Anti-RH Church Leaders Blame Calamities on RH

Tacloban_Typhoon_Haiyan_2013-11-13Why would God let calamity hit a predominantly Catholic country? “God is not the cause of the suffering,” answers Father Bacaltos, a Tacloban parish priest. “God cannot prevent this. This is the work of nature.”

Many Catholics would agree that nature, not God, is to blame for this tragedy. But for some leaders of the Catholic Church, the Reproductive Health (RH) law is to blame. Which leaders? Well, what a coincidence: the ones who are most vocal against RH.

Here’s Lipa Archbishop Ramon Arguelles, who campaigned against “Team Patay” through tarps, reminding us that rather than Nature’s random acts, calamities like Yolanda (Typhoon Haiyan) are God’s reminders. He adds that when we continue to oppose God through the RH Law, we put our lives in danger:

 What happens to us — earthquakes, floods, storms — are reminders.We are reminded to never forget life… Even our life is in the hands of God so we better make it meaningful… Let us not forget him. We remove Him, for example, in this [RH] law that goes against His will. So when we oppose God, we are in danger.” [some parts translated]

And here’s Manila Auxiliary Bishop Broderick Pabillo, an anti-RH voice in mainstream media since 2010, explaining why Typhoon Pablo was no coincidence:

I don’t know if it’s a coincidence or it’s because the Lord is trying to tell us that if you talk about that [the then RH bill] seriously it’s like there’s a message saying that many difficulties happen to us… especially since we [the Catholic Church] don’t want the bill deliberated hurriedly and secretly so that it is passed.” [translated]

Finally, here’s Father Melvin Castro, who frequently heads anti-RH contingents during demonstrations and vigils, blaming the RH Bill for the heavy rains of “Habagat:”

Although we would not give other meaning to it, nonetheless God speaks through his creation as well. Nature tells us to respect the natural course of things.

If I researched further back in time, I’d probably find even more Church leaders who blamed calamities on God (or the people who disobey God, depending on how you look at it). And something tells me it’s only a matter of time before some distasteful CBCP leader does it again.

But there are priests, like Father Bacaltos, who are more tactful, more humble, and it’s Catholic leaders like these that I continue to respect. As Susan B. Anthony, a leader of the women’s suffrage movement, said:

I distrust those people who know so well what God wants them to do to their fellows, because it always coincides with their own desires.

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image source: Trocaire

8 comments

  1. In the Old Testament Bible, God used natural disasters to pour his judgement: floods, locust and brimstone and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah. Whether the same Biblical principles apply today, requires soul searching among Filipinos, the Church and freethinkers. Is typhoon Yolanda that hit the Philippines, especially Tacloban, a judgment against the corruption during the Marcos-Imelda era and continues to go on? Are we a nation that is not without sin? YET the ULTIMATE GOAL of God’s judgment is RESTORATION. God’s judgement is to call his people into repentance and forgiveness so that he can restore us to godliness. The Philippines, a so called Christian nation, has a calling from God to represent him to other nations. It is paramount that we turn away from our ungodliness and represent God, not only by name but through our Christian and godly ways. God bless the Philippines!

    • Or in a more obvious way… So called holy people are pinning disasters to their deity’s wrath to scare more people into following their own pointless beliefs that way they can siphon off even more money from their followers and sit by and preach while people in this country suffer storms because instead of preparing for said storms and trying to find ways to prevent so much damage they’re all busy kneeling and repeating nonsense words to an invisible bearded man who probably does not exist and thinking they can pray the storm away. As for the supposed Ultimate Goal you mentioned, your God has been so ineffective with his alleged messages. For someone who’s supposed to be all powerful or all knowing, he can’t seem to get the hang of proving his existence. Also faith, does not make him real. Faith when it comes to supernatural, only espouses how willing people are to turn a blind eye as long as it’s convenient for them. So enough with the God speak and let us do the acts that God should have done during his “messaging”.

    • Or maybe it’s just mother nature doing it’s thing. People may see it as punishment or judgement coz of a lot of different things such as the RH Bill, Corruption, Gays, Atheists. The way I see it is, it’s just an unfortunate turn of events due to earth being the way it is. Best thing we could do is to help those in need and prepare that this doesn’t happen again.

    • Frances, freethinkers do not need to do any “soul searching” when calamities like these happen because we don’t have the reason to ask “why is a supernatural being letting this happen?”; we don’t see any good evidence for a supernatural being anyway. We acknowledge that these things will happen to the Philippines due to our location– next to the deepest parts of a warming Pacific ocean (which can “fuel” massive storms) and within the Pacific ring of fire. What we can do is help to inform people on how to minimise casualties, respond appropriately when disasters happen and increase scientific literacy (and less dependence on the “bahala na” attitude). Being skeptics or freethinkers however does not rob us of our capacity to grieve/mourn, empathise and sympathise with the victims and reach out to them either by giving up our time to pack supplies to distribute to badly hit areas or donate any amount of money we can afford.

      • there is God…if none…then why will the BIG Countries a promoter of such bullshit RH Bill will cry then say OH GOD…most specially if they were victims of terrorist attacks…who will be blamed? USSSSSSSS

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