Our newest podcast (that’s also a video) is up! Here, Marge, Ria and Red discuss the current protest of some Christian groups against the Lady Gaga concert, the difficulties of satire in a country where the news reads like stories out of The Onion, and how beauty queen Miriam Quiambao’s courage in defiance of popular opinion has contributed to the awareness of LGBT rights.

What are your thoughts on these topics? Please comment on this page.

Location: Holy Trinity Church (Google map)
Date: Saturday, May 12, 2012
Time: 2:30pm – 5:30pm

RSVP on Facebook

Look at all those evil people

Discussion Topics

• Accomodationism and respecting religious feelings
• The meta-debate: Why celebrities make the front page
• Is it religious profiling ethical?
• Science as a political weapon
• Scarborough Shoal and sovereignty

After the meetup we usually go for dinner and drinks somewhere nearby. If you’re not a meetup regular and can’t make it for the meetup but would like to go for the post meetup, please indicate on a post in the wall or comment so we can contact you.

Got questions about the meetup? Contact us at 0927 323 3532

• Newbies are welcome.
• Look for the FF sign (or the group of smart, sexy people).
• There is no required age, religion, philosophy, or IQ level.
• Discussions are informal yet intelligent (most of the time).
• You don’t have to talk; you can just sit in and listen.

Location: Starbucks, Anson’s (across The Podium), ADB Avenue, Ortigas Center, Pasig (Google map)
Date: Sunday, April 29, 2012
Time: 2:30pm – 5:30pm

RSVP on Facebook

Discussion Topics
- The Philippines is the most religious country: a good thing?
- Squatters’ Rights and Violent Demolition
- Gay literature by straight people

After the meetup we usually go for dinner and drinks somewhere nearby. If you’re not a meetup regular and can’t make it for the meetup but would like to go for the post meetup, please indicate on a post in the wall or comment so we can contact you.

Got questions about the meetup? Contact us at 0927 323 3532

* Newbies are welcome.
* Look for the FF sign (or the group of smart, sexy people).
* There is no required age, religion, philosophy, or IQ level.
* Discussions are informal yet intelligent (most of the time).
* You don’t have to talk; you can just sit in and listen.

The Filipino Freethinkers would like to thank Senator Tito Sotto for his recent cash contribution of Php10,000 to the Reproductive Health Advocacy Network (RHAN) in direct support of women’s rights and pushing for the passage of the Reproductive Health Bill currently pending in both houses of Congress.

The donation was made in his name as his prize for winning the Bigot of the Year Award, recently held at the Filipino Freethinkers’ RSS (Reason, Science & Secularism) Forum in UP-Ayalaland Technohub. The title of Bigot of the Year is awarded through an online poll held on the Freethinkers’ website, where participants vote on who they think is ‘the biggest close-minded douchebag’ in the Philippines. The winner gets the prize money donated directly to a cause they are directly opposed to. The honorable Senator Sotto narrowly beat out a slew of other bigoted nominees, which included

Congressman Pabling Garcia, who claimed at a congressional hearing that members of the organization Catholics4RH could not be real Catholics,

Bishop Teodoro Bacani, who says that same-sex marriages are ‘kadiri’,

Eric Manalang, who led members of Pro Life Philippines in shouting, “You should tell your mother to abort you”, at pro-RH Catholic mothers,

and Rizalito David, who maintains that his striking an RH advocate in the House of Representatives while Congress was in session is a ‘non-issue’.

“I wholeheartedly thank Senator Sotto for his contribution to the cause and congratulate him on his victory”, said Kenneth Keng, Filipino Freethinkers’ RH Advocacy Director. “To be possessed of so much intolerance, prejudice, hypocrisy and callous mean-spiritedness that he managed to beat the other bigots in the running is a real achievement. But I suppose laughing in the face of women who have lost family members through complications in childbirth, sitting right across you in the gallery as you stand behind your privilege podium in the Senate session hall, would just about do it.”

It’s been three years since the Filipino Freethinkers began their quest to uphold reason, science, and secularism (RSS) in the Philippines. To celebrate this fact and set the course for the future of RSS, we’re holding our 3rd official forum this Sunday, April 1, from 1:30 PM to 6:30 PM at Tech Portal Conference Rooms A and B at the UP-Ayalaland Technohub (directions here). Entrance is absolutely free–simply RSVP here!

Apart from presentations by FF’s various advocacy directors and allies, we’ll also be presenting very special awards to individuals who have truly championed reason, science, and secularism in recent years. Moreover, we’re also giving an extra-special award to the person voted Philippines’s Biggest Bigot 2012! Click here to cast your vote!

