EDITORIAL - The cheapening of God's name

In case you have not noticed, the name of God is now being used in vain so casually. Worse, it is being used in vain so casually to shore up not good but evil. This can only mean that the world is inching slowly toward the Devil.

Not very long ago, prosecutors casually invoked the name of God to dismiss charges of sexual abuse against a priest who molested young girls during confession. In the eyes of the hapless prosecutors, the priest was the embodiment of God on earth and thus could do no evil.

And then very recently, a self-styled crusader against corruption invoked the name of God in refiling an amended complaint against certain officials in connection with the notorious lamppost case. According to him, God dropped new evidence on his lap.

There is no law prohibiting people from making fools of themselves. But even fools can affect the equilibrium of well-balanced people when they begin to casually mention God's name. When something sacred starts getting shot around like marbles, we risk losing ours.

What have otherwise normal and God-fearing people done to deserve getting unnecessarily upset and have their faith severely tested? Can we at least assign blame on anyone, that we may at least define a point of reference from where any attempt at remedy can proceed in earnest?

A very telling indication of where the blame squarely lies can be inferred from what a columnist in another paper has been writing about the past few days -- a con artist posing as a priest and victimizing a number of kind-hearted and trusting people.

For a con artist to hit on the idea of assuming the character of a priest shows not just versatility but a great sharpness. He has correctly understood the way of many priests and concluded any role that is not far removed from reality would be very easy to play.

So back to the original question as to why it has increasingly become more possible for people to casually invoke God's name in vain in relation to evil. That is because many of the anointed arbiters of good and evil have become evil themselves.

Of course there are still many in the religious orders who still do God's will, such as Mother Teresa's nuns who care for the poor, the sick and the lonely. But other nuns, priests and bishops prefer to rally in the streets and there give vent to their hatred.