… profile of an atheist … (philippines, life coach, counselor, psychotherapist, psychologist, psychiatrist)

one of the perks of my trade is that I get to meet a lot of off-beat characters.

one of them is jerry valencia, a lyceum psychology student, who has an interesting POV on life and on God.

to start things off, jerry unabashedly proclaims himself to be an atheist.

despite coming from a family that practiced traditional roman catholicism, he stopped believing in the existence of God ever since his high school days. he denies any traumatic religious experience and doesn’t attribute his atheistic beliefs to any incident in his childhood.

what he does say is that believing in God defies common sense, logic, and science. “to see (God) is to believe (that He exists),” he says. he cites the plurality of religions and cults each claiming moral superiority based on their monopoly of divine truth. he also takes notice of how religious people can be inconsistent in what they preach and how they live.

when asked about the meaning and purpose of life, he says that “we just live and then die.”

his wacky friends raine and honeyleth (shown in picture) only have good words for him. he is generally described as a good friend and a fine gentleman. in fact, even if honeyleth and raine remain steadfast in their faith, they say that a lot of jerry’s arguments make sense.

according to them, jerry can also be funny. during exams, when the members of the barkada are afraid of failing, they usually flock together to pray for God to help them pass. though jerry doesn’t join them, he occasionally (and seriously) whispers to them “isama niyo rin ako diyan, ha.”

one last thing: don’t be surprised if this atheist becomes a well-known campus figure at lyceum. he is “rumored” to be a candidate and popular bet for their school’s “mr. psychology” contest.

you know what, if he does win, his barkada might actually hail his victory as a MIRACLE!