Atheists are still too often in the closet, and as this article is dealing with hypothetical thoughts, it's just based on my and my surroundings observation, yet accumulated from several countries I have lived in or around. Coming out as an Atheist is much different than coming out as an LGBT, as LGBT's face the legal situation of the country they live in, and the family and environmental situation in addition. Atheism yet is not really a topic, in many places, of what you are or not. Peoples can be Atheist, but belong to a religious organisation, as they were introduced or brought up that way.

Most peoples I have come across belong to that moderate category. They see their religion as a tradition or a social convention, attending Christmas or easter masses, managing through Ramadan or celebrating the birthdays of some saints or prophets, but their daily life has not much to do with their confession. The stronger the religious influence in society, the more peoples use religious terms in their daily life, wear religious symbols and attend religious events. Atheism as an alternative, or even “in the face” as the fact of how we were born, because nobody can deny, that knowing a God, or a Jesus or a prophet, is not a part of our DNA or a pre-installed feature of our brain, but something, depending on our geographical location, taught, indoctrinated or forced to believe in topic. And again, the stronger the religious power in a country, the less options a child has to look for alternatives, even may not even think about looking for them. The ultimate change for an individual may be the converting to another religion, but to dislodge a religion and be free of a belief requires a huge step. Atheism can be brought to a human being through a friend, through books or a family member. The chance knowing about it through the media is rare, as the media is often lead by peoples being a member of a religion, and although the press is supposed to be neutral, they still want to earn their living, by selling their topics to the supposed majority interested in certain categories. But we are not even only looking at newspapers or the broadcasted media, but also the internet. Online newspapers are a little bit more open with such topics, but even to mention the Huffington Post for example, looking at the year 2012, on first sight I can just identify roughly 30 articles. That's not much for a full year of publication, even having set up an Atheism category.

I myself grew up in a secular environment, and although I was baptized Protestant, I hardly can recall having entered a church. After officially signing out of church, at the age of 18, I found myself in a vacuum, but at least I was able to resign from the institution, some still far from being a possibility in many countries. I was not a christian, but also not a scientist, as that was the ultimate comment I had ever heard, that not debating a divine, and reasoning for proven results, were reserved for them. Secularism and free thought were issues coming up from time to time, but the word Atheism wasn't. Seven years of being resident in West Africa taught me a simple lesson. Most peoples were labeled as Muslim, and a minority was Christian, excluding one nation, the country of Guinea Bissau, where to my astonishment, around 50% of the peoples managed to remain traditional, thus not being changed to one of the monotheistic religions of the West or the East. The lesson was, that religion was a part of the political systems, so there was hardly a way to escape from it, as religion was dragged through all schools, all political speeches, all organizations and all residents. A fairly large minority lead and kept up this system, making the majority of the peoples follow all requested exercises. The few knowing about Atheism, were the ones who have traveled or were involved in the very rare field of art. Only close friendships often made a change to peoples thoughts. One other thing became clear to me. As being an LGBT was punishable by law, so that was something to deal with underground, Atheism, as not really known, was not illegal, but when rejecting the local beliefs, one could face at least some insulting confrontation or the rejection of a friendship. Something does not have to be illegal by law to be treated the way as if it were.

And what is going on in The Philippines? As an LGBT one does not have any legal problems, but that does not mean that families or certain parts of society tolerate it. Similar I can observe the issue of Atheism. Slowly book stores are offering books in the direction of secularism, Atheism and free thought, but obviously a minority of the population has access to those, as most peoples live in the provinces, and even in the city, feeding the stomach is the priority for many till now. Feeding the brain is left to the schools and colleges, but these institutions are near to 100% set up by religious organizations. And although the educational system in The Philippines is of high standard, at the end life is still said to built on religion and it's god. As an outsider, it is mind shaking to see that Christianity is a mandatory subject at all colleges, and I would ask myself how to be able to complete a course, when rejecting to attend that subject. So again, I can conclude that it needs a strong mind to find what Atheism is about, and that oneself is maybe an Atheist without knowing. I can imagine how it is to come out as an Atheist, in front of parents that go to church every week, and siblings that have accepted that way too. The way to individualism and a self sustaining life is still far of a reality in the country, as still many depend on their family community and both way support. So to avoid open isolation, many tend to decide for the inner isolation, staying an Atheist in the closet, maybe more often than LGBT's in the closet.

PATAS is therefor a very important step in the 21^st century era of the 2^nd enlightenment and the arise of Atheism. PATAS can penetrate areas individuals have maybe not dared to enter. A community is of course always stronger than a single person, and community is what religions also live from. The only difference is that they come with claims based on their book, and aim towards wealth and power. PATAS and all other Atheist, Agnostic, and Humanist organizations purely serve the welfare of the peoples through education, enlightenment and facts. A fact today, may no longer be a fact tomorrow, but Atheists don't fear that, as that is how development goes. Nobody should live in fear, being threatened with imaginary consequences and have no chance for a free personal development. As long as there is religion there will be wars based on such, hate crimes based on that and discrimination backed by it.

By Thomas Fleckner