I rarely read the morning paper, much less buy it. Being almost always connected to the Internet, I still haven’t found any convenience or practicality in doing so, although I do find novelty in folding my way through an oversized broadsheet. But I bought one this morning anyway.

This is the first election that I’ll ever participate in, and I’m definitely not voting for either candidate, I thought.

It will be pointless now, at least in this post, to argue why secularism should be pushed for. Thousands of books and articles have been written about it already, and I expect that there should be at least a dozen such articles in this website alone. What I would like to talk about instead is why there seems to be a common sentiment against secularism among Filipinos, and why statements like Villanueva’s may actually help him win votes.

Filipinos just don’t get it

The fight for secularism is an uphill battle. Everyone seems to have this impression that mixing God with government is harmless, and can actually yield good results. With it, you’ve got morally guided laws and honest leaders to back them up. Yet at the same time, you’ve got a population which recognizes that their leaders are all corrupt. None of these politicians, by the way, profess atheism—at least not publicly.

So what do you do about it? I would like to believe that there is no correlation between religious belief and moral governance. After all, you’ve got the Catholic Church’s millennia-old string of sex scandals and systematic cover-up of offending priests over here, and Nordic countries’ flying colors in government transparency despite the generally atheistic populace over there. I wouldn’t be surprised, however, to find that many people would give the answer, “Put more God in it.”

Yes, there is just not enough God in government; that’s why you need more of it! Of course, there is no statistic behind this. But who needs evidence—right?—when you’ve got faith.

It’s deeply embedded in the psyche

Let me repeat it again: I would like to believe that there is no correlation between religious belief and moral governance. After all, you’ve got the Catholic Church’s millennia-old string of sex scandals and systematic cover-up of offending priests over here, and Nordic countries’ flying colors in government transparency despite the generally atheistic populace over there.

Despite! Despite! Why does it have to be “despite?” Church apologists have successfully penetrated all sectors of Philippine society that they have managed to completely dichotomize God and evil—as if atheists and good governance are logically incongruent. Everything that is good is God, and everything without God is evil. While I may cite as many atheists who have done good things for the world as I would like, you could always claim that they could have done better if only they had faith in God. It’s the perfect trump card, and the secularist always loses the argument.

Not only did the Church manage to dichotomize God and evil, they also managed to unify secularism and atheism into one ugly bunch. It is utterly impossible to advocate secularism without being labeled an atheist, or at least someone who is having doubts with God. Whereas parading a nation-under-God slogan should be a sure ticket to Congress,[1] clamoring for secularism should be a fail-safe way to kill your political career—unless you’re Miriam Defensor-Santiago, whom a lot of Filipinos think is borderline insane anyway.[2]

Pinoy pride and the fear of Western decadence

How many times have we heard the anti-RH camp claim that secularism, contraception, divorce, and marriage equality are essentially an invasion of dangerous Western ideas? That with these in place, Filipinos would lose their identity? It is unavoidable for people to think that secularism—that is government without God—will make society brim with the “culture of death;” just as how contraception will make Filipinos extinct; divorce makes all couples separate; and marriage equality makes all people gay-marry.

It’s funny how the United States is always considered by local politicians and religious apologists as the paragon of secular immorality, considering how it is actually a lot more conservative than its Western peers. It’s even funnier to think how, on the other hand, religious fundamentalists in the US would argue that conservatism is a uniquely American virtue. After all, you can cry out Western imperialism all you want when it comes to reproductive health and other “foreign” ideas, especially when you’ve got a Catholic Church imported straight from the same source.

Again, the Church has outdone itself. This time, it has successfully managed to unify “the Filipino,” God and everything good into a single idea. Everything that is good is God, and Filipinos believe in God, therefore Filipino conservatism is good. Indeed, patriotism and religion share a lot in common when it comes to political exploitability.

Reason is our only weapon

As much as I would hate to admit it, Filipino society is still conservative to the core, or else majority of senatoriables should no longer be tiptoeing around the topic of marriage equality; the University of the Philippines Los Banos[4] would no longer be giving out copies of the Bible during its freshman orientation; and political candidates would no longer have to use putting God back into the heart of government as a platform.

