Well I finally got around to finalizing the entries to our very extended Essay Writing Contest, and the judges sure have their work cut out for them. We have 66 entries, listed in alphabetical order below, and while they’re an absolute delight to read through, the sheer volume of them is enough to make me wish I had made this a haiku writing contest.

But just who are these poor judges who have to read through each of them again and vote, you ask? Why, you of course!

That’s right folks, elections have come early and you get to help choose the winner of our first Essay Writing Contest. Here are the mechanics:

• Each of the articles below will display a “Vote” link at the bottom of the page. Click this link to cast a vote for the post.
• Registered users can vote for up to 15 articles, but must vote only once for each. Be honest; His Noodliness is watching.
• You have one week to vote, after which the top articles will be shortlisted for our first FF magazine publication.
• Editors will then vote for the winning article from the shortlist.

You are free to vote any way you feel, but we recommend the following criteria:

• Subject and Relevance (35 points) – subject matter must be of interest to readers, and must be relevant to freethought (optional: in the Philippine setting)
• Organization and Accuracy (25) – work must follow a central idea, and all facts stated must be accurate. i.e. avoid ranting, and cite sources when possible.
• Style and Soundness of reasoning (25) – work must be written in a manner that makes readers want to read on, and hopefully agree with your sentiment
• Overall coolness (15) – bonus points for blowing our minds.

Now get voting. There are no lesser evils here.

1. A Scientific Bible? by pinoyatheist
2. A Valuable Lesson by Ryan Tani
3. According to Bacon by pinoyatheist
4. An atheist learns from a dog by pinoyatheist
5. Angels and Demons by igme
6. Ashes to Ashes…dust to dust. by pinoyatheist
7. Atheistic Spirituality by pinoyatheist
8. Belief, non-belief, and homosexuality by f241vc15
9. Book Review : The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution by wes
10. Brainwashing with consent by pinoyatheist
11. Can you justify by mere faith? by pinoyatheist
12. Children’s Choice by igme
13. Chiz’s “pasang awa” project gets failing grade by Ryan Tani
14. Congressmen Contra-RH Bill by Geri Villas
15. Cory’s Legacy by wes
16. Couple’s Choice by igme
17. Creating “Creations” by pinoyatheist
18. Devastated by Ondoy? Congrats: You just passed Calculus! by Ryan Tani
19. Diet for Christians: Less Spam, More Meat by Ryan Tani
20. Does God Exist? Video Campaign — Refuted by Geri Villas
21. Elizabeth Cady Stanton by Wella
22. Faithful Dad, Faithless Dad by Ryan Tani
23. Falling In Love: The Physics Of Attraction by f241vc15
24. Fear of Meeting ff Folks by AnnThrop
25. Forsaken by Sathepine
26. Free Thinkers Political Watch Out by justinaquino
27. Freethinkers in the Philippines? by pinoyatheist
28. Freethought Poetry: Mothers by f241vc15
29. Ghosts by Tania Arpa
30. How to Oppose the RH Bill by Geri Villas
31. I Just Want Him Safe by Sathepine
32. I Killed My Guardian Angel – Is That OK? by yodz
33. Is Writing Rationally Irrational? by wes
34. Jesus and the Fig Tree by pinoyatheist
35. Judas, the Traitor? by igme
36. Just Like Rabbits by pinoyatheist
37. L2MF Post #02: On Courage, Industry, and Honesty by InfoLibertarian
38. L2MF Post #03: On Church Offerings and Charitable Donations by InfoLibertarian
39. Letters to My Father, Post #01 by InfoLibertarian
40. Liars and Friars by Ryan Tani
41. Of things concerning rock, paper, scissors, and other weapons by f241vc15
42. On Religion and Tolerance by pinoyatheist
43. On the Church’s NFP-only stance: The case of Texas by Twin-Skies
44. Philippine Historians’ Dilemma: What is Philippine Culture? by justinaquino
45. Review: Spring Awakening by wes
46. Sacrifice by igme
47. Sina B1 at B2: A conversation on contraception by Ryan Tani
48. Societal Health: the More Heathenly, the More Heavenly by Ryan Tani
49. Sorry guys, I’m reconverting… by f241vc15
50. Spare the Rod and SAVE the Child by Ryan Tani
51. Spiritual Enlightenment by Gerard Baula
52. The Birds and the Bees and the Hymens and the Mens by Ryan Tani
53. The Boss by innerminds
54. The Flaws of Science (?) by Harmless
55. The Problem with Superstitions. by pinoyatheist
56. The Theocracy Of Ed Panlilio by Geri Villas
57. Time and Life by innerminds
58. Towards healthier skepticism: Correlation does not imply causation by f241vc15
59. Viral Religion by Archer
60. We need more Catholics like this… by Twin-Skies
61. What The Faith — The Baldy, the Babes, and the Bears by Ryan Tani
62. When Death Hangs Above Your Head by pinoyatheist
63. Why People Worship Money by innerminds
64. Why volunteer? by Tania Arpa
65. Will to be Whole by Sathepine
66. Would You Like A Secular Philippines? by Benj

