I was raised a Catholic, and as a child, religion was all about loving my neighbors, singing songs, reciting the prayers and believing in Jesus, so while I was young it was all nice. Later on it became a set of rules I was supposed to abide by — don’t lie, don’t kill, don’t steal — and it made sense still, so it was okay. But then as I grew older it became about sin, about how I was born sinful and how certain sins meant that I was scheduled for an eternity in hell, and the only way out of it was to talk to a priest and eat some wafer. Loving my neighbors had taken a back seat to getting into heaven, but still I bought it anyway. For a while.
And then I attended one too many Masses with burning incense and fragrant oils and flashy ceremonies with billowing robes and funny hats and large jeweled crosses and TV cameras, with people convulsing in the aisles and women mumbling unintelligibly with their hands raised. It was at this point that I grew up, the church became ridiculous, the Bible became just another story book, and I decided religion was not for me.
The Catholic Church is like a hospital gone wrong. It tells everyone they’re sick, and that the only cure lies with someone from an old story book. You can be the healthiest person in the world and still they insist you’re ill and don’t know it, and they shove their medication down your throat every chance they get. Some of them actually believe they’re doing you good, trying to save you. Some of them just don’t want hell-bound sinners contaminating their flock.
Fact is, the Catholic Church thinks you’re stupid.
It thinks you don’t know what’s good for you, and that you need them to point you towards the way, the truth and the light. If you think you don’t need them you’re obviously lost, and if they’re not trying to save you, they make sure you know you’re going to burn in hell.
And now the Church is getting its grubby hands all over our politics.
As I see it, the RH Bill aims to inform citizens of scientifically proven (and legal) methods of family planning and women’s health care, and to make these available to anyone who asks for them. Personally I’ve never found anything wrong with information and accessibility, as they neither change my moral convictions nor force me to go against them, but I can understand why the Church would be opposed to educating their flock. Education, after all, leads to informed choice, informed choice leads to an exercise of free will, and free will, when it doesn’t coincide with the Church’s teachings, leads to the dark side. So the Church wants to keep you uneducated.
The Catholic Church thinks you’re stupid, and it wants you to stay that way.
Instead of preaching to its flock to choose according to what they consider moral and good, the Church would rather keep Filipinos ignorant to the family planning options already available. Instead of trusting that Catholics live consistently with the Church’s teachings on hormonal contraceptives, the Church would rather meddle with politics to keep them inaccessible. The Catholic Church does not trust its flock.
If you’re Catholic, the Church thinks you’re a hypocrite.
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The Church’s opposition to the Magna Carta for Women is something I consider more troubling. Here is a law empowering women, protecting them from discrimination and bias, and the Church opposes it because it goes against the “natural calling of women.” I find it terribly disturbing that the Church would allow single mothers to be denied education and forced to stay home, under-educated and unemployed, all for the sake of gender roles. The misogyny is sickening.
The RH Bill and the Magna Carta for Women are all about Education and Freedom — education about reproductive health and freedom of women — and the Catholic Church opposes both. The comparison to Padre Damaso is strikingly appropriate: the Church is keeping Filipinos ignorant and women subjugated. It is 1886 all over again, and the Church is abusing its power over Filipinos. What do you do?
[…] Be a Rational Hero […]
@Edward -"And what's wrong with mothers staying home? That's where her kids stay to begin with. If you like to empower women, then you should be empowering her also to be a mother. You cannot separate motherhood from womanhood. It is one of the essences of being a woman."
– there's nothing wrong with mothers staying home if it is their hearts' desire to do so. motherhood for womanhood is optional (there are women who cannot conceive so maybe god thinks so too, or maybe it(he) fucked up, but most probably it(he) has nothing to do with it because IT DOES NOT EXIST. )
women can be more than just mothers, they can be Presidents, Justices, Generals, even Surgeons who can perform a sex change operation for you, so don't stereotype women with motherhood. don't you think there are women who also wish it was men that get pregnant and give birth? fathers too can stay at home and watch over their kids, or even any TRUSTWORTHY adult. Women know what's good for them and if what they are asking for does not rob you of your rights then shut up.
@Edward – You seem to have a problem with sexual promiscuity. Frankly, so do I. So what? What people do with their sex lives within the existing bounds of law is really none of our business, is it?
And the "abortion MAY BE the next step" argument is a classic WTF. Abortion has always been illegal here, and it will continue to be that way for a long, long time. Nowhere in the bill does it even suggestion legalizing abortion as the "next step". That's just the Church spreading misinformation.
Like the Church, you seem to enjoy deciding what is good for people, as if these people can't decide for themselves. You seem to support gender roles, and think women have "too much freedom" and should stay at home. Sorry, but while I'm usually quite civil, this sort of thinking in this day and age is beyond what I'm capable of discussing without saying the words FUCK. THIS. SHIT.
"I think you’re exaggerating. Is this why they’re opposing Magna Carta?"
Find out why they oppose the Magna Carta, and then we can talk. Meanwhile, why do YOU oppose the Magna Carta?
"There are provisions there that REQUIRE a pregnant woman to take leave from studies. Now what’s wrong with that?"
Where are these provisions? In the Magna Carta? Show me.
I still think RH Bill is not the right solution. There are still provisions there like contraceptives that paves too much way for sexual promiscuity. Not to mention abortion may be the next step.
Magna Carta is a good law. It empowers women. But sometimes I think that it gives too much freedom for women to waive their rights as (good) mothers.
I find it terribly disturbing that the Church would allow single mothers to be denied education and forced to stay home, under-educated and unemployed, all for the sake of gender roles. The misogyny is sickening.
I think you're exaggerating. Is this why they're opposing Magna Carta? And is opposition because of gender roles not because it's for the good of the child? There are provisions there that requires a pregnant woman to take leave from studies. Now what's wrong with that?
And what's wrong with mothers staying home? That's where her kids stay to begin with. If you like to empower women, then you should be empowering her also to be a mother. You cannot separate motherhood from womanhood. It is one of the essences of being a woman.
@Ed
i think their point would be, women should decide what the essense of being a woman.
applying that to this case — the leave could be a recommended action, but we cant force the leave for all women, especially if the life of the child is not immediate danger when the mother i away.
similarly to contraceptives, this is a decision for us an individuals, in consonance with our faith.
i have no doubt that catholics will make the right decision, for themselves.
I think when it comes to religion… the fally is not really all in the morals the religion preaches but also in the interpretation of and execution of these morals… The worst I've heard of was this Children of Love thing were they totally disregard fidelity saying "love is not jealous" and followers walk around naked in their religious gatherings… eeky and weird
this is a very interesting characterization of the church as a hospital and people are sick. i like it.
Well said… I agree… and this doesn't apply to the Catholic Religion Alone… which makes the reality even more sad and sickening
That's about as sad as a gay guy trying to defend the church that hates him.
I had a feminist professor right now for masters. She keeps spewing feminism and religion. When I asked about the church opposing the Magna Carta, she did what any good politician would do: skirt the topic.
hypocrisy and denial, as everyday and common as breathing…