for better or for worse); has been able to forge political ties with parties with a strong belief in the value of secularism. It was sure fun to stand on a soapbox, but voices are only heard when it’s being said by a critical mass representing a wide array of individuals who believe in the same value. Values that cut across cultural and religious boundaries are especially most effective in opening the eyes of people to issues that affect society.

I cannot begin to express how proud I am to stand next to the great people who bother to use their free time for such worthy causes such as reaching out to other freethinkers and championing the rights of the underserved and the down-right discriminated against. I couldn’t enumerate you all, but to the hardworking members of the Filipino Freethinkers, I am truly honored to be in this with all of you.

Congratulations to us.

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You can not legislate morality has been one of the catch phrases of the Catholic Church when it comes to the Reproductive Health Bill. There’s something really problematic and down right stubborn with this stance – and it’s almost reminiscent of the Limp Bizkit hit My Way (a song that goes like “I’mma do things my way/ it’s my way or the highway”). Obviously, there is a diversity of opinions in society that doesn’t exactly give the church a monopoly on what morality is. At the end of the day, the Church is a body that believes in ten commandments – the first two of which will never apply to anyone outside of the Judeo-Christian faith.

It’s actually very interesting to know whether or not the church and its supporters believe in that they deserve a VERY privileged position in the discussion (i.e. we get to say what goes because ONLY WE know what’s right and wrong). This is the same side who said things like this in a public forum, by the way:

• If 11 women die everyday because of pregnancy-related complications, why do we claim to be overpopulated?

• Consequently, the RH Bill will then legalize child prostitution, since dirty old men with money can simply send scouts out to public schools to pick out young girls for their sexual whims.

• There are only 2 genders — heterosexual male and heterosexual female.

If a body can be as deluded to make these false claims in the interest of proving a point, sowing fear or simply saying things for the sake of saying them, should we really take them seriously? They are clearly not in the business of negotiating since they are convinced that their interpretation of the word of the supposed god is the only way to look at things.

Laws are created for the overarching reason of marking the bounds of acceptable behavior. In a society with many belief systems and other philosophies, a state must have the last say on what goes and of course, such decisions are arrived at through debating in a legislative body like the Halls of Congress. It’s not a perfect system but it’s a system that somehow allows for representation that was derived from supposedly democratic means. Since decisions made by a few will end up impacting everyone in the end, there needs to be an element of representation and democracy in this front.

The concept of right and wrong are clearly more relative than what most people would be willing to admit. While most people would agree that killing is wrong, most Catholics/ Christians would easily accept the idea that the taking of life in the name of self-defense or in some cases; capital punishment, is something that is acceptable. If something this basic can have multiple interpretations among the faithful (even in a make-believe theocracy), there is a need for a regulatory body to set the rules of the state. In this case, morality or what is deemed accessible is made standard by the government.

There are parts of the Reproductive Health Bill that I am not comfortable with (and I’m going to be discussing that in future entries); but unfortunately, these issues are not the ones being discussed right now.

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An article on Filipino Freethinkers captured why an alliance between UNAIDS and the Roman Catholic Church on the issue of HIV and AIDS awareness and prevention can be quite a head scratcher. The piece by Filipino Freethinkers President Red Tani sure shows the fundamental contradictions between the stances of the two groups. While UNAIDS supports the idea of the giving out of condoms to decrease the likelihood of virus transmission, the church (and the Pope for that matter) have been preaching the idea that giving away condoms to people will only make them more likely to be promiscuous – hence leading to more cases of infection.

Both sides have the right to believe what they want to believe – regardless of what scientific evidence and various studies show. No one can ever force other people to believe a certain way. What could possibly be the purpose of this partnership then?

Can the church really play a pro-active role by being really against the use of condoms?