Many solutions can be proposed to counter this tide. Be it through progressive legislation, like the RH law, divorce bill and antidiscrimination bill; through reform of education curricula, like putting more science in it and making lessons expressly secular; or through parenting, like teaching children rationalism in words they can digest; it really just boils down to one thing—reason.

Reason is an especially powerful tool. It is an instant litmus test for bullshit in itself. Conversely, it is the only way for us to weigh the merits of any argument, legislation or what have you. Through careful examination of evidence and not through acceptance of claims because of religious grounds, can we only progress as a society.

Sadly, we are still far from there, and it will take a lot of time. But least we can use reason as easily as hot knife cuts through butter, especially when these two guys—both promising to carry out the will of God—can’t even agree among themselves.

[1] Thankfully, results are not as consistent. Buhay may have won seats over the previous elections, but we all know how the Ang Kapatiran slate miserably lost despite backing from a number of bishops.
[2] As much as I would like to delve deeper into Filipino anti-intellectualism—well, it’s not the first time you’ve heard people say, “Wag kang masyadong mag-isip at baka mabaliw ka.”—that’s another discussion altogether.
[3] Or at least UPLB officials in charge of the event

After last last week’s success, the Filipino Freethinkers’ University of the Philippines-Los Banos chapter another awesome activity coming up!

This week, from September 18 (Tuesday) to 21 (Friday), they’re going to provide free Sottocopy services to students.

In addition to that, FF-UPLB members are going to roam around campus selling brownies and giving away free condoms!

The chapter aims to bring more attention to Sotto’s plagiarism and his dilatory attempts against the passing of the Reproductive Health Bill. Furthermore, they wish to dispel the stigma around possessing condoms and other contraceptives, and set aflame student interest in the RH Bill in general.

The chapter is looking for more sponsors, and interested parties may contact them through uplb@filipinofreethinkers.org

Also this week, FF-UPLB is going to have a meetup. We invite all of you to attend and discuss with us. As always, there is no required political ideology, religion, IQ level, age, or even university (i.e. by all means, you may freely attend even if you are not a UPLB student). Please see the event page at Facebook for more details.

“Let us bow down our heads, and pray to the Lord. … In Jesus’ name, we pray amen.”

That was how the leadership seminar that I attended the other day started.

Apparently, every student organization seeking university accreditation had to send a representative to the said seminar, and since the Filipino Freethinkers-University of the Philippines Los Baños was one such organization, I was made to attend.

Having studied in the university for more than two years now, it was no longer surprising for me to see a university-sponsored event started with a prayer. However, none of my experiences so far prepared me for what was to happen next.

By my standards, citing Nehemiah, the Old Testament prophet, as the ideal model of a good leader is acceptable, since he might have existed in real life, after all. Giving out the verses in the Book of Nehemiah to back up the speaker’s claims is valid somewhat—at least, she tried to prove her claims with historical (?) documents. But telling the students who attended the seminar to be “godly leaders,” to pray every time, and to read the Bible was just too much.

Don’t get me wrong. I have nothing against the Bible or the claims of Christianity, at least for this article. But claims of a religious nature should not be presented as fact inside a secular university.

And these were not the only breaches of secularism made by the speaker, Dr. Leticia E. Afuang, the Dean of Student Affairs. Her whole speech was infected with misplaced evangelism. She even stressed the importance of godly leaders in paving the way for national development.

Thankfully, she sort of saved us from any further Christian drivel when she told the students to read the Qur’an instead, in case they happened to be Muslim—but I highly doubt that she would have made such a clarification (?) in the first place if she hadn’t noticed that one student wearing a hijab, who most probably was Muslim.

Which makes me wonder: what does she think of non-theists, then? What does she think of Nordic and former Eastern bloc countries, which happen to be composed mainly of atheists? Following her viewpoint, these countries must be rife with poverty; corruption must be widespread; and crimes rates must be pretty high since many have no god to fear.

Or perhaps my extension of her logic is flawed. Maybe, she didn’t mean those at all. So let us give the honorable dean the benefit of the doubt. Let us assume that what she actually meant was that Christian-led (or at least, theist-led) countries fare better, with no negative implication to nations populated by a majority of non-believers. Then how about war-torn Ethiopia or drug cartel-dominated Mexico? Does that also mean that the Philippines is not godly enough to reap the divine blessings of national development?

