Interview with Thomas Fleckner published in the German Humanist Magazine "Diesseits"
How is the daily school lifestyle in a country where four out of five inhabitants belong to the Catholic Church?
Thomas Fleckner lives for several years in the Philippines and he knows that the country's Constitution requires a clear separation of church and state. But the reality is different, “Most politicians believe that all people under the government of God, educational institutions teaching creationism and compulsory prayers and church visits do form an integral part in the society.”
“Religious education is a duty, even at most universities; they only consider baptized children to fit the mold, non-religious people are often referred to as demons or devils. When young people want to disclose their disbelief, they sometimes feel that there should be a sense or norm of reciprocity and respect leading them to operate two Facebook accounts to hide their lack of belief towards God.”
Fleckner landed at Germany in 2010, he spent 7 years in the African continent in order to gain experiences with other cultures and ways of life, "Living in Africa as a gay man was a complex challenge, after the President Gambia threatened the entire LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transsexual) of decapitation, it was time for me to go."
He has wide knowledge of the influence of religion on daily lifestyle in the Philippine society not only by observation, but also by having conversations with other people in the Philippines, a country with more than 92 million inhabitants. The 43-year-old Fleckner joined the Philippine Atheist and Agnostics Society or PATAS, the only registered Organization of non-religious people with so far approximately 4000 members, founded in February 2011 on the initiative of Marissa Torres Langseth, an expatriate Filipina and with the support of the American Humanist Association. According to the Philippine Government information, only one percent of the entire population consider themselves as irreligious.
Soon after joining, Thomas Fleckner was with the public press, in charge of public relations and the PATAS community. Fleckner’s active participation and involvement to stamp out religion and the church is a byproduct of his experiences in Africa and the Humanist Association. Early 2013, he was finally elected as the Vice President of the fledgling organization. The main goal of his as of now will be anchored toward humanism, "as much as possible, I want to operate and start humanistic events. Everyone should feel addressed and equal, be it women, children, or the whole LGBT community. They all should be included in one concrete organization and treated equal.”
For this year’s World Humanist Day on the 21st of June, PATAS organized the first Asian Humanism Conference, in collaboration with the International Humanist and Ethical Union (IHEU). Activists from Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Pakistan and Nepal were among the participants of the event. Among the topics included the reproductive rights of women, the Catholic Church interference with the issue of abortion, among others.
The focal point of Fleckner’s oration was mainly on the rights of the LGBT people especially the atheist ones who are faced in many countries with discrimination, violence and even state persecution.
In many Asian countries, the majority of the citizenry has a specific religious identity. "Everything is accompanied and infiltrated by religion. You can hardly escape from it during childhood. People who renounce the religion either get excommunicated from the Church, humiliated or discriminated," said Fleckner concerning the religious situation in the Philippines. Furthermore, Islamic companies in Asia demote and threaten the employees once they find out that they are atheists and gay as they deem homosexuality biblically illegal.
"In countries where atheism is punishable, Humanism is often the only way to get out of the impasse.” The next focus of the organization, in addition to conducting conferences is "the establishment of phone calls when someone is in pain, supplementary stations for women, children or LGBT community. We want a safe place for all people who want to renounce religion, or already have renounced religion.”
He himself had experienced the repercussions of coming out as an atheist: “After my confirmation, I am working for years as a homosexual. Religion did not suit my nature, because religion represents homosexuality as a sin. How could my innate nature be condemned?” During school, he decided to choose against the teaching of religion and instead went with the subject “values and norms”. “I was discriminated because of my gayness and strong deterrence from religion. Even worse, I was excluded from the graduation ceremony in high school which concreted my decision to step out of the protestant church as the final and formal step at the age of 18.”
Social networks like Facebook also played an important role in the recent development of PATAS. “That helped. The bits of information are easily shared. The Filipinos are among the top Facebook users, and a large part of our work at PATAS is executed there.” But he also sees dangers such as “hiding the world around us. A healthy balance in the use of such platforms I think is also very important."
The networks are indispensable because access to mainstream media is difficult to create, "Unfortunately, most media companies are under the influence Catholic Church, and whenever atheists come in sight or apply, they fight tooth and nail to retaliate by not allowing them in the company.”
International cooperation and support are essential. But here, too many things are obviously at the very beginning, because he said “conversations must take place with the European organizations to make them aware that organizations such as PATAS do exist.”
Thomas Fleckner absolutely wants change in the future. “Atheism and Humanism are worldwide issues, and in the course of globalization, our world does not have enough national thinking and local closing.”
The interview was conducted by Arik Platzek from the German Humanist Magazine "Diesseits"
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