On one hand, the church is theoretically a good ally in just about any thing in the Philippines. If you would believe the bloated statistics of so-called Catholics in the country, the population is around 80% Catholic. We all know that a good chunk of these Cath0lics are non-practising or cafeteria Catholics – the type who don’t really go to mass or just go because they have to or have nothing else to do. The message of the church about abstinence and non-promiscuity would certainly resonate among the REAL catholics. Unfortunately, the amount of people who believe in everything that the Catholic Church says is probably really small. If the 2010 elections were any indication, there were a whopping 39 thousand people who decided to follow the CBCP’s call to the public to vote for JC Delos Reyes.

I would like to thank that UNAIDS would rather have an ally – rather than an apathetic observer or even an enemy in the form of the church. The church can never really preach past their walls and influence what people do in the privacy of their own homes and other places where people like to bump uglies (sorry for the technical term). A lot of catholics don’t listen to the church at all and at the end of the day, the church really is left in an echo chamber with only its most ardent and die-hard supporters listening.

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Before I delve further into the discussing the idea that would be the crux of this post, let me first set up a caveat; I believe all people have the right to have their own set of beliefs regardless of what other people would think. In turn, other people are also free to weigh in on these beliefs systems as long as it is done in a way that is meant to be factual, objective and without malice or any additional effort to cause pain or insult. That has always been how I’ve approached blogging in this site for the past few years but given the topic of this post, I feel the need to somehow repeat this quasi motto (no pun intended) of mine.

I have many friends who I’ll probably call liberal or progressive Catholics and Muslims but sometimes I ask myself, what does that tag really mean?

There are probably hundreds of religions in the world and these faiths are even subdivided into so many different variations that at the end of the day, smaller communities and congregations would have their own de facto religion with slight to moderate differences with the stance of the main church. This is even more pronounced in a religion like Islam wherein the hierarchy of the clergy is not as established and well-observed as in the Roman Catholic Church.

While there is some semblance in order when it comes to the Roman Catholic Church due to the overarching powers of the Pontiff when it comes to setting religious orders and weighing in on certain matters, the opinion of the masses and possibly the religious men and women who keep the church afloat through the trying times are unlikely to be monolithic. This shows that people form their perceptions not simply based on what their religious leaders but also on other factors such as personal preferences and experiences, societal pressures, cultural biases and any other random variable that goes into the decision making process. The amount that each factor gets in influencing the end result is anyone’s guess – it really is a complicated matter; so complicated that even the person deciding would probably have a difficult time quantifying just how much each element affected his or her choice.

In the reproductive health issue for instance, the majority of Filipinos support the bill despite the blatant efforts of different sectors to derail the discussion and demonize the pro-RH side. The misinformation and lies that the other side is spreading is just down right horrendous and insulting to the point that it’s very unlikely that anyone would take it seriously. Since over a third of citizens support the bill and surveys also indicate that 4 out every 5 Filipinos is a Roman Catholic, one can make the quick assumption that the majority of those supporting the Reproductive Health bill are actually Catholics – supposedly, people who would champion the ever-powerful church.

On one hand, it’s great to have allies who are both Catholic and could still see the errors of their Church’s way. It shows that believing in a higher being and in a religion (a distinction that many people never see) doesn’t mean that you have to fall for everything hook, line and sinker. To these people who don’t agree with the standards of their church, they truly believe that they are right in showing their disapproval and outright revulsion against what is being done to kill the RH bill. We’ve seen various Twibbon campaigns directed towards people who were proud both of their Catholicism and their support for the RH Bill. Clearly, having them fight for the cause of RH allows for the bill to have a semblance of support from the cultural and social majority.

What I find odd about this scenario is the amount of cognitive dissonance that this sort of mentality and approach to social issues and one’s personal church must generate. While it is advantageous to have a Christian/ Catholic openly contest and point out the mistakes and shortcomings of his church, doesn’t it in the end all for show or at least all hypocritical or half-hearted?

