Church and State: Why They Can’t be Friends

The official news website of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) recently published an article titled “Church and state: Why can’t they be friends?” which tells of the Pope’s warning on the dangers of secularism.  The following are some key excerpts pertinent to the Philippine situation and worthy of analysis, in an attempt to answer the title question why the church and state can’t indeed be friends.

[T]he pope warns that societies without the moorings of Christian values will be lost at sea, unaware of or indifferent to the truth that anchors humanity to justice, peace, respect and solidarity.

This statement implies that the principles of justice, peace, respect, and solidarity are held exclusively not only by religion, but by a particular religion, which is Christianity. It is a very arrogant statement that insults not only nonbelievers but believers of other faiths as well. Such a premise alone is already reason enough as to why church and state cannot be friends.

The separation of church and state, which is a hallmark of a democracy, “has also gone onto the separation of God and life unfortunately,” in which religious beliefs and values are expected to be left not only out of the process of public decision-making, but out of people’s own personal lives, too, he [Fr. Theodore Mascarenhas] said.

Secularism does not really intend to eradicate religion as much as keep religion a private affair. In our country alone, millions depend on religion for hope, happiness, and peace of mind, and secularism has no problem with that. It’s one thing to want to keep religion separate from government; it’s totally another thing to try to wipe it out.

One key topic, in fact, under discussion at the 2010 special Synod of Bishops for the Middle East was how to promote “positive secularism,” a form of separation of government and religion that still allows people’s faith to have a role in society without consecrating one religion as the religion of the state. The church supports a form of church-state separation that ensures religions have a voice in society and that laws reflect moral values — including laws dealing with life and marriage.

The main problem here is that different religions disagree among themselves on important issues including those involving marriage, such as birth control and divorce – both of which the Roman Catholic Church condemns while other religions accept. If our laws were to reflect religious moral values, the halls of congress would be filled with a cacophony of voices and our laws would conflict with one another.

In the West, secularism is understood as the problem of God being foisted out of the public sphere; but for the East, it’s a positive state of affairs in which governments show respect and protect all religions, letting them have a voice and not treating anyone better than the others, he said.

In the Philippines, one religion has the loudest voice and is listened to more than others.

“A real church-state separation would be that the church can freely express and ask its followers to adhere to the principles it holds dear,” Father Mascarenhas said.

Sounds just about right, for as long as the legislators, most of whom are members of both state and church, do not forget that they represent the former when they are in congress, even as they heed the latter for guidance on how they live their personal lives.

“Show me one human situation that is not reflected in the Gospel,” he said. Not only are the human challenges of death, fear, doubt and persecution detailed in the Bible, it also spells out the solutions, too.

How about three: cloning, stem cell research, and genetic engineering. But there’s a situation about disobedient servants that the Gospel of Luke (12:47) talks about and spells out a solution to: “The servant who knows the master’s will and does not get ready or does not do what the master wants will be beaten with many blows.” Should this be incorporated in our Labor Code?

“The answer to death is the resurrection, and the answer to doubt and anguish like Jesus felt in the garden of Gethsemane is give yourself over to the will of God,” he said.

But who gets to declare what the will of God is, assuming he exists? The Vatican? What about the other sects and denominations? What about the other religions?

In The Science of Good and Evil, Michael Shermer wrote:

“Religious freedoms must always be protected, but the price for this security is the separation of religion from government. Historically, where church and state were wed, individual liberty suffered, including and especially religious liberty.”

Former supreme court justice Isagani A. Cruz explained this separation as follows:

“The rationale of the rule is summed up in the familiar saying, ‘Strong fences make good neighbors.’ The idea is to delineate the boundaries between the two institutions and thus avoid encroachments by one against the other because of a misunderstanding of the limits of their respective exclusive jurisdictions.”

Indeed, Church and State can be good neighbors for as long as the strong fence of secularism stands between them, because rights are trampled every time either of them crosses that fence and steps into the other’s territory. And no matter how noble their intentions are, they can never, ever be friends.

