We received a message from Thom Landon. He said: "Your words, ideas and philosophy confirm what I have begun to understand. Thanks for putting up this site and I hope this note lets you know that in this difficult process of unlearning, your perspective is welcome and appreciated.  When I found the words your write and speak, it was like my thoughts spoken aloud.  It's good to know that the logical framework of reason can be seen and understood outside of the self." Here's the full message...

Marquez,

I read your works and listened to the youtube presentation and realized that I had gone through a process almost identical.  I reject athiesm as a response to theism.

Your words, ideas and philosophy confirm what I have begun to understand.  Reason is enough.  All the rest is a game to be played or entertainment. The really great stuff that's happening now, the amazing discoveries aren't made with dogma, they are made through the tool of reason.

I am also not a scientist, but I know enough about science to realize that it offers the best and most reasoned explanation for all of the really important questions. Recently, I've started reading Sam Harris and Dan Ariely and the picture of the mind and why we act irrationally suddenly begins to make sense. The future philosophy of thought integrates the new ideas on how and why we process new information and why we act irrationally (individually) and how we can eliminate harm (collectively).

Thanks for putting up this site and I hope this note lets you know that in this difficult process of unlearning, your perspective is welcome and appreciated.  When I found the words your write and speak, it was like my thoughts spoken aloud.  It's good to know that the logical framework of reason can be seen and understood outside of the self.

Best,

Thom

REPLY

Hello Thom,

I appreciate your time sending your thoughts through. It helps me when I know that there are people out there who are hearing me and who are sharing the same thoughts, feelings and experiences with me. It spurs me to do more.

Thanks,

//Marquez

The Global Atheist Convention was held in Melbourne last month. I'm glad to see that the Convention has grown a lot bigger since the last one in 2010. During the three-day event, I met one of the organisers of the Philippine Atheist and Agnostics Society ( PATAS), Marissa Torres Langseth. She is based in New York and she was organising an Atheist conference in Manila the week after. She told me the conference was going to be the very first Atheist Convention in South East Asia.

In writing this book, I imagined five groups of readers:

• The irreligious or the atheist
• The agnostic
• The moderately religious
• The religious
• The subject-matter experts

Every one of these readers will have different needs and reasons for wanting to read this book.

I sought to tell the story of humanity from the beginning to the present. I structured this book so you can read it like a story book, where the earlier chapters are the foundations of later chapters. The following is a quick preview of what we will be discussing.

One of my biggest worries in writing this book was the breadth of topics I had to cover. At times, I wondered whether I was doing the right thing in casting as wide a net as I did. I chose to proceed because, to understand the true nature of religion, we cannot limit our discussions to religious texts. Instead, we need to take a larger, macroscopic view. We need to see how it relates to human nature and to our society. We need to consult our sciences and corroborate our analysis with our history.

In our struggle to broaden our outlook, we need to start from the very beginning. From there, we work progressively. We will learn about cosmology, abiogenesis, genetics, evolution, language, memes, history, current affairs and so on.

For most of my life, I did not question the existence of God. My wife, most of my family, friends and relatives were all born into Christianity. We can be classified as ?non-practicing' or ?moderate' Christians. We went to church occasionally. When we did, it would be mainly for baptisms, deaths and marriages. The strength of our beliefs varied from believing that God exists to believing that religion is beneficial, regardless of His existence. Does God exist? Should we believe in God? Having an opinion on such big questions seemed inconsequential. We did not see how our lives would be impacted if we were to have an opinion on the matter. For us, there was no urgency. These questions were not as important as getting good grades, finishing studies, getting jobs or taking care of loved ones. Besides, what did it matter? We just had to be good mothers, fathers, sons, daughters and neighbours. All that mattered was that we were good to other people and that we did not inflict injury, harm, or suffering to another human being. The golden rule of treating others the way we want to be treated was our guiding thought, and to us, that was enough. But since last year, I became really curious when I realised that our beliefs, religious or otherwise, impact on our lives and the lives of others. Further, our religious beliefs permeate in everything we think and do. It is at the centre of most global issues we now face. So, I set out for a quest to try and understand our existence and find the answers to questions on God, morality and religion. My journey led me to writing a book. I have not discussed about my journey much in this blog but now that it is done, I will tell you about it. The book is called: The Tyranny Of God. One of my biggest worries in writing this book was the breadth of topics I had to cover. At times, I wondered whether I was doing the right thing in casting as wide a net as I did. I chose to proceed because, to understand the true nature of religion, we cannot limit our discussions to religious texts. Instead, we need to take a larger, macroscopic view. We need to see how it relates to human nature and to our society. We need to consult our sciences and corroborate our analysis with our history. In our struggle to broaden our outlook, we need to start from the very beginning. From there, we work progressively. We will learn about cosmology, abiogenesis, genetics, evolution, language, memes, history, current affairs and so on. The main purpose of this book is not to argue against religion. Rather, it tells our story and how we have come to oppress ourselves with the tyranny of our own beliefs. I wrote this book to include everything I discovered to be relevant in my search for the truth, not just the truth behind God and morality, but also behind us and our existence. Instead of reading this book with the expectation that it is trying to prove the tyranny of God, I would like to recommend you read it as a story book: as a book that tells the story of humanity from the Big Bang. I wanted to make this book easy to read and simple to understand, to the extent that I can in explaining some complex ideas. I also wanted it, regardless of the extensive amount of information, light enough to carry around whilst keeping important information intact. Reasonism.Org, a website dedicated to the subject matter of the book, has been created and is now active. It provides resources, including videos, articles and other relevant material. There is also a forum there where people can discuss and express their thoughts on the deep questions we all ask. Regardless of your religiousity, or lack thereof, I welcome and recommend that you visit it when you can. If you want to submit your stories and opinions there for publication, you may do so. I will be participating in the website as often as I can. I'll see you there.

Islamic leaders have condemned the Bali bombers in a bid to quell religious tensions after the three militants died together at the hands of elite Indonesian police snipers in Central Java today...Indonesia was tonight on high alert for terrorist attacks and mob violence, as hundreds of hardline followers gathered in the bombers' home villages in east and west Java to bury the men responsible for the 2002 Bali bombings. (Source)

Here is an amazing story you have to listen to. It is about the science of the mind and how we choose to live our lives. Jill Bolte Taylor