This is a special occasion for those of us who truly value our rights and our freedoms. Join us as we celebrate a new chapter for freethought here in the Philippines!

(Download the press release/press kit here.)

The last years have clearly shown that the Reproductive Health Bill and its provisions are in demand and have been approved by a majority of our population. The best scientific evidence has shown its measures’ efficacy and safety.

Despite this, its opponents have sought to undermine our democratic processes and perpetuate the suffering and death of our women through lies, misinformation and the blatant use of the influence of the Catholic church hierarchy on our elected officials. We would therefore like to invite any and all who wish to push back against this insidious trend by attending the following activity. It’s organized by the Reproductive Health Advocacy Network (RHAN), a coalition of dedicated NGOs and advocates that includes groups from within the Catholic Church like Catholics4RH, that have declared that its ruling body the Catholic Bishop’s Conference of the Philippines (CBCP)no longer represents their interests.

Come on by if you’re tired of watching the CBCP delay while women die.Warm greetings from the women and men of the Purple Ribbon for RH Campaign!

In celebration of women’s month, we would like to invite you to join RHAN’s “Rage for RH! –
Rally against Gender Discrimination, for Women’s Empowerment!” on 30 March 2012, from
3:30 to 7:00 pm, at the Bantayog ng mga Bayani Grounds, Quezon Avenue corner EDSA, Quezon
City.

While celebrating the many victories women have gained throughout our herstory, this gathering of
women and men aims to: 1) unify women and women-supporters on the central place of reproductive
health and rights in women’s lives; 2) creatively and collectively express our outrage at the capture
of health policy-making by religious conservatives; and 3) highlight the value of women’s lives and
empowerment in nation-building.

The event will include an art exhibit showcasing Agnes Arellano’s sculptures on women’s bodies,
booths/stations where participants can enjoy several means to creatively express their frustrations
over the ongoing delays in the passage of the RH Bill, a ritual of commitment through dance, chants,
noise-making, and a cultural program of poetry reading and performances by pro-RH artists and
personalities (Final Program and Event Details to follow).

Knowing your ardent support for women, we would like to enjoin you and your colleagues to join in
this festive yet meaningful celebration of women’s lives. Your presence will be a big inspiration.

March is International Women’s Month! If you have a story to share about fantastic females, send them to us! Commemorate your mother’s strength, narrate your best friend’s journey, or divulge your very own struggles. Or if you have in-depth commentary on the fight for women’s rights, we would love to hear it, too.

Simply email your tales and essays to margie@filipinofreethinkers.org with the subject “Women’s Month Submission.”

Half of the FF Forum 3 Venue

Spend April Fools’ Day wisely! Attend the third Filipino Freethinkers forum!

• What: FF Forum 3: Reason, Science, and Secularism
• When: April 1, 2012 (a Sunday), from 1:30 – 6:30pm
• Where: Tech Portal Conference rooms A & B of UP-AyalaLand TechnoHub in Commonwealth Avenue (directions here)

Join us as we celebrate our journey with the following activities:

3 years of FF

Through talks and discussions, videos and presentations, we share the story of FF’s first three years, remembering how we fought for the causes we believe in:

• RH Bill
• LGBT Rights
• Freedom of Speech
• Freedom of Religion
• Secularism

State of Freethought Address

We tell you what we think of the current state of reason, science, and secularism in our country, and invite people — through official membership and recruitment — to join us in our cause.

Freethought Awards Ceremony

We give out the first annual Freethought Awards to those individuals and groups in the Philippines who champion the ideals of freethought (and those who don’t):

• Reason Award
• Science Award
• Secularism Award
• Bigotry Award

More information about the event will be posted in the coming days. The venue can hold 200, but only fifty slots are left, so if you wish to reserve one, please do so soon using the form below. Be sure to answer the question at the end of the form to let us know that you’re a freethinker who’s serious about attending the event.

The official website of the Filipino Freethinkers (FF) has evolved as rapidly and dynamically as the organization itself. It started out as more of a free-form community blog, where non-believers and progressive believers could rant, rave, and ruminate about faith, freethought, and all else in between. And while the current site continues to serve as a venue for this kind of free, fearless speech, it has also become much more than that, the same way FF has become much more than a casual gathering of folks who liked to share stories about their doubts and observations.