Note: A few of them might not be essays, but have been included as entries nontheless. If you have submissions that are not listed, please leave a comment and we will update the list.

posted on behalf of Gerard Baula (solvictus)

Have you ever sought enlightenment to feel that forgotten glorious experience in your soul? Of course, you have. But how did you know about enlightenment? Why search for it if you have never experience it? You see, enlightenment did not just pop out from nowhere. It had a history of development. In ancient times, we discovered and worshipped gods and goddesses. We carried our beliefs until one belief took over another one. Let us fast forward to the time when Romans ruled the lands. With their pope, they colonized and converted the barbarians and the outcasts to their religion. They said that we have to do this and that, pray like this, not like that, and the like. They manipulated our beliefs and thoughts. But when a major event – the Vatican Council II (the 21st general/ecumenical council of the Roman Catholic Church which took place between October 11, 1962 and December 8, 1965) – occurred, our beliefs and thoughts were free. We started shouting our questions to the world. Our conscience and way of thinking slowly changed. We sought ways and sources to attain these answers for our questions. Our focus of thoughts changed. From spirituality to science and/or vice versa, we searched for those answers. Then, we started to improve science and choose a spirituality to lean on. Yet it does not stop there. As you breathe now, everything changes even if you are not aware of it. Maybe at this moment, you have questions in mind or, somewhere in the distant future, you will find something to seek. From the birth of this planet or of this universe, we have only stayed here for just a short time. We are like animals, always hungry, but hungry for knowledge. Yet, as obvious as it is, our changes have never stopped and our need continues to grow. That is why enlightenment, especially spiritual enlightenment, is sought to satiate our hunger for the answers we seek. Spiritual enlightenment is more important for me because mental enlightenment can be accomplished through the sciences. While spiritual enlightenment can be achieved through personal reflections, strategic planning, and extensive social support. These are like the parts of a living plant.

Reflection is important because it is the root of interest and planning is the stem. To uphold all of this, social support, like oxygen and water, must be present. Thus, enlightenment is the flower, the fruit of patience and hardship. How can I ever be influenced by the fragrance of the flower if there is no flower? However, as I was a loner, I had so much time to reflect on my life and my questions of it. So, I reflected on my personality and on my attitude. I wonder what should be changed and not be changed. So, my life would be easier on me and how I prayed for it. Yet reality detaches me from these dreams – these reflections. Then I really experienced life as it is – full of successes and failures. My experiences of God and my religion gave me desire to attain spiritual enlightenment because I needed specific answers. I wanted to understand God. Possibilities are limitless but to name a few, I can be a priest and I can let my life serve the Lord until I can grasp what he likes me to do. I can research for these answers in bibles, works and other forms. Alternatively, I can just quit and see my answers at the gates of Heaven by waiting for my life to expire or I will shorten my life. However, what this enlightenment will do to me is unknown. I think it will ease my mind and caress my heart to a higher place. It will lead me to some place where I am superior to the unenlightened. All of these gave me the interest to pursue spiritual enlightenment. I feel a need for it. It is like my last meal before I die.

