THANKS to CNN’s continuing coverage of Pope John Paul II’s death, the world now knows where our real distinction lies — quite apart from being a showcase of corruption in the midst of poverty. It is that we Filipinos take our religion seriously.
This is not saying that other peoples are less serious about their religion. But ours is the only country which gave the visiting JP II a crowd of four million. In a CNN clip, he urged us to spread the Word to all of Asia.
It will be recalled that centuries ago Spain designated our country the warehouse of the faith, almazen de la fe, a distinction that we have managed to hold on to this day.
CNN reminded the world how much of a social and political force the Catholic Church is in our country. You cannot think of the two EDSAs without the participation of the clergy.
As CNN pointed out, divorce and birth control are anathema in spite of the clamor of secular activists. That political leaders are not wellknown for their fidelity to their spouses and the public trust doesn’t diminish one bit our respect for moral values.
Our piety is evident not only in church attendance but in the large number of evangelist groups bursting with tithing adherents. There is not a single politician (except probably some militants said to be labeled by a military document as "enemies of the state" and, therefore, of religion), who is not pro-God, pro-country, and pro-people.
The same document labels the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines an "enemy." Would that have something to do with the CBCP’s objections to "population management?" In any case, the document sounds spurious, a piece of "black propaganda," as it was not reproduced in media.
It is inconceivable that the military would attack the Church as an ally, wittingly or unwittingly, of subversive groups, unless advocacy of doctrine, moral values and social justice has become subversive.
Indeed, we take our religion very seriously.
That’s probably why we can afford not to take our lives on this earth seriously.
