No more Sinulog in order to please atheists?

Now that Supreme Court (SC) Chief Justice Renato Corona is out of the SC, surely you must have noticed that those left-leaning groups who are supporting and surrounding Pres. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino, III have moved quickly to propose a Divorce Bill. Here we are in the midst of the fight against the Reproductive Health (RH) bill and suddenly this fight will now be expanded to add divorce into this highly-volatile equation and I’m willing to bet that same sex marriage is just around the corner.

I find it quite strange that these leftist organizations that hate US Imperialism with a passion are now in total concurrence with American policies regarding the many freedoms that they are now demanding. The latest to join the fray is a Kabataan Party-list lawmaker Raymond Palatino who is seeking to ban religious symbols and the holding of religious ceremonies in government offices. They cite certain provisions of the 1987 Constitution on Freedom of Religion. If you ask me, atheism is a form of religion, not much different from Communism that denies the existence of God.

Since we’re in the midst of this spiritual battle against the RH Bill, we might as well widen our coverage to include Rep. Palatino’s HB no.6330 entitled “Religious Freedom in Government Office Act.” Accordingly, this bill seeks to empower heads of offices and departments “to strictly follow the constitutional provisions on the freedom of religion in the exercise of their official functions, and in the use of government facilities and property.”

This constitutional provision asserts the republican and secular nature of the state, such that although laws could be religious in its deepest roots, it much have an articulable and discernible secular purpose and justification to pass scrutiny of the religion clauses. Rep. Palatino wants all religious ceremonies should no longer be allowed within the perimeter of any government office. Nor should religious symbols be allowed to be displayed on government offices and buildings.

Lest you have already forgotten, in the last count, we have 84 million out of the 90 plus million Filipinos who call themselves Catholic, although I would like to believe that at least half of that figure are people who merely put Catholic when they are asked what religion they belong to. This is because in all truth, orthodox Catholicism is on the decline. There are many Catholics out there who no longer believe in the Magisterium of the Catholic Church. But at least here in Cebu City, we still can count on a huge majority who still follow and obey Church teachings.

Let me remind you of that old adage which goes, “For evil to flourish, it is enough that good men do nothing.” I’m sure that if we conduct a rally against this proposed bill, only a few concerned Catholics would troop to the Fuente Osmeña to show their displeasure to this proposed bill. So let me get to the best example where we in Cebu City would get badly hit with this proposal. If this bill is passed, all the Sto. Niño images that you can find in almost all the government offices or facilities would have to be removed. Now should we allow this to happen to us?

Once the Sto. Niño’s are removed from the government offices, what next? I’m sure the next target is our holding of the Sinulog Festival, which we know has religious roots. There is no question that the Cebu City Government participates in the weeklong festivities. Who knows, once this law is approved, the proponents would file cases against the City of Cebu for holding and supporting the Sinulog. Will we allow this to happen to us in Cebu? Yes, I have no doubt it would happen if we Cebuanos do not go out into the streets in rightful indignation.

With the 2013 elections coming very soon, I would like to believe that it is high time for us to demand from our respective members of Congress what their stand is on this issue? We’d like to hear from them that they would vow to stop this measure before it is passed into law. With the senatorial line up from both sides of the political spectrum now almost completed, it is a matter of time when these senatoriables would be knocking on our doors seeking for our votes. If you ask me, this issue should be placed before them so we will know whom to vote for and whom we should not vote into office.

There is no question that we still believe in freedom of religion, which in my book means tolerating the beliefs of others. But like what I said, atheism has become another religion in itself… so we should tolerate them… however they should also learn to tolerate us who still believe in God. At this point, we’d like to know what is the stand of Mayor Michael Rama on this issue, and while we’re at it, we should also ask Rep. Tomas Osmeña to block this proposed bill before it reaches the plenary.

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