Now, the website also serves as one of the main vehicles through which FF — which, in three colorful years, has become a more polished and structured organization — advocates reason, science, and secularism. In fact, due greatly to the site’s opinion pieces, as well as its use of multimedia to inform and expose the public to the hypocrisy of the Catholic Church, the government, and their various cohorts, FF has even bagged “The One,” the premier prize in 2011′s Globe T@tt Awards, which championed groups and individuals who’ve put social media to great use.

Several of the site’s pieces have even earned viral status, “liked” and dispersed through social media, amassing hundreds — and in one particular case, thousands — of comments, and even cited by print journalists.

Here are our top 10 articles thus far, roughly arranged by subject matter:

1. Anti-RH Bill Catholics Harrass RH Bill Supporters and What Actually Happened at the Manila Cathedral: Revealing the Lies and Bigotry of Eric Manalang and Pro-Life Philippines  

These back-to-back pieces were what first fired up the site’s readership, and Eric Manalang’s ire. Our mothers should’ve aborted us? But we’re just getting started!

2. Read ‘Em and Weep: Statements Made at the ‘Faces of the RH Bill’ Forum

A disturbingly bizarre list of bigoted statements by “Dr.” Ligaya Acosta of Human Life International. Best read with Stresstabs.

3. CBCP Trademarks the Term ‘Catholic’

The uncanny power of satire — and proof that more people need to learn to read between the lines. This piece was even taken as fact and plagiarized by popular tabloid Abante.

4. Why the RH Bill is Bad: The Real Truth behind the Supposed Truth about the RH Bill

Speaking of satire and the people who fall for it, this hilarious piece is our most read, shared, and contested article by a mile, with 28,647 “likes” and 4,860 comments — and counting! A must-read, comments and all!

5. Typhoon Sendong and the Necessity of Science Literacy in the Philippines

But FF is definitely not just about the RH Bill. This piece, written by our Science Advocacy Director Pecier Decierdo, was cited in a news piece for Business Mirror, one exciting example of FF’s growing mainstream influence!

6. On Dicks and Double Standards: Misplaced Reactions to Misplaced Phalluses

When the Mideo Cruz-Poleteismo brouhaha erupted, FF was determined to defend the freedom of speech and oppose its opponents’ utter hypocrisy.

7. An Interview with Mideo Cruz

This included giving Cruz a chance to speak his mind without the usual media sugar-coating.

8. Blessed are the Poor, Said the Billionaire Bishops

Our site has always been a prime venue to publish facts and figures most mainstream outlets wouldn’t dare to. Consider this expose on our staggeringly wealthy men of the cloth.

9. Open Letter to CBCP: Donate One Billion to the Victoms of Sendong and Billionaire Archbishop Tagle Holds 2nd Collection for Sendong Victims

We also use our site to communicate directly with certain groups and individuals. Quite a few open letters and challenges, such as these two pieces, have been made.

10. [Insert YOUR Article Here]

That’s right: we hope that many of you out there can join our site’s pool of writers! We would love to hear more new, strong voices giving our readers a piece of their mind! If you are unafraid to challenge authority, tradition, and dogma in favor of speaking out for reason, science, and secularism, send us your articles for consideration. Please email your pieces (preferably in Word docs) to margie@filipinofreethinkers.org. We can’t wait to hear what you have to say.

–

Image from robbieandbobby.com

3 years ago, 26 freethinkers met for the first time in Shangri-la Starbucks to talk about reason, science, and secularism. Since then, we’ve been pretty busy:

• We’ve spread freethought on social media through Twitter (over 3,000 followers), Facebook (over 3,000 group members and almost 10,000 fans), and our website, which has almost a thousand posts, has been viewed more than half a million times, and has won the overall prize at the recent Globe Tatt Awards. (And don’t forget our forum, Tumblr, and YouTube pages, too.)
• We’ve presented the freethinker’s perspective — on secularism, skepticism, and the RH Bill — through our appearances and interviews on AM and FM radio; and both local and foreign TV.
• We’ve hosted more than a hundred events — meetups, forums, a film fest, and an excommunication party — in Metro Manila and Davao; and in our university chapters in UP Diliman, UP Manila, and DLSU.
• We’ve helped educate students on freethought and secularism, giving interviews and answering questions for homework and research papers; delivering talks and participating in panel discussions; and providing a forum for learning and discussion through our university chapters.
• We’ve become advocates and activists, mobilizing creative demonstrations for causes we believe in: fighting for the passage of the Reproductive Health Bill and refuting irrational arguments against it; walking (and running) with our LGBT allies and distracting the bigots who bother them; reminding people to guard their freedom of speech from opponents who cry blasphemy and call for censorship.