The  Catholic Church was constructed as a means to unite and gather people with a similar belief and it will always be under the sway of a leader elected by the other high-ranking officials of the congregation. It has always been a teaching institution. Masses were never meant to be interactive – things that were supposed to said were said during scheduled times. There is no room for spontaneity in services; the only one who could afford to do some improvisation is the priest while he’s doing the homily (i.e. the rant against those who support the RH Bill). The basis of citizen dissent is absent in the vocabulary of the Church – it has always been about a story of submission and perennial yielding to the authority of those at the top of the food chain.

Clearly, a person who has the intellectual and emotional fortitude to challenge his church and provide a dissenting opinion is someone who supports the idea of making the right choices for himself; not just in the sense of having free will in doing what he plans to do but also in deciding which things are to considered moral and which things are to be considered wrong.  There has to be a strong sense of dissonance and chaos in the mind of a person who thinks that his church – a body that is supposed to teach him how to live his life – has fundamental flaws in handling matters concerning personal freedoms and rights. Why would someone who believes so strongly in a value be willing to forgo that inconsistency through going to church to hear mass on a Sunday?

One popular answer is that the church changes as time goes on – most of the things in the Old Testament (a book that is left unread by many Catholics to the point that Atheists probably have the upper hand in the subject) are no longer considered to be that important as edicts and religious orders from the so-called god in the book. If one is willing to have this philosophy on the dynamism of the church, it actually opens a can of worms. The church was meant to be a strong institution that would uphold the teaching of who they believe to be god and to say that there will be some form of compromise would be decreasing its credibility and even betraying the entire purpose of its existence. I would even go as far as saying that not following what the church says to a T probably makes the whole process of being under a religion and hearing mass utterly pointless since you’re voluntarily putting yourself under an institution despite having major issues with what the church is propagandizing.

The whole point of being in a church – at least for the spiritual context of the argument – is to have a connection between a theoretical entity that could potentially be a god (okay, for the sake of discussion, THE god), yourself and the mighty vehicle that would supposedly help you figure out how to live your life and ultimately gain the promised salvation during the end of times. Other reasons of course would include not wanting to go of your routine, going to mass just for show, stalking people who also attend etc. but that’s really beside the spiritual point. The whole purpose of being in a church to be in a building with like-minded individuals who believe in the value of worship in a specialized edifice and think that attendance is a must at least once a week.

I know the corollary to my whole ‘dissonance’ scenario is an even grimmer and nastier scenario – that of zealotry and outright churchfreakism; but isn’t that what Catholics and Christians should be more like based on how they should behave as a member of Jesus’ hive? People who believe that a person has the right to pick out the things that he or she would believe in the bible or from church press releases would probably have the brains and guts as well to step out of the church and carry on worshiping the god that he or she was so into in the first place. The church doesn’t own the god concept – nor does the Roman Catholic Church have the monopoly on praying to Jesus Christ, his father and other related entities. If one could think that values are arbitrary, that person would probably also have the intellectual sophistication that his god, his church or his attendance to a congregation are also probably not immune from his ability to customize his or her beliefs.

The ideas of being able to make up your own standards, disagree with your religion,  form an informed decision and being in a church just has great contradictions that could not possibly reconciled. Most people who have these inconsistencies don’t even bother and simply trudge on under the sentiment that his or her ability to rationally parse information and make decisions as well as being part of religious institutions are values that are both important in his or her life. Being okay with the contradiction doesn’t make the dissonance go away though.

I still have mixed feelings about people who fight for what they believe in and still choose to take the crap from the pulpit every Sunday for some reason. It’s great to have them as comrades in a battle for what I think is right and admirable, but someone should tell them that they can practice their faith (again, something that should be divorced from the worship of their god) elsewhere. I’m not saying that they should but somebody ought to tell them in case they didn’t know.

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I wrote this song with Emil Pugoy seven years ago. I think it’s one of the best songs we’ve ever written together and it would be an honor for some other people to take time to listen to it.  I’d like to think that I really pushed the lyrics to the maximum on this one. I hope you guys like it.

