Politics and morality

In the raging debate on the doctrine of Church-State separation enshrined in our Constitution, several government officials have been repeatedly claiming that the wall of separation has been breached by members of the clergy because of their alleged intrusion into the purely political affairs of the State like the impeachment process initiated against President GMA; that it is therefore the Church, not the state which has violated the doctrine. Obviously, this finger pointing will not end because people on both sides argue on different wave lengths and the issue between them has not been joined by a common cord. One side apparently would like to dichotomize the life of a person into the temporal and spiritual sphere and put a wall between it, whereas the other side looks at a man’s life in its entirety and believes that it could not be split when it comes to his relationship with God. One side says that politics is purely a temporal matter so leave God out of it while the other side claims that politics has both a temporal and spiritual aspect where God’s presence and God’s will must be made known. Complicating the controversy is the presence of people on both sides advocating the view of the opposing side. So that there are government officials who agree that the Church should intrude into State affairs like politics while there are members of the clergy who thinks that Church should not, but instead, just stick to the purely spiritual aspect of a man’s life.

The recent CBCP stand on the impeachment case must therefore be taken in the light of this unsettled, confusing and complicated issue regarding the principle of Church-State separation. Our bishops know and have been consistently affirming the Church position that they and the rest of the clergy are not violating this principle by getting involved in the area of politics when moral and Gospel values are at stake. This is still their stand in the latest pastoral letter. When they refrained from supporting the political process of impeachment against GMA, it does not mean that they are completely keeping their hands off the strictly temporal sphere of politics. Nor are they saying that impeachment is not a peaceful and constitutional means to pursue the truth on the alleged electoral fraud committed in 2004 and therefore, has no moral basis.

The Pastoral Letter touching on the impeachment process actually conveys different messages to different members of the flock and also to the other pastors of the flock. They are addressed to politicians belonging to the administration, to the opposition, to the rest of our countrymen and to some members of the clergy

The bishops are asking the administration politicians, particularly those in Congress where the impeachment is initiated and tried, to inject the moral aspect into the political process by changing "the process and its rules" motivated solely by "concern for the common good". This is an appeal to change the existing rules so that in making decisions, the ruling majority must rely on reasonable grounds rather than on their overwhelming edge in terms of having much more members in Congress. The bishops want the process to be a productive search for truth rather than merely a numbers game where the will of the majority, rather than the truth almost always prevails.

On the other hand, the bishops would like the opposition to have their mindsets guided by "no other motive than genuine concern for the common good". In other words, they want the opposition politicians to show the people their sincerity in searching for the truth by discarding first their grandstanding style that betrays their selfish ambitions of trying to gain power and of jockeying for positions as if they are already in power. They are pointing out to the opposition that if they persist in their present attitude, the impeachment process will never succeed as a means to ferret out the truth.

CBCP’s message to the rest of our countrymen is a reminder that impeachment is still a legal and peaceful means in the pursuit of the truth regarding the 2004 election fraud. But they cannot support their ongoing impeachment effort because it is unproductive. So it is up to them as the laity to carry on the search for the truth either by applying massive pressures on their Congressmen, both pro and con, to come up with an impeachment process that will not be a mere waist of time according to the guidelines set in their pastoral letter. Otherwise they can resort to other peaceful and legal means.

In a way, the pastoral letter also has a message to the fellow bishops and other members of the clergy who have chosen to join in the filing of the impeachment complaint. CBCP is telling them that their actions are not in violation of the principle of Church-State separation. But they would be more effective and credible as spiritual guides of their flock if they will refrain from engaging in temporal activities bordering on partisan politics which is better left to the laity. In other words, by intruding too much into the temporal sphere of politics, they may lose their credibility as the moral and spiritual pastors of their flock.

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