"Mga muslim diha" - The 'Other' In Philippine Society

Today I was reading through "The God Delusion", a best-selling non-fiction book by Richard Dawkins, a British biologist whom you probably know as the author of "The Selfish Gene". I had started reading it to look for some inspiration. During the annual reflection sessions in Kapwa, one of the employees said that he would like to present some readings from the bible to the other staff members. He has been reading the bible passionately for a couple of years now and wants to share it with us. From personal conversations, I know that he believes the bible to be unquestionable Truth. Our executive director suggested that we turned it into an activity in which people answer the question "What do I believe in?". Needless to say, all eyes were suddenly on me, as my confession (that seems to be the right word for it) that I am an atheist has obviously not yet been digested.

I must admit that the question "What do I believe in?" makes me uncomfortable, and I wouldn't know what exactly to answer to it. Of course, in daily life, the choices you make, the things you do and what you feel when seeing and hearing what happens in the world all point at what you consider to be right or wrong and what escapes your ethical judgement. I would have no idea, however, how to present this as a system of beliefs. As I was reading through "The God Delusion", I got excited with the intellectual vigour of Dawkins, the passionate way in which he explains evolution and the wit and brilliance with which he denounces religion.

But when I closed the book, I was still wondering: "What do I believe in?". Do I care that evolution explains what people had so long seen as a magical creation of God? I agree with Dawkins, of course, but that's not the point. What does it mean to me apart from being a fun read? Well, it also showed me the strength of critical thought. I think that I firmly believe that as human beings we have the rare talent of continuously questioning the world and what we think we know about the world and about ourselves. Perhaps that is the only message I wish I could convey when I try to answer the question "What do I believe in?". And I do believe it is needed...

Mindanao is a peculiar place in terms of accepting difference. Although it is de facto multi-ethnic and multi-religious, it certainly is not multi-cultural and it doesn't deal with differences very well. That is particularly obvious when it comes to religion. Does it make sense that, in a country where many people are non-christians (whether it be atheists or people of another religion), christian payers are said at every public occasion (be it at the start of school, a hearing in the city hall, a speech of the president or, for that matter, a meeting in an NGO)? If only people would expose their children to the reality of the multitude of beliefs, opinions, scientific theories, ethical theories, practical lifestyles...

Something that has always left me speechless is the deep-rooted, all-pervasive prejudice against muslims in Mindanao. You cannot as much as suggest that you would go to a muslim neighbourhood, or quite a lot of people would immediately say: ayaw, mga muslim diha ("don't go there, they are Muslims"). Perhaps it is one of the reasons why I am so weary of religion, certainly of the uncritical kind, since it has such a strong tendency to favour 'us' and condemn whoever we call 'them'...