Where are we going?

I hope I am wrong but the way I see it, the present administration seems to be so concerned with purely temporal problems of governance that it is forgetting or completely disregarding the more important aspect of our life as a nation which is our relationship with God and belief in Divine Providence. We appear to be moving inexorably towards the moral decadence and Godlessness now prevalent in western countries particularly the US which is trying to impose on us its purely secularist practices that promote the culture of death in lieu of the culture of life.

First, there is the RH bill promoting abortion as it appropriates billions of pesos for artificial birth control pills or contraceptive devices that undeniably cause and/or lead to the merciless killing of the helpless, defenseless unborn child in the mother’s womb. For years this bill has been introduced and re-introduced in Congress but has never been passed as no President openly and actively supported it obviously because it violates Divine and human law (Thou shalt not kill). This time, however, apparently upon the prodding of US President Obama who is a known advocate of abortion, the bill is being pushed by no less than the President with a new and more acceptable title of Responsible Parenthood bill purportedly to solve our poverty problem supposedly due to overpopulation.

Our legislators should reject this bill once and for all because it is the wrong measure for a wrong reason. There is no overpopulation here but only over-concentration of population in some areas. And our poverty problem is not due to overpopulation but to too much corruption in government and lack of effective policy promoting a more equitable distribution of the country’s wealth and resources such that the rich still get richer and the poor, poorer. Our legislators should junk this bill not for fear of a Catholic vote against them, but for the reason that the bill violates the Constitution mandating the State to protect the life of the mother and the life of the unborn from the moment of conception.

Then there is the proposed bill allowing absolute divorce here, or the dissolution of a perfectly valid and existing marriage for extrinsic causes that destroy the inviolability of the union. Again as shown in other countries, allowing absolute divorce leads to numerous broken marriages and shattered families as couples freely and irresponsibly go in and out of a marital relationship that is supposed to be the foundation of the family which in turn is the foundation of the nation. Allowing absolute divorce therefore ultimately weakens the nation.

Another bill still in the hatching stage which undermines the essence of marriage as a sacred union between a man and a woman, is the bill allowing same sex marriages. This is a bill apparently backed by Obama also who openly supports gay marriages in the US. Then there is also the recently passed bill known as the “Magna Carta for Women” containing some provisions that may cause the breakdown of marriages which were apparently overlooked by our legislators for one reason or another.

But the most serious threat to our God-loving and God-fearing society is House Bill 6330 proposed by a party-list representative who wants to ban God in government offices. Entitled “Religious Freedom in Government Offices Act”, the bill provides that “religious ceremonies shall not be undertaken within the premises and perimeter of government offices, departments and bureaus, including publicly owned spaces and corridors within such offices, departments and bureaus. The bill also bans the display of religious symbols within those places, perimeters, spaces and corridors and empowers the heads of offices and departments to strictly enforce the Constitutional provision on freedom of religion.

The author himself confirms that the bill prohibits prayers, masses and other liturgical celebrations as well as the display of religious icons and other images in government offices currently being done and practiced in many such places. This means that the daily opening prayers or invocations being practiced now in the courts of justice before the start of the hearings will be banned. So too are the opening prayers said before the start of the sessions in Congress. In fact even Cabinet meetings also start with an invocation but under the bill this has to be stopped also.

Our quality of legislations and legislators seem to be really deteriorating with the introduction of such bill full of contradiction. It is supposed to promote religious freedom in government offices yet it prohibits the holding of religious ceremonies and the display of religious symbols in those offices. The author even quotes the Constitution which provides that “the free exercise and enjoyment of religious profession and worship, without discrimination or preference, shall forever be allowed”, yet he wants to ban religious ceremonies and symbols in government offices. He is invoking the provision of Section 5 of the bill of rights regarding the freedom of religion yet his bill banning religious rites and symbols in government offices violates that very provision which states that “no law shall be made…prohibiting the free exercise” of religion.

Apparently, the author misapplied the principle of church and state separation particularly the “non-establishment” clause which simply means that the State cannot set up a church or pass laws aiding one or all religions or preferring one religion over another. His bill however bans all religions in government offices. Indeed, as Lingayen Archbishop Socrates Villegas said, there’s separation of Church and State but there’s no separation of God and man”. So he said that the bill would make the Philippines a “soul-less” nation, and losing our soul as a nation would be “the real downfall”.

Of course we cannot directly point a finger at Malacanang for such kind of bill. But at least we expect Malacanang to immediately thumb it down instead of waiting for “debates and legal opinions”. It is just fortunate that despite Malacanang’s initial reluctance, so many voices have been raised condemning the bill thus forcing its author to admit his mistake and withdraw it.

Hence we should continue praying and raising our voices in increasing crescendo against the other bills that tend to destroy our relationship with God and make us a “soul-less” nation. Let us not allow the matuwid na daan to become the straight road to perdition.

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