Politics vs Religion
By Train
Catholicism came to the Philippines in the early 16th century when it was brought here by Spain. If we go by statistics, the Philippines is the third largest Catholic country in the world. Roughly 80.6 percent of the population are supposed to be Catholics. It is the predominant Catholic country in Asia.
Those are impressive statistics. But beyond the statistics, are we really a Catholic people at heart? Can Catholics vigorously defend their faith when under attack?
Recent months have shown that the Catholic Church, its leaders, and doctrines have been under ridicule. Unfortunately, the sustained rant against Catholic doctrine and church leaders come from the highest office of government.
Often times, when his pronouncement cross the line, his apologists but not him would claim that he was just joking. Many may wonder why, instead of being a unifying President, the head of the state has seemingly without provocation, enjoyed creating enemies where there should be none.
Why take on the Catholic Church when majority of Filipinos and Filipino voters are Catholics? Is that not a politically hazardous path to take?
Or, is it because Duterte knows, only to well, that most Catholics are only Catholics in name? And that it is safe to attack and ridicule them because their being "nominal Catholics" will ensure that they will not stand up in open protest. Saying that their God is "stupid," the church is "full of shit," and that "bishops should be killed" has not provoked outrage or even ripples.
Majority of our political leaders are Catholics. But there has been no squeak from them. They choose to hide under the skirt of separation of church and state even if the head of government does not respect it.
The bishops issued a pastoral letter in response in July 9, 2018 seemingly to no effect. Lately, individual Bishops have been issuing statements in reaction, but not of which have statements in reaction, but none of which have seemingly united the faithful into a popular movement or cause. Church members have kept their peace and their silence.
We wonder if the same reaction would be expected if other religions, sects or beliefs, had been subjected to the same amount of assault, ridicule and provocation?
