Carlos Celdran is an asshole

I've been reading some rather old news about Filipino atheists or freethinkers or whatever they call themselves. I am Filipino and an atheist but I'm not the type of person who joins a group for a cause no matter how noble or evil or how close their ideologies may be to mine.

A particular human caught my attention recently - a certain Carlos Celdran. His name appeared in the news for barging into a church, holding up a placard and yelling "Damaso" while wearing an outfit attributed to Jose Rizal, the country's national hero. Padre Damaso is a character in Rizal's book who symbolizes the wrongdoings of the Catholic Church during the Spanish occupation. Filipino atheists lauded Celdran as a hero for his actions, placing his name alongside Rizal's.

I am a Filipino and an atheist but I think of Celdran's actions as downright despicable in my opinion. What he did was creative but tactless. If these humans want to get things done, this flamboyant attitude won't help their cause.

I've been to the arrogant gnostic atheist stage myself when I was just in my first year (or so) of "enlightenment". I admit I was rude, arrogant, and closed-minded as most gnostic theists - defeating the point of agnosticism. But as time passed, I tried to become more and more open-minded as I became more attuned to the agnostic part of agnostic atheism. Celdran is branded as a hero by these upstarts and whatever arrogance they had with their immaturity is exacerbated by Celdran's own arrogance. Oil has been spilled over the fire. I have never met anyone with this level of serious arrogance.

And I hate seriously arrogant people. I don't want to meet him. Ever.

I have no respect for religions for what they strive to be; rather, I only respect religions for what they are: lifestyles, though not all lifestyles have primitive beginnings and *ehem* child-molesting priests. Since most Filipinos are Christians, being rude won't help get your point across, especially with age-old traditions and indoctrination. Let's face it: the Filipino masses are helplessly blind and religious (or blindly religious). The population is still attached to the umbilical cord of religion. Severing the cord recklessly won't do it any good.

I am a passivist, the opposite of an activist, and I ceased pushing my own beliefs to others. Instead, I post on this blog to share to my friends (and hopefully, to the world) my views. I admit that posting on my blog isn't gonna do much to change the world. But hey. I like what I'm doing.

I won't reclassify myself as just an agnostic like what Neil deGrasse Tyson did, since "agnostic" implies "agnostic theist". I'm a Filipino who doesn't believe in a deity because I think the evidence that points to one is lacking, making me an agnostic atheist. Celdran and his immature joiner flock, on the other hand, are "antitheists" rather than atheists.

Plus, I'm also apolitical.

Edited.