No two freethinkers are exactly alike; a group of freethinkers contains a great diversity of perspectives, so there is no one, official perspective shared among all of them. This makes the freethought community a truly vibrant source of ideas and opinions!
In this light, Meet a Freethinker is our series featuring freethinkers of all backgrounds and perspectives. We want to introduce you guys to the people who make up the proverbial melting pot of this growing movement.
Our next freethinker is Feanne. She has been helping out Filipino Freethinkers and Filipino Freethinkers-Womxn.
- Can you briefly introduce yourself (one short paragraph/bio)?
I’m a Filipino artist specializing in maximalist illustrated pattern design for printed fabric and wallpaper. I have my own line of wearable art pieces such as silk scarves and reversible kimonos.
- How would you define a freethinker?
Someone who is open to updating beliefs based on new information. (Pretty much Bayesian thinking and I agree with FF’s definition.)
- What belief system do you subscribe to?
Secular humanism and agnostic atheism.
- What’s your freethinker story? What was the funniest or most interesting reaction you got from a person after you told them that you were a freethinker/atheist/non-religious?
I was raised Catholic and went to an Opus Dei all-girls school. I became agnostic around high school because I found the religious practices very suffocating, and I could not find good answers for my questions such as: why is there suffering, why is there such a place as hell? Eventually, sometime in my twenties, I became atheist as well.
I think the funniest reaction I got was in UP Diliman. During enrollment, I wrote “agnostic” in my student form in the box for religion, and the registrar asked me “what’s agnostic?”
It was funny to me because at my Opus Dei school, I was warned that I would get culture-shocked by going to a “godless” university. Instead, I was culture-shocked by how prevalent religiosity actually was in my college. Most people I met there were religious.
- How did you get to know Filipino Freethinkers?
I probably first joined the FF group on Facebook around college. But I was turned off by the toxic masculinity I encountered, so I left.
Years later, I got to know the founders Red and Tin. I’m so happy we became good friends! And so because of them, I rejoined FF and tried the meetups too, and found the group dynamic there very different compared to the Facebook group. FF now has some great subgroups on Facebook for women and for mental health, and I really appreciate that.
- What are some of your initiatives in the realm of human rights or the betterment of society?
Nothing major. I am still struggling to apply the principles to myself in my own personal life.
- Is there anything people can do to help these initiatives?
I just hope everyone can continuously seek to learn and become better every day.
