First Podcast: Benj talks about the environment January 30, 2007
Posted by benj in blogparteeh07, debate, environment, Philosophy & Religion, podcast.14 comments
Do you care about the environment? Is hugging trees your favorite past time?
Yes, its archaic. I used Sound Recorder to do this and Odeo sucks. New users are not allowed to upload podcasts on that blasted site. It’s a small .wav file (less than 500kb) and it will run on your Windows Media Player.
Please listen to this one and tell me what you think.
Leave a message if you intend to JOIN THE CRUSADE!
note: I dont have a lisp. I blame my cheap 80 peso microphone for that. haha
The No Greeting Policy January 3, 2007
Posted by benj in Family, Friends, Philosophy & Religion.2 comments
I got more than fifty messages over the holiday period that pretty much had the same message – it was a short and obviously sent en masse to every other person that this individual knew. There is nothing wrong with holiday cheer. It’s the perfect time for families to get together and spend time with one another. It’s a great time to show your appreciation for other people by giving them tangible rewards.
What I don’t get is why people would still insist on greeting you inspite of the fact that you find the occasion very insulting to the very fabric of logic. The event fails to stand on many paradigms – including the roman catholic one. yes, the church has already hijacked this date from a former pagan day of worship, but the link is precarious at best.
The last few weeks have been telling as far a my family is concerned. Most (if not all) of them now know about my atheism. Apparently, non-attendance to the service the everyone else went to spells out as a major red flag. To “euphemize” it to the young ones, I was labeled as a non-xtian as opposed to an atheist.
I appreciate my family for their open-mindedness and respect for my autonomy to make my choice – but personally, I dont think my atheism is a choice — to verbalize and realize my disbelief. I just hope those idiots who sent me merry christmas messages (sans the atheist disclaimer) would acquire similar common sense.
Atheism In The Philippines October 25, 2006
Posted by benj in Philosophy & Religion.18 comments
It’s quite unfortunate that despite the Philippines’ status as a melting pot of cultures and races, the country still stays very traditional and retarded in its acceptance of more liberal ideology. Atheism is not even a new school of thought, but to this day, Atheism has still yet to penetrate mainstream media and if you meet someone out on the street today, there’s a very strong possibility that that person wouldn’t even know what Atheism is. (more…)
The Bratzinger Fallout October 1, 2006
Posted by benj in Philosophy & Religion.7 comments
In my past entry, I was very vague when it came to challenging christians to take a stand against Joseph Ratzinger’s obviously (mis)calculated bigotry that comes at the worst of times when religious and cultural lines are very much tense and volatile. As expected, people decided to go with the obvious – I was calling every single christian out there a bigot. I don’t know if it’s a matter of being defensive or just plain dense, but to me, I saw it a different way.
The roman catholic church is in essence, just like another organization. Even if you claim that it is more like a family, the fact that you could leave the congregation at any time makes membership a lot more fluid than in a traditional biological family. The head of this organization is of course, the pope – whose very existence in the hierarchy is based on a dubious and illogical interpretation of a single biblical passage about Peter. The pontiff is supposedly the extension of the christian god on earth. He enjoys practical infallibility and other privileges reserved to him alone. He is blindly adored and venerated by the catholic faithful by the millions and is seen as a strong media and political figure.
Affiliation is a choice. And for so long (read: hundreds of years), the roman catholic church has eroded itself with countless cases of molestation, corruption, inhumane practices, murder and even psychological trauma against their very own kith and kin. This recent incident involving Ratzinger just emphasizes how crude and unabashedly bigoted the church is – he after all is the HEAD of the organization.
The head of your church is a bigot. Do you stay with a ship steered by a bigot whose popularity is nowhere near his predecessor or does one jump to another alternative whose moral compass is more centered towards a non-hypocritical theological direction? The roman catholic church clearly is a two-faced, libelous mafia who eagerly intellectually trap the weak in conviction and grey matter. Most people stay within the church to simply belong and be in the majority depsite all the injustices done by the church (meddling in political affairs, putting a cap on comprehensive family planning policies etc.), and to what end?
I think what the roman catholic church offers is not something mutually exclusive to other sects of the christian denomination.
Your Pope is a bigot. What does that make you, catholic? September 18, 2006
Posted by benj in Philosophy & Religion.4 comments
So catholic, what does that make you?
Make a stand.
As above me, so below me... 