Where It Starts

As a practicing Episcopalian, one might think that I would welcome a Bible quote on my money. Should I not be flattered, inspired even, that the Bangko Sentral has seen fit to elevate my religious identity to the national level by plastering it on our legal tender? Besides, its only a tiny little line on the bill itself. I myself was too busy harrumphing with everyone else at miscolored parrot feathers to even notice the quote from Psalms on the 500 peso note until someone pointed it out to me. Even one who appreciates the need for Church/State separation might feel tempted to call the issue insignificant, and that bringing any sort of serious attention to it would be a waste of time better spent on the many other more dire issues that face our country today. Why can’t we stay focused on more blatant and urgent examples of religious interference in government, such as the actions of the CBCP and its allies on the RH Bill?

The problem lies with the fact that these seemingly small things have a tendency to come roaring back, used as leverage for the big issues of the future. While attending the RH Bill congressional hearings, I’ve lost track of the number of times that Anti-RH resource speakers trotted out that line in our 1987 constitution about imploring the aid of Almighty God as definitively final proof that the Republic of the Philippines is not, in fact, a secular democracy and that therefore we ought to establish their version of God’s rules on all and sundry. The ‘In God We Trust’ line on American currency has similarly been abused by fundamentalists there who wish to keep the teaching of evolution out of schools.

Ask yourselves: do you respect the rights of others to practice their beliefs as they see fit, so long as they do not overtly impose those beliefs on you, or take your taxes to fund their practice? Do you like living in a country where you are free to think on your faith, or lack thereof, and reach your own conclusions about how to live your life and share it with others? Because that’s what a truly secular and democratic government guarantees for all its citizens. While we might be pretty far from that ideal right now, it doesn’t mean that it’s not a worthy goal to strive for.

Photo credit: Tico Bassie / cc-by-nc-nd

Here is a relatively easy place to start. For now, by itself, this is indeed a small thing, with a simple solution: remove that line from our taxpayer-funded printed official currency. In doing so we forever remove the possibility of someone brandishing that 500 peso bill and insisting that being members of the ‘official’ religion of this country gives them the right to dictate how everyone else ought to live their lives. This is our chance to actually prevent a problem from developing, rather than reacting to its future consequences. It may not be nearly as glamorous or dramatic, but its just as important.

8 comments

  1. Guys, as I said, I understand and appreciate the nobility of the intent. However, I’m just not sure if this battle is the best one to pursue given the holes we can see and the lack of motivating factor on the average Filipino. Aren’t there any other options to choose from? Any other “small” battles to pursue that matters more to the general population? Battles with higher probability to win and with greater (and more immediate) impact?

  2. Well, I’m having a good discussion about this with Wes in my blog so I’ll just invite you guys there to weigh in on our discussion if you want. My take on this issue, in a nutshell, is this – we have to pick our battles wisely and we have to draw the battle line on areas that actually matter. Raising a howl over the use of the Psalm verse will just register as noise to the general population. We need to focus on things that would satisfy each person’s “What’s in it for me?” motivation. Honestly, I don’t think the general population cares if Biblical verses are used in Peso bills. Anyway, for more on this… please visit:
    http://hgamboa.multiply.com/journal/item/98/Going

    • Hi Hector. I read your blog. I agree that we need to pick our battles wisely (personally, I'm more inclined to fight for the RH Bill than this). However, perhaps it is wise to pick THIS battle while it's still early and people are still paying attention to the issue rather than wait until everybody's so used to having Bible quotes in their money that nobody questions anything any longer.

      Yes, it seems like a very insignificant thing especially if you compare it to the RH Bill. But small things like these can have some bigger consequences in time if left unchecked.

        • Aaack! I think I may have posted too soon. I just visited your blog again and saw that there are now two comments that weren't there before. So I'll just take my time and try to "savor" the discussion some more before I post again on this. (^_^)

    • I think an apt analogy here would be how companies protect their Intellectual Property rights. If they don't take the small incursions seriously, they weaken their claim altogether. If you keep defaulting on the many small battles, you eventually lose the war altogether.

      I know it sucks but the slippery-slope policy is in play here. If you dont draw the line somewhere, you'll keep losing ground until finally you're finally cornered. I'd hate to make it sound like its US-VERSUS-THEM, but the truth is, minorities have it tough. African Americans once had to fight for the right to ride the friggin bus. Here, we're fighting for the freedom from favoritism of a specific religion.

  3. Well, my advocacy is that the ONLY proper function of the government is the protection and preservation of individual rights. There is no concept individual rights to any form of religion or theism. The separation of church and state must have a clear identify and definition of what a government is and what the church is. The government is an agent of force; an institution that monopolizes the use of force, coercion. Thus, its only function is the protection and preservation of individual rights. And rights can only be violated by means of coercion, force and fraud. The starting point is individual right; it means right to live my own life by my own effort according to my own knowledge and judgment.t

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