If you have the reason to attain enlightenment, then you must know how. Strategic planning is the first step in attaining spiritual enlightenment. So, we can arrange our thoughts and unite them to one. We are mortals and we are limited in some factors. One of them is time. Time limits our life. Time was created by early man to schedule his daily life. For us, enlightenment seekers, we need it to schedule our progress and with another factor, maturity, we know our level of thinking. This tells us that our views might be difficult to achieve while some persons need just to pursue some small goals to attain their spiritual enlightenment. The length we have to go through can be determined in our pace of development. This might be due to our interest or our willingness to go through what should we do from one level to another. The things to be done are the most important. Thoughts are useless if it will not be acted out and/or be applied in our actions. Be devoted. It maintains interest and refrains us from falling even when we are failing. It is the life support of our interest. Another important act you should do is to pray. Praying refreshes one’s status. It heals the poison of temper and gives an optimistic mind. It stretches the muscles of your spirit and cools the fire in the mind. Knowing is necessary to understand where we are and what development we are in. It determines where or what our source of sorrow is, if taken seriously. It is an action – a path – taken by one. For it takes one to know one. Never will it take one to know two. To know one’s self is to be oneself. Once you know the source of sorrow, it should be eliminated. If it can be created, it can be eliminated. This elimination must be done quickly because sources of sorrow may appear and disappear unexpectedly. If done quickly, we will have immunity towards it the next time the source of sorrow will appear. No man is an island, as the saying goes. We need to have other views and open our minds to other things but some views are not that effective. Before using other perspectives, we should test them and make sure their results are good. Once done, we can apply them to the daily decisions in our lives. Again, acting our thoughts will prove that our beliefs are useful. It will give us the opportunities to move on. We must flow like the wind and must not rot in the deep. For God has given us a gift to act and it would be failing to accept it when we do not use it.

My extensive social support upheld the roads I passed by and, I know, you have your own supports. People are such great helpers and they gave me more views in life in spite of the views I originally have. Man’s outlook on life gave me an idea that there are other ways of thought different from mine. With that, they achieved with their beliefs and they were successful at it. It really inspired me to see that they achieved what they conceived. It is a great act that they have told the world what they will do and they have done it. Books, another external influence, opened my eyes and my mind to a world full of amazing things and simple wonders. Books of evolution tell me man and spirit are changing and developing to a higher level of energy but both are in a different pace. A higher level of energy also means higher consciousness that means the level of thoughts is advanced and the spirit is freer. For example, the spirit can change from a sorrowful to a glorious state of feeling and it can detach from the body – which is a materialistic object. Surroundings can affect a person’s life from neonate to old-aged. A harsh surrounding can make a person be aggressive towards other people and can be a training ground for criminals while a serene surrounding can make a person light-hearted and merciful. Surroundings are like music. They can really change a person’s mood and aura through the rhythm and beat. If people find themselves spiritually inadequate, they start searching for an answer that will satiate the emptiness of their life.

Attaining spiritual enlightenment is a momentous event and can be viewed as a model for people who want to be enlightened. It would be a great opportunity to achieve enlightenment because it is only been successful to few who have lived to have it. It is so great because, again, time limits us from doing or acquiring it. Attaining it would signify that man or a part of man has reached a certain point that tells us that enlightenment is easier to achieve than in the past. It would mean that any mortal has the right to be enlightened. It also tells us man continues to develop and that enlightenment is just one of the steps in attaining the last evolution of man.

It’s been almost a week since millions of Filipinos celebrated the day of the dead, a good enough time as any to think about what you want done with your body when you’ve expired. I, for one, am reading up on organ donation in the Philippines. Besides being worm food, this seems to be the nearest thing to life after death.

credit: XKCD.com

Registering for organ donation is actually easier than I thought; there’s only one thing you really need to do:

Tell your family.

If you’re married tell your wife, if you’re single tell your parents. Whether or not you’ve signed a donor card, your family will still have the last say on what happens to your body when you expire.

