Exam Time!!!

Today marks the beginning of a very, very brain damaging week as the prelude to the midterm week begins with a series of last minute exams from many of my classes. I need to not sleep!

The Irony that is CBCP: Bishop Villegas and Hypocrisy

If there is one thing that the Catholic Church has consistently done in history is that it has always been inconsistent - morally and otherwise. So it was not a surprise to me that Bishop Villegas has recently been reported chastising Filipinos about their penchant for requesting monetary help, really demands, from politicians, which in Bishop Villegas' mind, has contributed to the misuse of the so called "Priority Development Assistance Fund" or commonly known as "Pork Barrel." For the record, I actually agre on Bishop Villegas on that one.

For context though, let us be reminded that the Church itself has been no less immune from such beggary he so adamantly preaches about. During the tenure of President Gloria Arroyo, the Catholic Church in fact asked for "vehicles" from the government in the guise of using them for outreach activities. And yeah, the vehicles were not just vehicles, they were expensive "sport utility vehicles."

Bishop Villegas adds: “But before we rush to pass judgment on our legislators who avail of the pork barrel, it would be opportune for us citizens to search our souls and ask “What have I done to contribute to this?” 

Really? This history of the Catholic Church in the Philippines is a history of Church collusion with secular authorities - UP TO NOW. To the uninitiated, Spain ruled the Philippines for over 350 years, what everyone does not know is that Spain actually outsourced the management of most of the Philippine Islands to Catholic religious orders like the Jesuits, Augustinians and Franciscans among others. Everywhere in Christianized Philippines, the Catholic Church always occupied a prominent role in any town. Take for example the veritable fact that in every Filipino town or barrio, a church was always at the center. In Spanish times, the Church was actually the head mistress of the Islands. Nothing really could be done if the local Catholic priest was not amenable to the same.

If anything, the dispossession of lands of Filipinos was in fact due to the Catholic Church. Everytime the Catholic Church expanded itself, it would require the residents of a locality to relocate their houses around the church, leaving their ricefields to nature. Once the land has been vacated, the Church would expropriate them for itself. WHY DO YOU THINK THE CATHOLIC CHURCH IN THE PHILIPPINES OWNS VAST TRACTS OF LANDS? It is said that two-thirds of the land in and around Manila is actually owned by the Catholic Church through its religious orders.

Again, Bishop Villegas continues: “We in Church can contribute to the corruption by grabbing a piece of the pie through our solicitation from government officials—from candles to basketball uniforms to bags of cement to government bulldozers. We tempt the public officials to get money from jueteng or the pork barrel in order to accommodate us. Walang hihingi.”

Bishop Villegas is again forgetting that the Church represents the very essence of corruption. And it's history will explain itself. I do not need to dwell on that. The point here is, the church is much a symbol of corruption as it is trying to paint itself as the "champion of the poor." Geez, if only it were slightly true.

Walang hihingi? But the church has always preyed on the Filipino mind and wallet. It was always colluded with despicably corrupt politician's while its churches were filled with shimmering flasks of gold cups, candelabras and fancy ornaments cloaked under the banner of religion!

One thing that really got my ears burning is when Bishop Villegas retorted that: “When we are less than transparent in our accounting, we hurt the truth. Ang sinungaling ay kapatid ng magnanakaw.”

Transparent? Has the church ever been transparent for example about its finances? Does it make it's expenditures known? Indeed, it has always at most kept silent about it's wealth. In fact, it has kept it's investments in various corporations secret to the point of suspiciousness. Check for example the Vatican Bank's dubious history in international finance and one will get the point.

Finally, the article ends with Bishop Villegas' words “Man does not live on bread alone, the good Lord taught us; but man does not need pork to go with bread.” Funny, because Catholic churches are not content with less than sparkling, sometimes gold plated, stone encrusted chalices to go along with their ornate priestly vestments. Yeah Bishop Villegas, "Man does indeed not live on bread alone," but tell that to the millions of Filipinos who wallow in abject poverty and grinding starvation!

