Davao City vice mayor Rodrigo Duterte has expressed his support for President Aquino’s stand on making a wide array of family planning methods – both natural and artificial – available to couples who need them. While this is already good news for the RH Bill advocates, Duterte’s comment on the Church’s teachings will surely impress the freethinkers:
While Duterte might have meant “the urge to copulate” instead of procreate as the most powerful force in the universe (procreation is just a consequence of copulation although copulation is evolutionarily driven by procreation), the message is clear: to follow the Church’s teachings means to deny the reality of the human sex drive.
As if that wasn’t enough, what Duterte said next made me think that the vice mayor might be a deist, believing in God but not in organized religion, which often paints God as unreasonable and cruel:
Do not believe in hell. My connection with God is not thru my religion but thru my belief. There is no need for religion to go to Heaven and to talk to God. Excommunicate? Go ahead. My God understands my biological needs because I am His creation. My God is very understanding. I don’t need religion to go to heaven or hell.
And with that statement Duterte may have fueled a lot of people’s doubts towards the infallibility of Catholic dogma and significantly loosened the Church’s grip over politics, at least in Davao. While there is supposed to be a wall of separation between the Church and State, God is straddling that wall in this predominantly Catholic nation of ours. And if the Church says that God is against contraceptives, the people as well as the legislative and executive branches of the government tend to listen. Good thing we have freethinking politicians like Vice Mayor Rodrigo Duterte. I hope others would speak up as well, especially those at the national level.
Everybody wants to go to heaven, but nobody wants to die. But here’s something even more insane – nobody, but nobody knows where heaven is located or situated out there. We do not even know that mode of transportation do we embark on to go to heaven after death. But here’s something even more sick and ticklish: what kind of a life after death do we enjoy in heaven or do we suffer in hell with no more eyes to see. No more ears to hear. No more nose to smell. No more palate to taste. No more skin to feel. No more sexual organ to procreate. Indeed, death is something permanent. It is not something temporary. For my part, I am an atheist. I do not fear death. I already experienced death for billions of years before I was born. Existing then as a nothing, I did not have anything to do with a sick divinity masquerading as a sick mystery more referred to as the “holy trinity.” Poch Suzara
AYOS! I like watching "Para sa Masa" when his being interviewed. NO SUGAR COATING.
Nice one Vice-Mayor! And good job so far…
I had been doubting Duterte as a humanist or Humanist (you know some won't consider the word capitalized) then I heard him speak about God on one of his shows on ABS-CBN Davao. I think it's just some sort of lesser magic telling people you believe in God yet it's not the one depicted on the Christian bible. I mean, it really doesn't matter if you believe in God or don't, the big deal is, you're being reasonable in things that you do or say. Kudos to Vice Mayor Duterte, you got me on your side now.
sulong! vice duterte, the RCC should listen to us , not listen to them.
Definitely reassuring that we are not alone on this cause.
Actually, previous attempts at NFP-only policies have consistently proven to fail, nor are they encouraged by any credible medical organization I know of 🙁
DUTERTE'S COMMENT IS ONE STEP AHEAD FURTHER TO BECOME AN ATHEIST. HE'S NEARER TO REALITY.
Mayor Duterte aka Ron Paul of the Philippines
He said and I quote:
"My connection with God is not through my religion but through my belief…. Excommunicate? Go ahead…. I don’t need religion to go to heaven or hell."
Damn, this is like the best statement I've heard this year!
As a deist myself, 2 thumbs up for Mayor Duterte.
You had me at the title 😉
Sorry Red, I know alliteration's your specialty, but I hope you don't hold a patent for it. 🙂
First, I hate patents. Second, it's always nice to read a creative title, so feel free 😉
if many politicians are just like him, i could expect of a better philippines. :))
This is nice to hear.