But a donor card does sound cool, so I’ve contacted the National Kidney and Transplant Institute and asked about whether we can make donor cards of our own. I haven’t gotten a reply yet, but an FF Organ Donor card doesn’t sound like such a bad idea.

The clock has hit midnight and submissions are now closed! Thanks to everyone who’s submitted, we judges now have our work cut out for us. But on the up-side, our blog has now reached 72 posts this month, way above our expectations! Congratulations to everyone!

In the coming days we will be whittling the submissions down to those we will be publishing on the first issue of our publication, and from those we will be choosing the winning post to receive one copy of Dawkins’ The Greatest Show on Earth. We will post details and announcements in the next few weeks.

Thanks to everyone who’s participated. And for those who haven’t had the chance to submit, we already have the next contest planned. Stay tuned! =)

By now you’ve probably already read the blog post making rounds online about the tons of relief goods gathering molds over at the DSWD warehouse. Hundred of Filipinos in evacuation centers still wait for the millions in international aid to trickle down to them, but this is the Philippines we live in, hardly anything ever trickles down to those who need them. In times like these it’s quite easy to accuse government departments like the DSWD of being greedy and corrupt, of hoarding all the good “imported” relief goods in warehouses, but we have to give them the benefit of the doubt once in a while. Not everyone who doesn’t do their job is corrupt, after all. Sometimes, people are just incompetent. Continue Reading

I was raised a Catholic, and as a child, religion was all about loving my neighbors, singing songs, reciting the prayers and believing in Jesus, so while I was young it was all nice. Later on it became a set of rules I was supposed to abide by — don’t lie, don’t kill, don’t steal — and it made sense still, so it was okay. But then as I grew older it became about sin, about how I was born sinful and how certain sins meant that I was scheduled for an eternity in hell, and the only way out of it was to talk to a priest and eat some wafer. Loving my neighbors had taken a back seat to getting into heaven, but still I bought it anyway. For a while. Continue Reading

This is just too cool to resist posting.

(via Holy Taco, link from The Friendly Atheist)

With the recent flood of articles from new and old authors alike, we now have enough entries for our Essay Writing Contest to close submissions, but for those of you who haven’t polished your prize-winning articles just yet, there’s still hope.

This is the Last Call for anyone who wants a copy of The Greatest Show On Earth, by Richard Dawkins. Write an essay or any print-worthy article and submit to frank@filipinofreethinkers or post it on this website, and if we decide yours is the best, you get the book. Submissions will be accepted until October 30, Saturday, 6:00PM Philippine time. That is the final date, no more extensions, because we want to give this book away as soon as possible and start with the next contest. (Oh yes, there will be more contests.)

As usual, terms and conditions can be found here.

Thanks to everyone who’s submitted so far. There’s a lot of quality posts to choose from, and this is gonna be a tough call indeed. And we hope the submissions from now to the 30th will make things even tougher.

Now get typing. We’re not giving away this free book for free, you know.

The Bible is old. It’s been around for a while now, and there’s really nothing new you can learn from reading it over and over again. It’s just the same old thing re-translated and reprinted a million times over, and with all the sex and violence in it, it just doesn’t really make for good morning reading.

Science, on the other hand, is awesome. You learn a new thing every day; useful practical stuff you can actually apply, or fun trivial stuff that make you think. Science makes a heck of a lot more sense, answers a heck of a lot more questions, and the ultimate proof of superiority: it has way cooler words.

Once in a while we need a dose of cool science, to start our day with awesomeness, and to brighten up a boring afternoon like this one. So every so often I’ll be posting a Nerd Word, something from a random branch of science that I, and perhaps other nerds like me, find utterly fascinating, with a little trivia on what it means.

And today’s Nerd Word is: Spaghettification.
Continue Reading

Thanks to Stephanie for pointing out this cool video from The Thinking Atheist. Gave me goosebumps. =)

Day 2 of Two Hands Working – Filipino Freethinkers for Flooded Filipinos has ended, and we are a happy bunch. From the Church of the Risen Lord to Madasalin Street, we answered the prayers of those who asked for more volunteers or cans of corned beef. Well, some of the prayers at least. The others didn’t pray hard enough.