And we don’t intend to stop. Just this January, we’ve presented at the World Debate Forum in Ateneo, lectured at UP Diliman and Philippine Science High School, and guested on Bottomline with Boy Abunda. (The episode will air this Saturday (Feb. 4) at 11:45PM on ABSCBN, with a replay on Sunday at 1 PM on ANC.)

To celebrate all this, we’re organizing our third forum, tentatively titled “Filipino Freethinkers Turns Three.” It will be held on March 3, 2012, a Saturday, and will probably be a whole-day event. Be sure to save the date; details will soon follow.

If you want to celebrate in advance, the best way to do so is to attend our meetup this weekend, the first of many we’ll have in our fourth year.

3 years ago

As of this afternoon, the anti-RH contingent has forcibly taken up space at the Occupy for RH campsite across from the South Wing Gate of Congress. They are trying to stay there without a permit.

We need more supporters to come tonight to be part of the Occupy for RH movement. We need reinforcements to help alleviate this situation. Please click here for more details.

Since our inception, the Filipino Freethinkers have been staunch supporters of the Reproductive Health Bill, and we remain dedicated to pushing for its passage. There has never been a more pressing time for you to join this cause than now. Tomorrow, November 21, we along with many other passionate organizations and individuals, will Occupy for RH. We will remain camped outside of Congress for as long as it takes to get our legislators to finally come to a long-delayed vote on this issue. Too much time has been wasted, and too many mothers’ lives have been lost since this fight began, and we are now pulling out all the stops.

Join us. Talking about the issue on social media is great, but it is not enough. If you truly believe that the RH Bill should be put to a vote, then camp out with us at Congress. It’s going to be a once-in-a-lifetime chance to be part of a vibrant community and help the country change for the better. As freethinkers, it is our responsibility to make our voices heard, to drown out all the falsehoods and bigotry that has surrounded this issue, and to finally let truth and life prevail.

Here’s the official statement of the Occupy for RH Movement:

It has been ten years since the first RH Bill, and after countless debates and delays we are no closer to a vote. The democratic process has stalled at the hands of time-wasting legislators and bullying bishops.

With mounting frustration we remind our public servants that for every day they delay the vote, Filipino families around the country lose their mothers. The time for delay is over. The time for a vote is now.

Starting tomorrow, November 21, RH Advocates from various organizations will occupy the park across the South Wing Gate of Congress, and launch a massive and sustained campaign to remind our Senators and Members of Congress of the urgency to vote on the Reproductive Health Bill before the year ends.

Pro-RH lawmakers, celebrities, artists, government officials, civil society and non-government groups, business, academe, youth, religious and non-religious sectors will show their support at this mass action,
and advocates will camp out in front of the South Wing Gate for as long as it takes for their voices to be heard.

We urge you to join us, tomorrow and onwards, and lend your voice to a movement that will save Filipino lives. Various activities will be held at the camp and at the South Wing Gate, such as a noise barrage, cultural and solidarity nights, pickets, creative and symbolic protests, actions that will make our legislators listen.

For ten years we have been ignored, the cries of the People drowned out by the powerful few. But no more. Together we will stand, together we will shout, and together we will Occupy for RH till our legislators vote for RH now.

For more details, visit the official site for Occupy for RH.

RSVP on Facebook

We’re having our meetup on a Sunday this week in Pasig City at the Starbucks in Anson’s. We’ll be discussing the new taxes that are looming for residents in Quezon City. The city will be using the tax hike to help squatters find new homes. Also, there’s a new archbishop in town and the Philippine Daily Inquirer is complaining that people don’t care. Do you care? A tragic accident left a 2 year old girl dying on the street as 19 passersby ignore her. Saving her could have meant paying for her full recovery. What would you have done?

• Quezon City socialized housing tax hike
• There’s a new Manila archbishop, do you care? Inquirer thinks you should!
• Would you help a dying stranger if it risked paying for their full recovery?

After the meetup we go for dinner and beer drinking at Congo Grill (see map). If you’re not a meetup regular and can’t make it for the meetup but would like to go for the post meetup, please indicate on a post in the wall or comment so we can contact you.

Got questions about the meetup? Contact us at 0927 323 3532

• Newbies are welcome.
• Look for the FF sign (or the group of smart, sexy people).
• There is no required age, religion, philosophy, or IQ level.
• Discussions are informal yet intelligent (most of the time).
• You don’t have to talk; you can just sit in and listen.
• You don’t have to buy anything from Starbucks.