Several months later the seed has borne fruit. For our next event, we’ll have a video conference with CFI program director and host of the Points of Inquiry podcast, DJ Grothe.

DJ was so friendly and humble and helpful that inviting him wasn’t as hard as I’d thought it would be. So I tried pushing my luck. And it worked.

Somehow I was blessed to have invited another special guest, FFRF co-president Dan Barker. Like DJ, he too was excited about the idea, and both of them agreed to working out the details in the weeks to come.

Nothing is certain yet, and it’ll be tough to work with their busy schedules and the different time zones. But I told you early because we need to start planning — the best questions to ask, the format and schedule of the interviews, etc.

But honestly, I was just really excited. Aren’t you? And if there was someone you’d like to invite as a special guest, who would it be? Please leave a comment. Who knows? Your prayers might be answered

Thanks to:

• Tin and Tania — Fantastic Free Food
• Igme — Competent Cameraman with Incompetent Tripod
• Teddy — Free Books. Farewell! We’ll miss you! (Teddy’s going to Australia.)
• Team Irate and Team Agent — for being good sports. Rematch?
• Thysz — for inspiring the team names
• Ateneo — for the nice, cool venue.
• And to all the participants (in body and in spirit). See you on the next one!

• 41 Registered Participants
• 16 Maybes
• 57 Potential Participants

This exceeds our initial plan to have no more than 50 participants. But when we visited Ateneo, we found out that the venue can hold up to 100 people!

But for comfort, we’re capping registration at 80, so there are still 39 seats left, not counting the Maybes. Walk-ins are welcome. But if you’d like to reserve a seat and some food you can still do so by registering here.

I’ll be posting a map here soon. See you on Saturday!

“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.
To reserve, please visit:
http://filipinofreethinkers.org/fff2-registration/

Or fill up the following form and email them to me at red@filipinofreethinkers.org :

*NAME:
*ADDRESS:
*EMAIL:
*TELEPHONE: (Preferably cellphone, for texting purposes)
NAMES OF COMPANIONS:

For questions, comments, or suggestions, email me at the address above.

Thank you, and reserve your seats soon!

Hemant Mehta, the Friendly Atheist, shows his support with a long message:

To everyone attending this forum, congratulations and thank you for being willing to publicly express your atheism. It’s never an easy thing to do and the fact that you’re doing it with a group of other people will help others join you in the process. If I can offer any advice it would be this: Don’t lose sight of your mission. You may not get very far trying to convince people God may not exist. However, you could be a safe home for atheists who are afraid to come out and may not know anyone else who thinks the way they do. Make yourselves known and be compassionate toward anyone who seeks you out (and even challenges you). Do as much good as you can and show people that atheists are just as honest and charitable as any religious group. Don’t fight over labels (atheist, Humanist, etc). Keep in mind that you’re here to help others, discuss atheism, and be proud of what you (don’t) believe in. Many people don’t have the guts to face reality, but you’re doing it. I thank you personally for that, and I’m sure many other Americans feel the same way!

So does Dan Barker, president of the FFRF, with a short one:

Great idea for a group. You are the real heroes.

Prudence was late but glad to hear Dr. Claudio speak:

But I’m very glad that I’ve been able to hear Dr. Sylvia Claudio’s talk on freethought and politics and the RH bill. I didn’t know that she was one of those who’ve been working so hard so that the bill may get the chance to be passed in congress. And I quite envy her that she grew up in a family that is not particularly religious (which actually left me wondering what would have happened to me if I were in such a situation). I think maybe we could have another forum specifically for the RH bill and how we, as freethinkers and ordinary citizens, can help get the bill passed.

While Dr. Claudio was glad to speak and felt like she’d come home:

So this group, just being there–I did not care if I was the older-one-flowing-over-at the-mouth. I was home again, in a group of 60 or so people I had just met.

What is more, I am happy with how these young people are using the internet to fight their struggles. I am elated to find people who are a natural constituency for the RH bill. I am thrilled at the thought that one does not have to come from my socialist background to care about the rights of people.I am over-the-moon at seeing their committment to reaching out to the marginalized. I am overjoyed that they are committed to a better country (and world).

Rence felt the same:

I really learned a lot from the forum, and I think its a good start.

As what one of the speakers said, it had been a “kid in a candy store” moment for me too. There are so many things in my head that I would like to have someone explain to me, share with me and I found out that there are others like me too.

And bigenya summed it all up nicely. Really, her(?) recap is the most complete I’ve seen so far. I can’t pick a quote — bigenya’s summary resists summary — so I’ll just end this post with her ending:

Finally, Red told us about the daydreams of cat herders. I cannot think of a better way to put it. Our Freethinkers have successful herded the strays. And Red is right, “the best cat food is community.”

Parts 01-02: Introduction and Freethinkers Game
Parts 03-05: John Paraiso on Grassroots Freethinking
Parts 06-07: Geri Villas on Secular Humanism
Parts 08-11: Maria Isabel Garcia on Science and Freethinking
Parts 12-15: Dr. Sylvia Estrada-Claudio on the RH Bill
Part 16: Benjamin Espina on Freethought Online

For now all I’ll say is it exceeded my exceedingly high expectations in many ways, and if a picture is worth a thousand words, here’s 242,000. Enjoy.

P.S. The videos might take longer to share — all 3 hours of footage took more than 9 GB. Bluray, anyone?

And here are some directions c/o Benj:

If you’re talking public transpo, go to the MRT station nearest you and head to Ayala.
Cross EDSA and look for buses/jeep going to Fort Bonifacio/ Market! Market! (there’s a terminal next to a shell station)
You will see a long row of shops before Market Market – get off as soon as you see them.
Walking to Market! Market! Fully Booked will be to your RIGHT.

By the way, to coordinate transportation with other members (carpooling, commuting, etc.) please visit our forum.