______________

Image from www.thesimsupply.com

7 comments

  1. <div id="idc-comment-msg-div-206222158" class="idc-message"><a class="idc-close" title="Click to Close Message" href="javascript: IDC.ui.close_message(206222158)"><span>Close Message</span> Comment posted. <p class="idc-nomargin"><a class="idc-share-facebook" target="_new" href="http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Ffilipino-freethinkers-22d5b3.ingress-earth.easywp.com%2F2011%2F09%2F21%2Fchurch-and-state-why-they-cant-be-friends%2F#IDComment206222158&t=I%20just%20commented%20on%20Church%20and%20State%3A%20Why%20They%20Can%E2%80%99t%20be%20Friends%20%7C%20Filipino%20Freethinkers&quot; style="text-decoration: none;"><span class="idc-share-inner"><span>Share on Facebook</span></span> or <a href="javascript: IDC.ui.close_message(206222158)">Close MessageAlthough I do not agree with everything the Pope says, I do agree that the separation of church and state might not always be the best thing. Sometimes I wonder about the U.S. government and economy today. Would we be where we are if the country was still so rooted in Christian values? It seems like there might not even be any values present today. Many are greedy and are only concerned with themselves, as compared to the “common people” they are supposed to be representing. I do not necessarily know what the best approach is though because the United States is now home to so many different religions and ethnicities. Overall though, I think that somehow values need to be found and start being incorporated back into society today.

  2. I think given that some religions, and the Roman Catholic being the foremost example, are just plain false. In the future, it will be shown as such, and will be treated not as equal to state but of some inconsequence. That's why they have to fight for their own relevance now. Soon religion will join the Separation of State and Palmistry, or Separation of State and Feng Shui. It's a non-issue as it doesn't make sense. If the bishops truly believe what they are peddling, then they are idiots. I don't think all of them are which really makes me think if some of them are just there for the money and power and whatever satisfies their ego.

    • If there's one thing men of the cloth like more than molesting kids and women, its slapping them.

      These guys are very arrogant, not caring whether they actions cause physical and emotional damage.

      I was slapped by a "brother" back in high school for placing my name tag in another part of my shirt in that event that most classes do before they graduate. I was about to retaliate. It was a good thing that a friend was standing beside me, he kept my hand in place.

      After a few minutes of rambling, the guy had the balls to mention that, "whenever someone hurts you, whether physically or emotionally, never retaliate, let God deal justice", and a few moments later appeals to emotions by showing part of his body that was rotting due to diabetes.
      That's when I really started to believe in Karma.

    • Georg Ratzinger also beat up little Regensburger choirboys himself with the wooden chair leg, not only his priests.
      Augsburg bishop Walter Mixa (a close buddy of Joseph Ratzinger) punched little girls with his fist in the face yelling “I will destroy your life” , needless to say that W. Mixa took the moral high ground and scorned ‘evil’ homosexuals but having sauna parties with young chaplains himself, he was alcoholic and drunk more wine himself than used for his Eucharist and embezzled church funds for private use – and of course he was one of the most vocal self-proclaimed *moral authorities* of the Catholic church in Germany.

      And Joseph Ratzinger as archbishop of Munich hired serial child rapist ‘father’ Peter Hullermann from the diocese of Essen to provide shelter from secular prosecution as priest in one of his Munich dioceses, where Hullerman had contact to young boys again.
      Of course a billion Catholics around the planet are intensively listening to all those “man of god” for moral guidance.

  3. Imagine for one minute if people found out that some of the Miss Universe judges were secretly very close personal friends with Miss Angola. How would they react?

    Or to put it in another perspective, what if we found out na magkumpare pala yung boxing referee and Mayweather's coach? How do you think people would react if Mayweather won that fight? Referees cannot be bossom-buddies with any of the coaches. They have to project an image of neutrality so they need to proactively distance themselves from any side. Professionalism is sorely lacking in our culture kasi ang lakas ng padrino system dito.

    The same goes for the issue of separation between church and state here… it's a concept completely alien and unfathomable to most Filipinos kasi sanay na tayo sa palakasan-system. Poor Philippines indeed, we are still struggling with social issues that the rest of the world have already left behind.

  4. We'll just have to accept the plain reality that, just as the state and religion cannot be friends, so will science and religion. Both will just have to find ways to peacefully co-exist and not infringe on each other's domain.

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