This is the period in my intellectual history that I let go of my childhood religion and explore secular humanism.
- While the tipping point happened after my depressive episode in 2011, the roots of skepticism may have already been planted long ago when I was still a dedicated member of the Jehovah’s Witnesses. I approached my religion with a perspective of a scholar especially during the last year of high school and first year of college. I studied a lot of the organization’s literature and looked for secular evidence to support my beliefs. There were two kinds of literature that the organization produced: one that was purely about the doctrines and one which features secular evidence for the doctrines. I enjoyed the latter more than the former.
- Going to the University of the Philippines exposed me to critical thinking and perspectives. I read how Karl Marx labelled religion as the opium of the people, how religion only exists because of this opiate function, and that it is a social construct created by humans not by God. Despite bombardment of radical views, I remained faithful to my beliefs and grew deeper in my religious devotion. I volunteered in the Deaf ministry, a challenging ministry that not many JWs were willing to take, and quite honestly we in the Deaf ministry were discriminated even by our fellow JWs.
- In 2011, I went through a spiralling depression, which led me to want to die and attempt vengeance against God.
- I read the book Bondage of the Mind and The Bible as History, and never looked at the Old Testament the same way again.
- I started being interested in humanism.
- I went back to school and joined a political party. It is there where I was able to build a political identity. I embraced social democracy. I no more had a religion. I found a political advocacy.
To do
- Extend the note further then divide the timeline into smaller notes.