What is so preposterous about Bishop Villegas' words is that they are so reflective of the church's moral ambiguity, preachy about morals and ethics but replete among its ranks with corruption - married priests, pedophile priests, refusal to admit women to the priesthood etc. etc. etc. Not to mention obscenely wealthy religious orders, pedophile protecting Bishops and the list continues.

Bishop Villegas, please, reform your church first and maybe, just maybe, you will gain a modicum of authority when speaking about the ills of the world.

Desmunt Tutu: Crusader for LGBT Rights

Desmund Tutu is for me one of the enlightened religious leaders of our time. Recently, he has brought to light the plight of homosexuals in Africa when he said that he would rather go to hell than to a homophobic heaven. In response, a Catholic blogger retorted that first and foremost, homosexuality is against natural law. Let me get to the definition of natural law, according to dictionary.com, natural law is "a principle or body of laws considered as derived from nature, right reason, or religion and as ethically binding in human society." It further adds, natural law is also "an ethical belief or system of beliefs supposed to be inherent in human nature and discoverable by reason rather than revelation" and finally, it can also mean "the philosophical doctrine that the authority of the legal system or of certain laws derives from their justifiability by reason, and indeed that a legal system which cannot be so justified has no authority."

It can be gleaned therefore that there are many definitions of natural law, it seems that natural law is not only a belief system, it is also a philosophy, hence, it cannot be said that it is a scientific fact in the conventional sense of the word. Besides, the definition of Lisa Graas of natural law is not just the definition of natural law as shared by all religions, but more specifically, it is a definition as taught by the Catholic Church. Hence, it can be given no more credence than one subscribed to by a Muslim or a Hindu or a Jew or even an animist. To insinuate that natural law as defined by the Catholic Church, which decries homosexuality as a sin, is like saying that all other religious traditions are wrong if they define natural law otherwise. 

Lisa Graas pretends to lend a credible tinge of truth to her post by saying that to reject homosexuality is right and proper as it blends well with the natural order of things. Really? Science has proven that homosexuality is prevalent in the animal kingdom, in the same way that masturbation is prevalent even among insects. So yes, homosexuality is not against nature, if it were, it wouldn't have occurred in the first place. What is unnatural is the Catholic teaching on forced celibacy for priests, that is unnatural. What is unnatural and certainly against reason is when dogma is given credit to determine and condemn people for simply being the way they are. Remember, the Catholic Church is no credible institution to dictate on matters of morals, indeed, it is complicit in many immoral, inhuman and plainly brutal murder episodes in its violent history - think the Inquisition!

And Lisa Graas, even the so-called Catholic teaching on monogamy is arcane and is not shared by all animals. Science has taught us that in an overwhelming majority of animals, monogamy is NOT the norm. Of course we see animals that mate for life like the Jack ass penguins of South Africa, but they are actually the natural minority.

What Ms. Graas refers to as natural is a misnomer, it simply means what is natural law as defined and codified by the Catholic Church. And please, even if the homosexual debate tilts in favor of the LGBT community, your right to free speech will not be impaired as most LGBT's are actually humanists in the broad sense of the world. They are humanists because of the experience of brutality and shame heaped upon them by the likes of religious people like yourself. I have seen young people disowned, humiliated and ostracized no less by their own families because they do not fit, as you say, the "natural law" order of things. 

Your claims of the death of free speech if your one-sided, Catholic medieval beliefs on homosexuality are not sustained by modern, rational thinking man will cause the curtailment of your freedom to speak your discriminatory inclinations is just too conspiratorial, even to conspiracy prone netizens like myself. Please, we are in the twenty-first century, a time in our human history were knowledge is more open, more dynamic, more comprehensive than it ever was in the history of humanity. Open yourself up, if you believe that homosexuals will go to your own eternal version of the holocaust, that is your right, but to say that homosexuals are unnatural aberrations is like saying that Down's SYNDROME children will go to hell simply because they do not have the mental faculties to tackle the Bible. Please, please, read more, and read intently. Do not just dwell on your Catholic beliefs, beliefs that over the centuries were proven to be brutal, inhuman and plainly immoral. 

