Religion and spirituality

The movie version of Dan Brown’s best selling novel ‘Da Vinci Code’ has raised the question yet again whether a controversial movie ought to be banned. Less discerning Catholics may be misled. As Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales put it ‘such a blasphemous movie can shake the faith of Christians unless they are properly guided.’ Thankfully he did not go as far as other bishops who want the movie banned altogether. For very practical reasons, banning any book or movie would be counterproductive. It would only whet public curiosity even more. In any case, the book on which the movie is based is out there in the open being talked about and discussed. Moreover, with modern technology and at least 8 million Filipinos living in countries all over the world who will not be affected by any ban, not to count their non-Filipino friends and relations it will be futile.

It seems the fear is not so much about its effect on the more learned or more aware Catholics but on the less learned or less aware. The contrary may be truer. It is the learned faithful who will be more affected. Unfortunately, the book and the story it tells which the author himself calls fictional is now out of the control of authorities, whether religious or political.

It will be up to the viewers to decide what to think of it. It is a situation not unlike the early days of Christianity when it is said that the religion was variedly interpreted. There were sects and sects until it was decided to institutionalize it into a body of faith, the one, true Catholic Church under one authority. To do that, choices had to be made by early church leaders. It is being said that what was discarded is now coming out as discoveries, the Nag Hammadi scrolls and the lost Gospel of Judas, among them.

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As Cardinal Rosales has correctly put it, this is a challenge that the Church and its pastors must face up to. Questions on religion are one thing and spirituality is another. Quite rightly, church authorities will have to face the possibility of individual Catholics, not just ignorant ones, to do their own thinking and decide whether they should now re-examine what they have taken up as matters of faith. But there will be others to whom any review of their faith is not acceptable. This is where it may help to draw the line between religion and one’s own search for spirituality.’

For me, my spirituality is strengthened by what the Gospel of Judas is said to be about. A sensational document lost for nearly 1,700 years is not to be shunned if it says that Jesus had asked Judas to betray him so that he can be freed from the human body which imprisoned him. The document is in Coptic which was the language spoken in Egypt during early days of Christianity. Professor Rodolphe Kesser,  a Coptic expert says the key passage was when Jesus tells Judas: "You will sacriÞce the man that clothes me." Is it so wrong if Jesus should tell Judas or any other disciple for that matter to "at last get rid of his material, physical flesh, thereby liberating the real Christ, the divine being inside."

It may be annoying that someone whom we were made to consider a heel now comes out a hero. The story of Judas as one of the 12 Apostles, who sold him out for 30 pieces of silver, identifying him with a kiss is a long settled one. But according to the experts the Judas gospel is about the struggle between the Gnostics and the hierarchical church. Elaine Pagels, professor of religion at Princeton University says we don’t look to the gospels for historical information, but for the fundamentals of the Christian faith."

The Gnostics were deemed heretics because they disagreed with ofÞcial doctrines. They were punished and forced to go underground when Irenaeus, an early religious authority nominated four Gospels as the only ones that Christians should read. His list became the official church list. In 367 Athanasius, the powerful Bishop of Alexandria backed Irenaeus and issued an order to every Christian in Egypt listing 27 texts, including today’s Gospels, as the only New Testament books that could be regarded as sacred. That list continues to this day.

It may be relevant to distinguish between religion and spirituality especially for Asians. Asian religious traditions focus on an inner state of realization instead of instrumental rites or doctrines. There are those who see spirituality as a belief in ideas of religious significance – God, the Soul, or Heaven – but do not feel bound to the bureaucratic structure and creeds of organized religion. This is increasingly the modern approach to religion and tells a lot about the disillusion with organized religion. I think that is why the Da Vinci Code was so popular. It struck a chord of a modern need to be spiritual, a search for a more tolerant, more intuitive form of religion.

Now to go down to earth. Senator Miriam Santiago has quickly cut down her colleagues on bothering about whether Senator Franklin Drilon will keep his post or not. She predicted there might be no Senate presidency to speak of when Congress resumes its next regular session in July if the Supreme Court upholds the House of Representatives’ bid to amend the Constitution. Even his gentleman’s agreement with Sen. Manny Villar for term-sharing of the Senate Presidency by July 2006 is now in peril.

It is not Speaker JDV making the prediction that there will be no more Senate by July. "Between May 15 when the present session resumes, and July 24 when a new regular session begins, the Supreme Court will have enough time to hear and decide a test case on the House resolution to convene a constituent assembly." Santiago said in a statement. She said she would participate in a constituent assembly if it should happen. So would Senators Angara and Lapid, she said giving an inkling that the Drilon-led Senate is not as solid as it pretends.

In any case, the senate presidency of Sen. Drilon will not be missed. Not only had he presided in the most unproductive senate ever, he was also the arch-enemy of charter change.That is not difficult to understand for someone who wants to be president. That will not happen if we shift to parliamentary government ergo he will not stop at anything to stop charter change. That is why he is bent on blocking reform bills even if these are against poverty. Instead he is alleged to be a conspirator in plots not just to oust President GMA but wants VP Noli de Castro to resign as well. Remember he is third in line. Other than that he has nowhere to go being on his second and last term as senator, which expires July 2007.  He cannot run as congressman in his Iloilo home-province because he has no district bailiwick or as governor because the incumbent, an LP party mate, is a reelectionist. Besides the LP has split into two factions, the bigger of which deposed Drilon as party president. He does not even have a party to rule.

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If you can get a hold of a book of So Help Us God by J. Eduardo Malaya and Jonathan Malaya, do so. It is a compilation of the inaugural addresses of Philippine presidents and will be an indispensable resource book for serious historians. Their inaugural speeches reveal whether they performed their promises. My email is [email protected]