On September 30, 2010, late in the afternoon, Carlos Celdran did what most of us could only hope to achieve. He a gave voice to the growing number of secularists in the country, a voice to those who are sick of the undue influence the Catholic Church holds over society.
Arrested and detained for “offending the feelings of the faithful” after his daring stunt, Celdran became an overnight sensation. And we know this for a fact because his Facebook fan page skyrocketed to almost 15 thousand fans. On a more important note, this provided an avenue for people to actually have intellectual discourses regarding the issue.
Well, at least, for the most part.
Personally, Celdran’s feat inspired me so goddamn much (pun very much intended), to the point where I even cried my eyes out just to be allowed to go to the rally in front of UN Avenue Precinct No. 5. This, coupled with P-Noy’s uncompromising stance against the Catholic Church made me feel for the first time that maybe there is hope for the Philippines. Maybe things really are about to change!
And then, of course, Celdran had to apologize.
“I am sorry for the method I used, but my message is unapologetic.” – Carlos Celdran
Whether or not, this apology comes from immense public pressure or was sincere, I wouldn’t know. But while this statement generally appeased the people, I was, on the other hand, disappointed.
I personally think that the method was perfect. It was exactly what the Philippines needed! Think about it. The Catholic Church has the gall to threaten civil disobedience against the very own government which grants it tax exemption because it knows (or rather, believes) that the masses will back them up. No one would ever dare disrespect the Catholic Church because it is legitimized by the scriptures (READ: THE BIBLE)and a god who supposedly put them there to lead us to salvation. Of course, NO ONEwould ever dare question the validity of that because ZOMG YOU JUST DON’T QUESTION THE BIBLE.
The problem, I think, is that people actually acknowledge the supposed moral unsoundness of the RH Bill, and are now morally conflicted as a result, despite seeing the necessity of the legislation of the bill. However, the problem with this mindset is that we are conceding that the Church is right. And this, in turn, makes them believe that they are empowered to prevent the legislation of the RH Bill. In other words, you give them the moral authority over you and society. (On a side note, assuming without conceding that the RH Bill is morally unsound, does this mean the bill should not be legislated? The answer is in this short reaction paper I wrote on Holmes’ essay, The Path of the Law, regarding the congruence of law and morality, which can be read here.)
It was, however, Celdran’s attempt at moderating his fan page that got me to go cold turkey:
.
LOL U MAD?
Despite previous claims of standing up for free speech and democracy, here we see Celdran contemplating on killing the fan page because people are expressing their distaste for the Church, such as this:
- How does one know for certain if a priest is good or bad?
Okay, I concede that the previous comment wasn’t the most sensitive or appropriate statement. Still, if Celdran is actually attempting to segregate priests between “good” and “bad”, even so far as to suggest that we should “reform them”, then he’s doing no better than the Catholic Church because he’s also imposing his on standards of morality on others.
We can’t say that a priest is “good” just because he supports the RH Bill. Conversely, we can’t say that a priest is “bad” just because he condemns it. The Catholic Church is entitled to their own opinions, just as we all are. No one can take it against them for going against the RH Bill because they’re just doing what they think is right, which is their interpretation of the scripture. It’s just the same as Carlos Celdran believing the RH bill is good. Or that I think fraternities do more harm than good to society. Everyone is entitled to opinions. What we are not entitled to are facts.
So what now? What we can (and oughta) do is exactly what Carlos Celdran did: Tell them to stop getting involved in politics and tell them to stop shoving their moral standards on other people’s throats just because they can’t even adhere to it themselves.
And why he had to apologize for that, I’ll never understand.
mga demonyong wlang alam sa pinag sasabi ang mga tao dito. kaya nagkakaintindihan tong mga bobo na to. unfair sa comments nila eh wla namang solid na kaalaman sa RCC pra mag komento ng ganyan .. haay kawawa tong mga to.
I think Carlos Celdran is being just and fair. We don't need war anymore to get things straight. His intentions were to enlighten people and not to feed on their emotions. He's keeping the balance. I have a relative who is a priest and sister who is a nun. I think it would hurt me if all priests and such were stereotyped– it will be just the same as racism. And we don't want that.
why don't they simply excommunicate him, or better yet sent the Unholy Inquisition and torture him either in the Tower of London, or the Bastille in France, or better yet encapsulate him in a time travel machine to Auschwitz to silence him……
i am not the only victim of abuses of the friars, an entire clan, coming from the sortie, between my great grandmother, a tausog princess, gave birth to my grandfather, and the RC church silenced, all heir with their secrecy by donating 700 sq. meters of prime commercial lot downtown Zamboanga!!! The Society of Jesus has records of these, and many others!!!!!, Rizal epitomized it, and denounced it! The RC Church, know of these abuses worldwide!!!How can they be authorities on morality, where their history from their origin and up to the present, continue to lie!!!!!Bishop Cruz commented in an ambush interview, that it is okey to use the condom if one of the partner is a prostitute and contaminated with HIV, How about the Hererosexual maniacs in the church priesthood? the Pedophiles, and Homosexual? try checking on the Boston Scandal, the Seville, Spain sex Scandal, Pope Alexander VI, Pope Julius the III, and many others?????
