Evangelical churches 'immensely offended' by Duterte rants

MANILA, Philippines — A group of evangelical churches on Tuesday said President Rodrigo Duterte's repeated remarks that God is "stupid" are inappropriate, a day after the president doubled down on the controversial statement.

In a televised speech from his hometown of Davao City on Friday, the Philippine leader questioned the Genesis creation narrative — a story that Christianity shares with Judaism — and why God would tempt Adam and Eve, whom he created.

"Who is this stupid God? The son of a bitch is really stupid," Duterte said in his rambling remarks delivered in Filipino and English.

On Monday, he doubled down on his comments but clarified that he was slamming the God of Catholics. 

He claimed that the God of his critics is stupid while his has common sense. The Philippine leader did not clarify which God he meant, but Christians believe there is only one.

He also questioned the logic behind the Last Supper, also sometimes called the Lord's Supper, and wrongly claimed some saints were there.

"The last supper who are the idiots there? They just made them saints. Saint Isidore,Saint Peter, Saint Jude, Saint Rodrigo. Why do you bind me with something very stupid," the president said on Monday during the oath-taking of newly-elected village leaders.

Saint Isidore, also called San Isidro, was born around 1070, died in 1130 and was canonized in 1622.

'Completely inappropriate'

In a statement, the Philippine Council of Evangelical Churches, which claims on its website to be "the largest network of denominations, churches, mission groups and para-church organizations nationwide", said that they were "immensely offended" by Duterte's remark.

"PCEC finds it completely inappropriate for our nation's president to derisively curse the God of the Christian faith, who is deeply worshipped not only by a majority of Filipinos but also by a vast number of people from all over the world," the group said.

There were an estimated 86.7 million Christian in the Philippines in 2010,  with 75.9 million of them identifying as Catholic. Protestants and "other Christians" account for around 10.8 million, according to data from the Pew Research Institute.

PCEC stressed that every Filipino is mandated to respect other faith convictions and said that religious intolerance could result in conflict.

"PCEC therefore denounces insulting another person's religion, which sadly, the president has on several occasions demonstrated," it said.

Raul Ninoy, chairman of the Catholic lay group Pro-life Philippines, meanwhile said that what the president said was blasphemous.

He added that Duterte's statements could pose both political and moral problems for the chief executive.

"Theologically and morally, I fear for his soul," he said in an interview with ANC television.

Palace forms panel for dialogues with Catholic Church

As the government tries to control the fallout from Duterte's controversial words, the Palace announced Tuesday the formation of a committee that would hold dialogs with the Catholic Church which has been critical of the president's policies.

On Monday, the Palace tried to change the narrative by bringing up the child abuse scandal that rocked the Catholic Church in recent years.

Harry Roque, one of the president's spokespersons, justified Duterte's comments by saying that his comments stemmed from his bad experience with priests.

The president, who in the past has already been caught lying, claimed that he was abused by an American Jesuit priest while studying at Ateneo De Davao University. The priest had been long dead when Duterte made his claim.

Roque also urged the Catholic church to apologize for the abuses of some priests.