If anything, Desmund Tutu is a great humanist. Although brought in the tradition of the Abrahamic faiths, he has the common sense to say that if indeed there is a just God, they why the hell did he make homosexuals in the first place if by doing so they will just end up, in your words, in hell for their immoral acts? Is that the actions of a rational, reasonable, not to mention fair and loving God you are so adamantly committed to? 

And oh, just because Tutu was not ordained under the Holy Orders of the Catholic Church does not make his statements regarding a so-called god any less credible, by what reasonable assumption has any church or religion exclusive and unilateral authority to claim it speaks for and in behalf of an entity that for all intents and purposes, has never even been proven to conclusively exist?

Religious fanatics and dogmatists, they never fail to amuse me.  

The Medieval Thinking of the Anti-RH Advocates

If there is one article that captures the absurdity, rapacity and plain anachronism of the Anti-RH camps' position as evidenced by the arguments presented by its primary counsels Francisco Tatad, Maria Concepcion Noche and Luisito Liban, this one practically captures it all. From Tatad's likening the RH law to genocide (for all his years as a noted lawyer and senator, he seems to have forgotten the definition of what genocide is) to Noche's blatant disregard for women's health to Liban's misplaced application, understanding and use of the phrase "equal protection clause." It seems that the anti-RH camp is really on it's last vestiges of presenting remotely reasonable, scientifically sound and logically tenable arguments against R.A. 10354.

The arguments presented by Tatad, Noche and Liban were all devoid of even an iota of educated credibility, full of non-sensical non sequiturs and is basically rooted and fundamentally based upon nothing, yes nothing else but the continued upholding of the Catholic Church's delusions of reality, it's historically proven insistence on its own way and it's perpetual fetish to control the lives, the thinking and the genitalia of its adherents. Philippines is slowly but steadily moving out of its shadow of repressed thoughts and feelings and its own self-created world of ideals that it itself cannot even relate to.

The anti-RH camps' arguments represent the spasms of a dying cause, the detritus of the steady decline of the Catholic Church's influence and dominion over the Filipino mind and the last attempt by a landed, obscenely wealthy, morally dubious, and intellectually petrified state of the Philippine Catholic Church.

It is frustratingly slow but cathartic that many Filipino's no longer subscribe, hook, line and sinker to the tantrums of the Catholic Church, a church who has grown wealthy in the Philippines at the expense of the Filipino people, and continues to pauperize the latter in its utopian, theocratic principles that in many causes hinder the economic ad social upliftment of the Filipino nation.

The Eternal Conundrum that is Palestine

Natan Sachs recently wrote an article on Foreign Policy about the potential failure of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and how the West should prepare for it. Palestine is like humanity's collective affliction, a cancer I dare say that has shadowed man as far back as Palestine was first inhabited.

I share the sentiments of Sachs that indeed, the Israeli-Palestinian problem will never truly be solved in any conventional way. The problem will be there, like an incurable ailment that festers but can be controlled. For one, the Palestinians are fractious, fragmented and disorganized. It is also divided between the secular leaning Palestinian Authority controlled by member's of Yasser Arafat's Fatah Party that controls the West Bank and the right-wing Islamist Hamas organization that controls the Gaza Strip. The single best stumbling block in negotiating with the Palestinians is that you can't really negotiate without the participation and approval of either of the two power structures that control the political and social life of Palestinians, Hamas and Fatah. Either one can derail the functionality of any negotiated settlement conducted with either power group but disapproved by the other.

In addition, the Palestinian populace itself is susceptible to manipulation by religious leaders who most often stir the commission of violence under various pretexts and excuses. Unless the Palestinians establish a credible, representative and secular body that really represents the broad swath of the Palestinian population, then there can be body in which Israel can effectively negotiate with in the first place - negating any plans for peace.

The Palestinian population must therefore opt for a secular society managed and run by secularists and pragmatists, not religious bigots and fanatics who believe only in the righteousness of their cause. Such fanatical organizations are really impossible to talk to as they have already set their minds on certain matters. Because they are guided by religious fervor, there is really no chance for an open, mature and responsible negotiations with them.