Thanks to the success of this weekend, Two Hands Working is now an official Social Action project of the FF. We’re working on how to better utilize our resources for more efficient volunteer work, we’re looking into possible donations of books to devastated school libraries, and we’re brainstorming for ideas on how to promote action over dependence on prayer. If you have any suggestions for potential activities for the project, if you would like to take a more active role in the group, or if you have any books (esp children’s books) or school supplies you’d like to donate, contact me through frank AT filipinofreethinkers DOT org.

Thanks to everyone who came over the weekend — Justin who walked through mud, master packers Red, Tin, Tania, Igme and John, and to everyone who put their two hands to work in their own way. Days 3, 4, 5, etc.. begin every time you hear the phrase “Prayer is the best option”. Because we know better.

Heh.

How many prayers does it take to change a light bulb?

I’m exhausted from Day 1, so I’ll keep this short. Plans for Day 2:

Where: Church of the Risen Lord, UP Diliman
Meeting Place: McDonald’s Katipunan (in front of Ateneo)
Meeting Time: 9am (Sunday, October 4)

Breakfast, then UP. If you arrive late, text Red, Tania or I, we might have moved to a different restaurant. You can also go straight to the Lord. Er, Church of the Risen Lord. Operations there start at 9am.

As usual, details here.

Day 1 of Two Hands Working (Filipino Freethinkers for Flooded Filipinos) is a “personal effort day”. Members are encouraged to contribute to the relief efforts in their own way, whether by volunteering their services to relief organizations or donating goods to the victims, anything that keeps our hands unclasped.

A few of us will be going to Marikina Sports Complex tomorrow, at around 1pm, depending on weather conditions. If you would like to join us, feel free to contact us through the numbers on this forum, or just show up at the venue. Just look for FF buttons or Tshirts. And bring as many friends as you can.

Another group might be going to the Akbayan center also, but this has not been finalized. Again, you can contact any of the numbers on the forum to inquire.

For a list of Relief Centers with operations over the weekend, you might want to check this list. Note that few centers are closed for the weekend, due to Pepeng (Parma), so you want to contact your center in advance.

Whatever you decide to do for Day 1, let us know about it. Whether you blogged about volunteerism, donated through text, or helped in a soup kitchen, we want to know how you put your two hands to work. And if you write a good enough article about your Day 1, you might even get a free book out of it.

After Day 1 we will hold an online (YM) discussion about the Relief Centers we volunteered with and decide where to go for our group volunteer work on Day 2. We invite you all to these events. Just leave any contact information on the forum or in the comments section and we will get in touch with you.

IMPORTANT REMINDER – Please make personal safety your highest priority. No careless heroics, no braving floods, no dodging flying cows. Watch the news, mind the weather and use your discretion. We don’t want to be pulling a Richard Gutierrez and end up needed rescue ourselves.

A number of us have already done some volunteer work over the past week, and donated a bunch of stuff to the relief effort, but as some in the forum have pointed out, this might be the sort of thing we might want to do as a group. Building on that idea, I’m organizing a more coordinated effort for FF members to help with the relief effort over the weekend.

Coordination details can be found here: Forum Topic: Two Hands Working

If you are already an active member or volunteer for a foundation or organization that is providing relief (like the PNRC, GMA Kapuso Foundation or ABS-CBN Sagip Kapamilya), you could help coordinate the members we get together so we are utilized more efficiently. (e.g. by scheduling our volunteer work). We would very much like to hear from you.

If you’re one of the many well-meaning people who just haven’t found the opportunity to volunteer for lack of a group to volunteer with (like myself), we hope to provide that group for you.

We all know there’s still much to do, and as the hype for helping others has worn off and those unaffected have begun to resume their normal lives and pray that Pepeng doesn’t hit them next, this is the perfect time to show that we too, while godless, are good.

And is the perfect opportunity to show the power of two hands working.