GODLESS – download link

Slowly sliding to your misery

you’re quietly loathing frustaration’s building

the time’s just passing

the tower’s crashing chance is waning

your soul is burning

follow me to your destiny

im your opiate

your reality

now you see im your divinity

my flesh my blood has rendered you free

my hands my breath has made you be

all things were bred and would retire in me

believe my teachings my every tenet

follow my words and you will be free

the flames of hell are closing in

trying to sear your impure skin

hell is for non believers

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To commemorate exactly one year of Filipino Freethinkers’ existence as a free thought advocates’ collective and to further show the world that the organization loves using words that start with the letter “F”, the Filipino Freethinkers will be hosting the First Filipino Freethinkers Film Festival on February 27. This promises to be one of the largest gatherings of freethinkers with hundreds of participants expected to attend.

The First Filipino Freethinkers Forum back in February 28 jump started the organization and there have been countless meetups, provincial gatherings, symposiums, parties and other social events since then. If you’re a freethinker, join us and enjoy films on secularism, rationalism and other freethinker favorites.

The venue is quite big so bring all your freethinking friends and family along. Just RSVP via the event’s official Facebook page and we’ll reserve a seat for you. See you there!

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Humans just can’t get enough of the thrill of uncertainty. While being on a spheroid rock that is hurtling across the universe at a break neck speed is already exciting enough if you really consider all the other unknowns that could be lying in wait behind the darkness of space, a lot of people continue to push rumors and concepts to make people panic and run around like headless chickens.

Armageddon.

Apocalypse.

The end of the world.

All these terms resonates deeply with just about every person on the planet. To some, a string of earthquakes, cyclones and untimely deaths all add up to the End of Days. One cannot really fault man. Man’s memory is limited to a mere number of years. While some people can live for a century, the human brain is only at an optimum level for fifty years at the most so the quality of memories. While memories, observations and learnings of a past generation can be documented, it still doesn’t resonate as concretely as an actual experience of a current generation. This is why it’s easy to dismiss the things that have happened before and overstate the gravity of the things that are happening at present.

Just two centuries ago, Mt. Tambora in the island of Krakatoa had a largest volcanic eruption in recorded history. Imagine how scared people would have been during those times – it was mentioned in some accounts that the sound of the explosion as well as the ash was appreciated in places that were far from the source.

Millions of years ago, an asteroid miles across hit the Yucatan Peninsula. I can’t think of a single more devastating thing. And oh, if you didn’t know how the story ‘ended’, the asteroid story arc didn’t exactly conclude the the book to the apocalypse.

Worse things have happened before our lifetimes. You will have to be terribly gullible or narcissistic to even consider that OUR generation is among the last generations on Earth.

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As someone who dabbled in being in an atheist acoustic duo for over a couple of years, hearing of another similarly minded partnership makes me somehow feel warm and fuzzy inside. William of Happy Days Ahead shared their new songs at the Filipino Freethinkers mailing list and he has quickly made new fans out of us in the group.

The song See is a very witty take on how romantic relationships between religious and atheist individuals play out. Atheist undertones aside, See is a very catchy song that could most definitely make believers (pun intended) out of many people.

To listen to the song, simple go to Happy Days Ahead’s MySpace page.

See

It’s funny but I’m not laughing
How am I going to change your mind?

Really…
What you believe in…
Is it the best that you can find?

I
can watch you while you’re dreaming
and hold you while you sleep
But you
choose to talk to something
that won’t even learn to speak

Its picture in
your pocket
can’t even keep you warm at night
But I’m here waiting for you

I won’t even be out of your sight

It’s funny, you believe in things
your
naked eyes can’t see

Here I am
Right here
Before you
and you don’t
believe in me

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Because I’m lazy like that… and for the reason that I really like this post.

