01392: Anti-Religious Ranting

Like many Filipinos, I was raised in the Catholic faith. And while I've moved beyond the need to follow any organized religion, at the very least I do my best to respect their beliefs as separate from my own. I'm generally okay with the Church and other religions for that matter as long as they focus on their followers and their own brand of salvation. However many times they go beyond these boundaries, especially in a country like the Philippines.

And just looking at the news of late, there are a lot of reasons to be annoyed:

MMDA calls for prayers to expel Edsa’s ‘speed demons’ - Yes, we decide that one of the possible ways of solving the infamous traffic problems of Metro Manila is to have Catholic priests try to bless the whole stretch of this particular national highway. Then again, since all the other attempts at solving the problem failed, might as well try prayer? Really?

Bishops start drive vs mining EO - Let's not get distracted by whether or not the President's new Executive Order to support mining efforts in the country is a good idea or not. What gets my goat is how it is almost automatic that for any national issue, the Catholic Church - primarily through the CBCP - feel the need to have not just an opinion on said issues, but they also need to get their followers to side with their view of things. And yes, how the national government tries to regulate mining in the country is a mission critical issue for an organized religion.

And beyond these headlines, of course we had the priests constant need to comment on the proceedings of the recently concluded impeachment trial for former Chief Justice Corona, because naturally we need their input in such a key political event. What more their more usual campaigns against key pieces of legislation like the RH Bill. And while I can sort of respect their general need to reinforce the fight against artificial contraception, they also get into these weird arguments of presenting "scientific facts" or release priceless gaffes like the one in the image above.Wonderful.

And people wonder why I'm agnostic.

And this is beyond the fact that I don't fully understand how gay people still claim to follow the Catholic Church given everything that they've said against the pink community and LGBT rights. As an organization, the Philippine Catholic Church or perhaps primarily the CBCP are horribly backwards, frequently hypocrites to their own religious teachings plus they constantly violate the principle of the separation of powers between Church and State. And still our government officials seem to quake in fear of the political power that these Church leaders hold with respect their followers and how they might vote in future elections. 

And don't get me started on the supposed block voting that groups like Iglesia ni Kristo and El Shaddai supposedly follow come election time.

Sorry to be so offensive today - I know this is a delicate subject. But all these recent news items are just infuriating me to no end that I needed to say something about all this madness. Stop letting the Church dictate your lives sheeple! And to the media, stop running to religious leaders for quotes on non-religious issues! Stop giving them the time of day!