Regressive practices among Christians

IF Christianity were an effective catalyst for change, the Philippines would be full of Christ-like individuals. Government officials would be walking their “pro-people” talk.

Church leaders and followers would ostracize, not lionize, oppressive politicians. We would take pride in being the only predominantly Christian nation in Asia.

But we know that Christianity itself suffers from disunity among thousands of sects and subsects that claim to preach the Gospel. Religious leaders preach conflicting beliefs.

They only agree on one thing — receiving tithes or whatever form of “love offerings.”

“Purihin ang Diyos” was the mantra of one of them who used to hold overnight prayer rallies at Rizal Park.

Probably still the richest of them all is Apollo Quiboloy, the “appointed son of God,” who is now detained at the Pasig City Jail.

The United States has formally requested his extradition following a 2021 federal indictment in California for sex trafficking of minors, fraud, and bulk cash smuggling.

We know of one “religious senator” who tried but failed to block the passage of the Reproductive Health Law (Republic Act 10354 of 2012), aimed at promoting universal access to methods of contraception, because it was a “sin.”

Ironically, however, it was the same senator who pushed for the return of capital punishment, which was abolished in 2006, arguing that life imprisonment was a weak deterrent against major crimes.

But in 2021, he withdrew his support for capital punishment, favoring life imprisonment instead.

Another irony: He had been reported to be a “protector” of an alleged drug lord, Alfredo Tiongco, whose residence in Quezon City was raided in 1997 for high-powered firearms and 419 grams of ephedrine.

By and large, most Filipinos are Catholic Christians not by choice but because they were born to Catholic parents. If, along the way, some of them change course — like Manny Pacquiao — it’s because they have been “converted” by an influential preacher.

There are Christian denominations that ban members from marrying “outsiders” — obviously to preserve their faith for the next generation.

But being born to parents of different faiths has the advantage of provoking inquisitiveness. For example, I had the pleasure of listening to my father, a Seventh-day Adventist, and my Aglipayan mother “debate.”

I sifted through their views and ended up embracing no religion. What’s our God-given brain for if we don’t think for ourselves?

That we are a Roman Catholic country is obviously due to Spain’s influence, starting with the arrival in Cebu of Ferdinand Magellan on March 16, 1521.

While it has already been more than a century since we gained our independence from Spain in 1898, we are still under the spell of religious leaders who threaten us with fire and brimstone if we don’t toe their line.

History has unmasked erroneous theocratic decisions, the most infamous of which was the conviction and life imprisonment under house arrest of Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei for heresy in 1633 because he had taught that the Earth revolves around the Sun.

The official Church position at that time was that the Sun revolves around the Earth — an idea borrowed from Greek philosopher Aristotle.

It was not until 1979 — 346 years later — that Pope John Paul II declared that the Roman Catholic Church “may have been mistaken in condemning Galileo.”

In 1993, the Catholic Church officially “pardoned” Galileo.

Shouldn’t the Church have apologized instead for misjudging the person who had rightly held that the Earth and other planets revolve around the Sun?

The Church’s pro-life advocacy has no historical ground. Historical records now accessible on the internet show that during the reign of Roman Emperor Constantine (306–337 A.D.), heretics (persons who opposed church teachings) were sought out, tortured, and eventually murdered.

On March 25, 1199, Pope Innocent III declared that “anyone who attempted to construe a personal view of god which conflicted with the church dogma must be burned without pity.”

The reign of Pope Gregory IX (1227–1241) saw the beginning of the Inquisition, a campaign of torture, mutilation, mass murder, and destruction of human life.

In fairness, the Catholic Church has officially apologized for the abuses of the Inquisition. During a public Mass at St. Peter’s Basilica on March 12, 2000, the late Pope John Paul II explicitly said, “The Church today, through the Successor of Peter, names, declares and confesses the errors of Christians in every age.”

Amen to that.