I have been an atheist for a long time now...15 years to be exact and I have met fellow âpinoy atheistsâ for the past years, but I still ask myself, âIs the Philippines ready for atheism?â
There have been a lot of developments on atheism lately, thanks to the following authors who wrote best-selling books that deal with the subject. Authors like Sam Harris, Daniel Dennett, Christopher Hitchens and Richard Dawkins. BBC has also presented a series about the history of atheism and I think the Internet is a big help.
Now I believe that some of the information did reach the Philippine soil and I am very glad to find copies of âThe God Delusionâ and âgod Is Not Greatâ in local bookstores. There are also quite a number of atheist blogs in the Internet that is run by a Filipino; some are even presented in American blogs...like that of âtruth seekerâ. But even with these developments I still have my doubts.
400 years of Spanish rule down the drain. Thatâs not quite simple. The Filipinos have been living in fairy tale land and it seems we really not doing anything about it. We have been hiding in parables, in mysterious supernatural realm. And the benefits? Well we are now facing our problems just above our necks.
âBahala Naâ
Yes...thatâs the answer a typical Filipino will utter, âbahala naâ which means âGodâs will be done.â Etymologically, the word âbahala naâ came from the word âBathala Naâ. Bathala is another Tagalog word for âgodâ. Most often, when confronted by difficulties, a Filipino believes that it is Godâs will. Well, most say that we also have an adage that says âNasa diyos ang awa, nasa tao ang gawaâ (I really canât find the nearest English translation of this, but it seems to imply that you can find pity in God yet man has still the one to do the works.) Anyway, the saying implies pity in every hard deed.
The Rice Problem
Take a look at the rice problem the Philippines is now facing. I heard that a certain public official have already warn the government of this impending calamity (I think it was Gov. Panganiban...I just forgot...silly me). To top the problem there is also as shortage of flour. Bread prices just sky-rocketed! (I just found out in NBC Nightly News that this problem is really world-wide,)
Gosh! We now have to fall in line just to buy a cheaper variety of rice. Sometimes the line is too long that an average person takes 4 hours to take his turn. I remember the time when I take buying rice for granted. I just come inside the market and viola! There are a lot of stalls that sell any type of rice. No one really take notice of the NFA variety, because the rice grain is too dark and small. Some even say that it doesnât taste good compare to those commercial varieties. Now even middle-class familiesâ fall in line just to avail the P25.00 American rice. And the P18.25 NFA rice is being sold to the poorest of the poor. The Philippine government stills deny that we are now facing a rice crisis. Yet still majority of Filipinos hangs in the belief that prayers will fix the problem.
I have heard in the news that bakers can add flour made from âkalabasaâ (squash), âkamoteâ (sweet potato) and coconut from the typical wheat flour to double its volume. That will make the prices of bread cheaper...but why now? We have the technology and the resources, yet why havenât we tried developing this before the problem started? Thatâs what happened when you donât take science seriously. And so a typical Filipino will just shrug his shoulder and let God do his miracles to intervene with the problem... âbahala naâ.
Filipinos are still too dependent on divine intervention. They are still convinced that solutions to problems are a prayer away to be solved. They are still drunk with ecclesiastical promises.
It looks as if we are stuck with this way of thinking. Every time a Filipino utter the word âbahala naâ, heâs facing an idle mindset that prevents him to solve his problems efficiently. But for how long will it sustain the Filipino?
Well...got to fall in line
âbaka maubusan pa ako ng bigasâ!
Ciao!
Pinoy Atheist
