I was surprise to find out that Dr. Christina Yang (portrait by Sandra Oh) from the TV series Grey's Anatomy is an atheist. Well, she said it herself, she doesn’t believe in Santa Clause and she doesn’t believe in God.

The episode was about this kid who’s getting a heart transplant. His mother keeps telling him that his heart came from Santa Clause, yet the kid figure it out that it was all a lie. Dr. Preston Burke (played by Isaiah Washington), the cardiothoracic surgeon (I think he’s Dr. Yang’s boyfriend) had an argument about this and was kind of insulted about Dr. Yang’s attitude towards his religion…’er spirituality as what he wanted to call it. For Dr. Yang spirituality and religion is just the same. Dr. Yang’s boyfriend says that the reason he considers a being “higher than himself” is because without it he feel very helpless.

What I admire about Dr. Yang is that she didn’t budge on this kind of mentality. Confronting the kid, she told him that she also doesn’t believe in Santa Clause or God and even without such believe; you should still consider living to face life despite the odds. That was nice.

It’s about time someone should start thinking like that. How many parents today tell their children that “Santa Clause exist and if you’re been naughty the whole year, Santa will never give you any presents in Christmas Eve” huh? Come on, do you suppose to scare your kid in order to make him nice? Some say that they just don’t want to take away the innocence of their children, but is deception a part of innocence? Soon as these kids grow up, what other lies will they believe: conspiracy theories, pyramid scams, get rich schemes, God?

Today the Filipino people are living in a shroud of false hope. Many people live below poverty line and these people were making to believe that there is hope in hoping. We live in an age where education is quite reachable if only if it’s affordable for everybody. Yet even these so-called “men of God” are selling education to the highest bidder. Come on, just go to a nearest “Catholic” or “Christian” University and ask how much the tuition fee cost. Or how about Christian grade schools. Do you think a family who earns only P200.00 per day can enroll their children to such “prestigious” schools? But listen how these wolves preach charity and hope.

People live in the streets yet the church doesn’t even open its doors for them. Yet we are made to believe that when you knock, someone will open. We are told that the clean spirits have a chance to go to heaven, yet these men are corrupting their own body with fornication and carnality.

Poor people created a good excuse for their poverty, “God loves the poor” and “Rich people pisses God.” I sometimes think that priests invented that quote in order to prevent a riot. Yet some how it seems that people rely in such passage. Maybe Dr. Yang’s boyfriend was right all along, He needs it to feel that he is not helpless. Yep! Poor people should feel the same way, to reassure themselves of their misgivings, even if it’s just as good as a placebo. Just like taking a swig on booze.

So is that how religion works? Hold on to empty promises and bare threats?

You don’t need to invent Santa Clause in order to bring hope to someone. All you have to do is to show him/her the real world. Who says that in order to have hope you have to go to the afterlife, as long as goodness in humanity exist here, in this very time, there is a chance.

Until next time,
Pinoy Atheist

(http://atheistangpinoy.blogspot.com/)