The Grand Plan to Affirm One’s Ego

To simplify it, if you orchestrated the entire time line of history to make you the king of all and the venerated on, doesn’t it make you quite an egotistic, self-centered individual (or deity) for that matter?

What’s the value of the supposed sacrifice when the trade off is immortality in the lore of mankind?

Disclaimer: This is an argument against the soundness of whole issue of “sacrifice” for mankind argument that continues to be the biggest draw of the christian faith. All cases were made on the assumption that the crucifixion and resurrection happened – since I have to engage those who believe those things actually occurred – don’t be confused though, I definitely don’t adhere to the idea that a resurrection actually happened.

Comments will be closed for this particular post. Kindly post your comments on the linked page.

Happy Good Friday.

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Here we ago again. Preparations are now being done for the next Filipino Freethinkers Forum.

Ryan has already set up the registration page so head out to Filipino Freethinkers’ official website.

Where: a conference room in Ateneo (Katipunan) (ISO building near Xavier and Bellarmine bldg.)
When: 2-6PM – Saturday, March 28, 2009
What: Filipino Freethinkers Forum 2

“Practical Freethinking: Freethinkers in an Unfree World”
The problems freethinkers face in Filipino society and
the alternative solutions to cope or deal with it

Why:
Free admission
Free food
Freethinking

Who:
Anyone willing to discuss issues relevant to the theme within the framework of freethinking (reason, evidence, free inquiry).

Seats are limited so reserve your slot now! Deadline of reservations is this Sunday (March 22), 12 MN.

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I had to speak quickly because time was running out. haha.

For more videos and pictures, please go to Filipino Freethinkers.

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Watch live video from Filipino Freethinkers Channel on Justin.tv

Just started.

Red just finished talking about practical freethinking.

We are now doing a game show! Identify the freethinker!

Now reading messages from Dan Barker, Hemant Mehta.

John Pariaso is now talking. He’s one of the elder statesmen of Filipino Freethinking (both online and offline) and is also a veteran of many Luneta debates. He’s talking about FREETHINKING IN THE GRASS ROOTS.

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It’s Hemant Mehta‘s birthday today!  Hemant is the blogger behind one of the most popular atheism-related blogs – Friendly Atheist. I was surprised to find out that he’s only a couple of years older than me at age 26.

Maligayang Bati Hemant Mehta!

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It’s finally here! After weeks of planning and organizing, the First Filipino Freethinkers forum will be held on Saturday afternoon (February 28, 2009 1-4PM) at Fully Booked Bonifacio High Street’s U-View Theater. Registration for the event is still on going, but due to the logistical limitations of the venue, we are limited to a capacity of around 65. The forum itself is free and snacks will be served.

It would be a great chance to touch base and get to know fellow freethinkers. This should be a welcome opportunity for people who have never met another freethinker in his lifetime. Circumstances and statistics have made us live in relative isolation so I do hope that you freethinkers out there would recognize the chance that this event presents.

How to get to the venue:

The venue is in Bonifacio High Street – two rows of specialty shops near Serendra and Market! Market!. It’s reachable by any of the following major roads – Kalayaan Flyover (from Quezon City) or McKinley Road (from Makati) or C-5 (from South Manila).

Some members would be coming from different parts  of the city so if you want to organize a carpool, you may coordinate with the other attendees via the Filipino Freethinkers Mailing List.

To get to Fully Booked Bonifacio High Street by public transport, you may take the MRT to the Ayala Avenue station. Once there, cross EDSA and look for the bus/jeepney terminal near the Shell station. From there, you may take a bus/jeep bound for Market! Market!

For those overseas or in other parts of the country

You may also catch the event via live stream on the Filipino Freethinkers channel on Justin.tv. Keep in mind that the event is scheduled on February 28, 2009 1-4PM +0800 GMT.

If you can’t log in at that time, we would also be uploading the forum over Youtube.

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