Israel will never be secure without the West Bank under it's control. The West Bank is a strategic survival piece of land that Israel can never truly give up, yes, not really. Without the West Bank, Israel is physically vulnerable to being cut off from it's northern and southern regions. The West Bank is critical if Israel is to survive in any future surprise attack from the Arab world - and there will always be that possibility, always!

Israel therefore must live with a permanent readiness. It cannot do otherwise if it is to maintain its existence as a nation, a state and a country. The real threat to Israel therefore is the creeping power and influence of the Hasidic Jews, who benefit from Israel's existence yet shy away from contributing meaningfully to its upkeep, such as their refusal to render military service, engage in meaningful employment and of course, pay taxes.

As long as Israel remains a secular Jewish state, then it can and it will survive in an Arab sea. The West Bank must forever be controllable by Israel, and to ensure it can be done, the settlements must stay. It really  has no choice. There will always be segments of the Palestinian populace who will never accept Israel, and for that, Israel must guard itself against complacency and somnolence.

Train Crash in Spain

The Tragic loss of life in a Spanish train crash is shocking to say the least. At least 80 people are said to have died in the July 25 crash and my condolences to the families and friends of those who perished and to the survivors my best wishes for a fast and full recovery.

Why the Anti-RH Camp is loosing its Battle for a Coherent Argument

Yesterday showed again why the Anti-RH camp is really, seriously loosing it's case against the Pro-RH advocates as it becomes clearly apparent without doubt that it's opposition is essentially rooted in its quest to uphold Catholic precepts on family planning, nothing else. For one, Atty. Luisito Liban, the lone Anti-RH lawyer who spoke in yesterday's argument against the lifting of the TRO on R.A. 10354's implementation, argued that the law is 80% about contraception and asserted that by making  sex education mandatory in public schools, the government is discriminating against (I assume) Catholics.

First things first, by what measure is R.A. 10354 about contraception? And even if it were about contraception, how could it be contravening the constitution? I do not know why Atty. Liban is saying that the RH law is more about contraception, indeed, reproductive health is about contraception, as it is the crux of the matter, you cannot discuss family planning without contraception, for indeed it includes both artificial and natural just as one cannot discuss about war without talking about the army or weapons for that matter. It is as if by saying that R.A. 10354 is about contraception that contraception in and of itself is already bad, for if that were the case, then even natural contraception is bad. But of course, the Catholic Church sanctions natural methods of family planning as the only acceptable method of family planning. So I am lost as to Atty. Liban's implied repugnance of contraception itself.

Second, R.A. 10354 can never be against the 1987 constitution as it does not force the Filipino family, impliedly or otherwise, to follow only, and only one approved family planning method, nor indeed does it require in any conceivable way the Filipino family or couples to use artificial family planning. I think Atty. Liban does not even truly understand what R.A. 10354 says on this matter, Section 2, paragraph a of R.A. 10354 says to wit: "The State shall defend: The right of spouses to found a family in accordance with their religious convictions and the demands of responsible parenthood." As if this is not enough, the same law adds in Sec. 3, paragraph h, "The state shall respect individual's preferences and choice of family planning methods that are in accordance with their religious convictions and cultural beliefs, taking into consideration the State's obligations under various human rights instruments."

And speaking of "various human rights instruments" to which the Philippines is a signatory, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights of the United Nations, under Art. 6 mandates the protection of life by decreasing infant mortality, maternal mortality and access to adequate health care services for pregnant women. R.A. 10354 is anything but for the promotion of a dignified and respectable life for the Filipino family by ensuring that women and couples are given adequate access to credible reproductive health services. The insistence of the Anti-RH camp on an almost apocalyptic, conspiratorial modus for the RH law's enactment speaks only of one thing - these people are really fighting for no one and nothing but the entrenchment of Catholic medieval teachings and ideologies regardless of evidence to support the need for the RH law.

It is obscene and hypocritical, to say the least, that the Philippines is held hostage to the retrograde ideologies of a historically morally dubious church, who not only killed thousands during the Inquisition for merely speaking an alternative opinion about reality, but has consistently shown to disregard the findings of science that does not fit well with its self-created interpretation of reality.