Posts Tagged ‘church’

Religious Freaks in the Philippines

Even the Philippines is not spare from useless religious wrangling of major and minor religious sect vying for the approval of one Filipino who is searching for a religion whom he or she will join; because the Philippines is predominantly Catholic and Christian country eclipsing Islam dominance on the Luzon and Visayan part of the Philippines. Islam religion has only dominance in the Mindanao part of the Philippines.

Founder of Dating Daan Eli Soriano

A predominant Christian country that  is divided into many variety of so-called Christian churches like the Roman Catholic church, the orthodox church, the protestant, the Methodist, the Baptist, the Iglesia Ni Cristo (INC),the Jehovah’s witness, the Mormons, the charismatic, the born again, the CFCs, the SFCs, the JIL movement the “dating daan” movement, the El Shaddai group, etc.

So many variety that leads into maligning and slandering one another and calling one another “fake and satanic” and even killing one another just like what have happened to an INC pastor and his family who were massacred inside the INC compound together with his wife and children, as reported a year ago; just only to convince a Filipino seeker to join their religious group which is so vain and so senseless. There are other religious killings happening below the table but was not reported on the public because one’s religious reputation will be ruined or tainted and will lose chances of winning a proselyte if it is publicly reported. Obviously, some what they only want is the tithes or money offerings that a proselyte will donate or give to their respective churches or religious congregation because of financial poverty.

El Shaddai Head in the Philippines - Mike Velarde

Take for example, pastor Mike Velarde who founded the El Shaddai group wherein he become an instant millionaire by asking tithes and money offerings from his followers in exchange for prayer requests and his blessings as the servant of God and Christ. Actually, he have already bought his own mall and even attempted to run for a government seat.

Continual Religious Hegemony in the Philippines

Religion in the Philippines become like a bread and butter in terms of morality. However, is the predominant religion in the Philippines which is Catholicism/Christianity a homegrown belief system in the Philippines?

Any Pilipino historian would say, it is Not, as well as the Philippines’ National heroes like Dr. Jose Rizal and Andres Bonifacio who have a non-catholic/non-Christian religion will utterly deny that Catholicism/ Christianity is the homegrown religion of the Philippines.

Actually, Philippine’s National heroes –Dr. Jose Rizal and Andres Bonifacio- fought against the hegemonic rule of Catholicism/Christianity during the Spanish times. Moreover, the Catholics/Christians during the Spanish times even snatch without mercy the native lands of the “Pilipino Katutubos” at that time. Just like what the Spanish priest missionaries were doing on remote areas in the world not only in the Philippines during the Middle times.

Up until now, the Spanish religion still has hegemony over the majority of the Pilipinos and trying to meddle again on the moral and political affairs of the Philippines. The most recent is the use of condom to prevent sexually transmitted disease which the Catholic Church have opposed and trying to impose her own power over it.

The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines or the CBCP is the seat of the continuing proof of religious hegemony in the Philippines that tries to intervene and meddle in the Philippine affairs.