Archive for the ‘Religion’ Category

There are many ways to try and talk with President Noynoy Aquino's supporters. Unfortunately, none of them works. They are so caught up with their own narrow view of what is good and evil that they cannot see beyond their flawed reasoning. While most of us already knew from the beginning that it was ... Full story

Nobody who rests comfily within the bed of Establishment thinking seems to want to take a position on the debate around abortion. All of what the venerable Ellen Tordesillas can add to the debate, for example, is a wish of "good luck" to those bold enough to take a position and slug it out in what is otherwise a splendid arena that pits the ... Full story

Philippine society is full of contradictions. One of its many contradictions is that the Philippines is populated mostly by religious zealots and yet its people are quite tolerant of sexual and lifestyle deviants. About ninety percent of the population in Philippines are Christians, eighty percent belong to the Roman Catholic Church while ten percent belong to other Christian denominations. Considering the country's population is ... Full story

Kris Aquino is no longer just another screeching Filipino showbiz personality. She is now the sister of the President of the Philippines. The timing of her marital woes with basketball player James Yap couldn't be worse for the spin machinery of her brother President Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III -- a man who owes much of his appeal to the masses to the Catholic mind of ... Full story

What's in a number? A lot actually. If you are starting to lose your religion, try doing the math and you will figure out what life is all about. Truth be told, if President Noynoy Aquino will be honest with himself, he should see his win as no more than a numbers game result, and not the outcome of some imagined divine intervention as his ... Full story

Organised religion has a tradition of being averse to stepping up to a serious debate on a level field when its dogma is challenged. Certainly the Roman Catholic Church is not an exception to this tradition of intolerance to free inquiry. I wrote a while back how the Roman Catholic Church is really... an institution ... Full story

Decent sex education in Philippine public schools. Long overdue. But then how can this become a reality with the Philippine Taliban making sure that "offensive" material is being kept off public school textbooks... Education officials insist that the bishops have nothing to worry about because the is open to deleting portions of the teaching modules that the Church finds offensive.... Full story

if you own a portion of Hades' or Lucifer's version of hell will you give it up for the common good? Full story

Real democracy is dead in the Philippines. Leaders in the country have killed it -- that is, if it ever existed at all. I'm not just referring to the political leaders. I'm referring in particular to religious leaders who endorse presidential candidates and oblige their flock to vote for whoever it is they endorse. Inquirer.net columnist Conrado de Quiros is so wrong in insisting that ... Full story

What is it about people of influence who "endorse" politicians? What's in it for them? From where I sit, it seems that an endorsement by a well-connected opinion shaper seems to be some kind of affirmation of one's importance. When who I will vote for is worn on my sleeve, and becomes something people make a ... Full story

The countdown to Presidential Elections 2010 may as well be a countdown to Ocho-Ocho "Revolution" Fiesta as well. In the latest burst of news "reporting" from that venerable beacon of heroic press "freedom", the Inquirer.net, some old relic came out of the woodwork to give some "advise" on the matter of people power "revolutions": "For those ... Full story

Thank God (literally!) for Manila Archbishop Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales and to the Inquirer.net for doing the right thing and running a story on what the Cardinal had to say about moronic talk of "People Power" by popular candidate Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III. On the possibility of him calling for people to "hit the streets" in the ... Full story

I don't cry too much anymore when I'm upset. I realized that after I've had a crying session that aside from getting puffy eyes, I always regret making a big deal out of a situation. Most of the time, the situation is not worth crying about. One such situation not worth crying about is the Liberal ... Full story

When Joseph "Erap" Estrada decided to run for the Philippine presidency in 1998, he had the majority of the Filipino masses behind him. He was the champion of the poor and poor people came out in droves to vote for him, resulting in him enjoying a wide margin of votes over his opponents. This was, to ... Full story

At various times over the European Middle Ages, sitting Popes would routinely call for crusades not too different from today's Islamic jihads. These crusades had military objectives that had lofty ideals attached to them, such as those that involved the "retaking" of the "Holy City" for "the greater glory of the Almighty" and other crap mentalities ... Full story

There is one thing absolutely indisputible about the plight of the Filipino "Nation", and that is its absolute lack of any collective achievement of consequence. A recent article that BongV pulled out from somewhere in the Net cites one failure after another over most of Philippine history, each snippet in itself a testament to our ... Full story

Catholic arguments against the RH Bill are claimed to be moral bulwarks against wrongdoing. However, when you take apart the arguments, they don't turn out to be free of some wrongdoing themselves. Full story

Like the civic-minded Filipino, the astute lawyer, and the obedient cleric that he is, the good Fr Joaquin Bernas goes out and throws the books of State and Church Law at us in an effort to "clarify" the "fundamental of Church-and-state relations". Really now, Fr Bernas, this article of yours comes across as just your ... Full story

That house of hypocrisy and idiocy was quick to cackle when it came across a party list group that proposed 10-year renewable marriages. The "solons" (how can they be called solons by the way when these people are anything but, wise) came out with tongues wagging, saying "no" to renewable marriage. Proposals for renewable marriages ... Full story

Six years ago, I remember being quite stunned by a statement our teacher (who also happens to be a nun from India) made in relation to Filipinos always overstating that they are respectful. Her opposition to this undoubtly disturbing thing is that if indeed Filipinos are what they think they are, why are there so many rape cases and people cutting lines here in the ... Full story

While scanning the Inquirer.net today, I happened upon a page that displayed today's (19 Oct 2009) editorial cartoon... ... and I thought, okay, three interesting elements all together in one image: (a) a black cloud labelled with the words "super-typhoons", (b) a pair of hands clasped together as if to pray, and (c) the ... Full story