So before I continue any further, let us read a passage from the Holy Book:

“Members of the teaching staff enjoy academic freedom; Provided, however, that no instructor in the University System shall inculcate sectarian tenets in any of the teachings, nor attempt either directly or indirectly, under the penalty of dismissal by the Board of Regents, to influence students or attendants at the University System for or against any particular church or religious sect or political party.”

– University of the Philippines System Code Article 177 (emphasis mine)

Or as I would like to shorten it: “Thou shalt not preach inside the university.”

Yes, I do believe as well that the dean’s intentions were in good faith. However, they were also in poor taste. And while the rest of the program was fairly more secular thanks to other speakers, waking up at 6:00 AM for a seminar clouded by religious propaganda is something that I will never really look forward to.

This reminds me of the time when a friend of mine asked me why a secularist student organization would be still needed in the already-secular university. My answer remains the same.

Secularism in UP is a joke. Nobody respects it. Nobody cares about it. Religious evangelism inside the university is alienating, divisive, and self-serving. That is why there is a need to safeguard secularism from elements that would otherwise prefer it gone. And that is the Filipino Freethinkers’ mission.

Note: Between the time of writing and publication, it has come to my attention that Dr. Afuang committed yet another breach of secularism when she gave out free Bibles to attendees of the 2012 UPLB Freshmen Orientation. Yes, that surely is the best way to orient students on what UP is all about!

Location: Student Union Building, Mangga Rd, University of the Philippines Los Baños, Laguna (Google maps)

Date: Thursday, June 14, 2012

Time: 6:00pm – 9:00pm

RSVP on Facebook

Vast tracts of farmland. A university with its own forest reserve with endless fish pens on the side.

The University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB) does seem an unlikely place to be a haven for several dozens of atheists, agnostics, progressive believers etc. In fact, I thought there would never be any of them in this still very Catholic town turned agriculture research center.

But I was wrong. It’s been half a year already since the first Filipino Freethinkers (FF) meetup in UPLB last mid-December 2011. And since then, we’ve been meeting almost twice a week, and have successfully formed an informal group of devoted secularists, with members from both the academe and the student body.

Arguably being among the most active FF student chapters, for the last 6 months:

1. we have held a total of 9 meetups, where we’ve intellectually discussed a wide range of topics, from the truth behind conspiracy theories to the viability of interfaith relationships;
2. we have started a documentary on the spread of pseudoscience within the university;¹
3. we attended a freethought convention, where we met several fellow freethinkers;
4. we toured our Metro Manila friends around the campus, and went to places that even we haven’t gone to before;
5. we even held picnics on the campus grounds, and had fun along with it;
6. and, most importantly, we have built a safe space within the university and its immediate vicinity, where we have actively promoted tolerance and made friendships, regardless of our own personal political ideologies, religious beliefs or lack thereof.

We have so much more to do now that the semester is starting again, and we would love to let you be a part of it.

If you adhere to the ideals of freethought, the separation of church and state, and religious tolerance—or, as we like to put it, reason, science and secularism—you are very much welcome to attend FF-UPLB’s First General Assembly, and be among our charter members.

Don’t worry, membership is free²—I know, that’s how desperate we are to get you—and it’s open to practically anyone, irreligious or not. And what’s best is we don’t haze people! Hooray.

It’s going to be held inside the Student Union Building, UPLB, Los Baños, Laguna on June 14, 2012 from 6:00pm to 9:00pm. We shouldn’t be too hard to spot. Just look for a bunch of sexy³ and intelligent people hanging around the first floor of the building. Otherwise, simply look for the FF logo.

See the event page or checkout our Facebook group for more information. Alternatively, you can contact me at 09153707740, or e-mail us at uplb@filipinofreethinkers.org.

We would love to hear from you.

Notes:

1. As much as I would like to say more, I cannot for I fear that it would preempt the release of the said documentary. So just stay curious.
2. Terms and conditions apply. (I’m kidding.)
3. Seriously.