GRPundit

Filipino Freethinker honcho Red Tani with Carlos 'Damaso' Celdran back in the days before they lost the plot. What's up with the Filipino Freethinkers, supposedly the Philippines' highest profile, most organised, and possibly largest atheist community? They were very active during the controversy surrounding the Reproductive Health Bill legislation as well as various activist initiatives related to gay rights. They also rallied behind Carlos Celdran when he was in hot water over his Damaso stunt . Yet today, following the recent attacks against the Philippines' Roman Catholic Church, they have failed to step up to the occasion. The Catholic Church led by its lieutenants are clearly now on defensive mode and the situation presents a rare opportunity to sustain an effort to call their inconsistencies out and being to light their hypocrisy. Instead, however, the Filipino Freethinkers have, instead, chosen to focus more on their peeves against Philippine Preside...

Yellowtards are celebrating the featuring of the Philippine Opposition's feminist social media "cause" dubbed "#BabaeAko" on TIME Magazine's list of influential people . An article on BlogWatch explains how this was "achieved"... The contenders of Time’s most influential people were evaluated by looking at their global impact on social media and their overall ability to drive news. The local news first picked it up. Well now, so that's why the #BabaeAko mob were so adept at meeting the "overall ability to drive news" criterion. The Philippine corporate news media industry, if we recall, is renowned for the slant it routinely affords to the Philippine Opposition led by the Yellowtards . So, getting an 'activist' cause that attacks Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte a lot of media mileage in the Philippines is easy-peasy given the 'cooperative' media environment in the Philippines. That no tall achievement...

Recently, the Philippine Opposition has started to refer to itself as "Team Resistance". One wonders though, what exactly is it and what does it stand for? Perhaps, like everything else created by this saddest of Philippine "oppositions" Team Resistance is a mere figment of the imagination of people who imagine that some sort of "fight" is still being fought. For one thing, one would be hard-pressed to even define what the broader Philippine Opposition stands for. All they have is a common hatred for Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte. But there is something to be said about movements fuelled by hatred. It just doesn't sit well in a world where most progressive people aspire to move forward using positive energy. The Resistance, whatever the hell it is in the context of Philippine politics, does nothing but resist. Resisting is easy. The more important thing to ask, however is this: What does the Philippine Opposition propel ? See, to propel...

Lately, the chatter making waves amongst the "influencers" of the Philippine Opposition are various stocktakes of promises made by Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte and which ones he has so far kept. That's a nice topic for a lazy discussion, for what politician keeps his promises anyway, right? The bigger challenge for the Opposition (if going for bigger challenges is their thingy) is to come up with their own vision and demonstrate an ability to keep their eye on that ball once in power. That is what will differentiate them and that is what will separate the men from the boys. It is easy to watch and take pot shots. It is harder to envision and execute. So far, no major player in Philippine politics in recent history has demonstrated such a rare ability. Filipino voters for their part are of no help. They are quick to lap up emo images of prayerful bozos spouting lame slogans. But try to explain to them something about the future, and all you'll get is a...

Referring again to Archbishop Soc Villegas's letter to the youth of his archdiocese one will find another explanation of the concept of "religion" but written in the same gibberish that Villegas is starting to gain renown for... Religion is man's natural longing for God. God has placed in our hearts a certain kind of restlessness that can only be cured if we rest in God. No. Religion is a social institution that applies governance over the manner people worship ans access their god. In the case of the Roman Catholic Church, there is scripture (its core charter) Canon Law, the body of legislation issued by Rome, and the clergy who implement and enforce these rules. As is evident in the above, the Roman Catholic religion is a governance entity . Worse, it is a governance entity that takes instructions from a foreign government in the application of said governance to Filipino Catholics. It is an instrument of modern imperialism. Filipinos should exercise ...

I was taught in the excellent Catholic school I was privileged enough to have been educated in that Original Sin is the sin humanity carried as a result of the fall of Adam and Eve at the Garden of Eden after they disobeyed God's commandment not to eat the Forbidden Fruit. Because this sin was an offense against God who is a perfect being, only a perfect gift from man to God could restore man's favour before God's eyes. This is where Jesus Christ comes into play. Born a man and then sacrificed to the Father, Christ, the Son of God and, by transitivity, himself a perfect being, was that perfect gift man finally delivered to God. As such, Jesus Christ is therefore celebrated as The Saviour, for it was through him that man and God would once again be in communion. This is why babies are regarded as guilty of Original Sin at birth and could only be absolved of that sin through a "baptism" that places the child within God's graces through the celebration of...

Yellowtards still don't get it. There is no evidence   that President Rodrigo Duterte was criticising God himself. What he was criticising was the "God" fashioned by the Roman Catholic Church. Filipinos know their "god" only through their Church. As such, they trust their Church to tell them who God really is. But because thinking is in short supply in the Philippines, most Filipinos cannot be bothered to fact check what their Church is telling them. And this is what, essentially, Duterte is asking Filipinos to apply a bit of brain to. For example ... "You created something perfect and then you think of an event that would tempt and destroy the quality of your work," he continued. The President, a Catholic, said he finds it preposterous that babies should be born with original sin. Doesn't this make sense? To answer that simple question one need only to intellectually challenge what the they have been told by the Roman Catholic Ch...