Idol pa rin kita Mr.Celdran. Stay classy!
I have seen the youtube video of carlos celdran's interview. His statement "I'm sorry…." is to my belief more a use of an expression (figure of speech) than a sincere apology. I would think so because I use the same expression, in the same tone.
So to the author of this article. Carlos Celdran can still be your hero.
🙂
I salute Mr.Celdran for not giving into the temptation to become a "hero" for anyone that had a grudge against the church. I salute him for promoting tolerance for all, and for being disappointed in people who simply let hatred drive their actions. It is this unmitigated vitriol that keeps people of any race, nation, or creed from coming together to have a discussion.
Amen
As i suspected, Celdran does not care for the truth. He will support superstitious belief for as long as it provide comfort, even if he knew its wacky.
But I will give him a curtsy for doing something that I, who think that I have ball, couldn't.
@carlosceldran You know what… I think it's just right that Carlos did mellow a bit because there are people who do not get the point. The Catholic religion is not the enemy, the bishops and other Catholic church leaders who capitalize on their position. The only issue here and the Carlos' only concern was the RH Bill and not the pedophile, womanizing and the covertly pervert priests. All of what he did, until now moderating the trolls, is just right.
What Carlos asked the cessation of was hate speech. Replace "catholic priests" with "imams" or "homosexuals" and you'll get the point. Carlos didn't want his page to be a medium for that.
Sigh. Sorry, But religion does provide comfort to some people (not me). I have said this before and I'll say it again, I support atheism, I support Buddhism, I support Islam, Scientology, and all forms of religion as long as they remain tolerant (which explains my call for the Catholic Church to reform.
I don't go to mass and I am repulsed by many aspects of the Philippine Catholic heirarchy but I can't deny that Catholicism (no matter if we like it or not) is a major part of the development of Philippine arts, architecture, etc. It is in our history and I cannot rewrite that no matter what I think of the RCC itself.
Truth is, I support tolerance more than anything else. Which was being lost on the page. Which is WHY I wanted to shut it down for a bit until all parties would finally focus on the real issues at hand. Which are RH Bill, Separation of Church and State, Human Rights, and Freedom of Speech (which does not include mindlessly insulting another religion – if you are to insult a religion, at least give a valid reason why).
And at that note, I do hope people are tolerant of me simply thinking this way as well. :o)
Cheers
Celdran, while the RCC is a part of Philippine history, I think that the current crop of bishops have proven in their speeches and statements that they have a very poor grasp of the reality of the situation in the country, and are thus driving themselves into irrelevance.
I have also found their assertions against the RH bill to be wanting of any solid data, and have found them lying about some of their so-called facts. I'm partly angry at the church because they are a religious institution that is trying impose their beliefs on nonbelievers. However, I am mostly angry at them because they. Fucking. Lied. And they, of all people, claim the moral high ground.
And unfortunately, unlike you, I am far less tolerant of the Church's presence in talks regarding the RH Bill. The RCC is indeed part of our history, but if they can't keep up with reality, they're going to be exactly that – past tense.
I think they have a poor grasp of pastoral issues. But the Church I'd say is beyond the "tenses" and so is all of religion. If you want to know more, read any book on the evolutionary basis of faith which includes Atheism!
If they're so updated on today, then why do they insist on adhering to moral beliefs that look like they were time warped out of the medieval era?
Last year, the CBCP requested an exemption from the Magna Carta for women, on the grounds that it interfered with their moral beliefs; a set of moral beliefs that has no problem with expelling pregnant students or teachers from catholic-run schools if they were unmarried.
http://www.isiswomen.org/index.php?option=com_con…
This year, the RCC in the UK attempted to ban the adoption of children by gay couples, regardless of the standing of the adopting parents.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/08/22/catholic…
Just to be clear, like you, I do think the RCC has as much right as everybody else to practice their beliefs. Not that I have to like it, but that's the test of a democracy after all – allowing people you don't agree the same rights as yourself to speak their mind 🙂
However, if they decide to distort data to serve their needs, I believe we have a civic duty to call them out, nor does their right to free speech equate to them being free of criticism.
What Carlos asked the cessation of was hate speech. Replace "catholic priests" with "imams" or "homosexuals" and you'll get the point. Carlos didn't want his page to be a medium for that.
As for his apology, have you seen vids of how he delivers them? Not very apologetic.
Don't worry, he's still your badass hero. 😉
Well i communicated with Celdran via Twitter and he hope that th church get it act together. True he wanted the church to survive as it provide comfort. So much for Celdran. He raised consciousness but again, to so much extent.
[…] This post was mentioned on Twitter by carlosceldran, Chito Peralta, Jill Singian, adoboh, plsburydoughboy and others. plsburydoughboy said: Looks like the Freethinkers (one of them, anyway) have done a complete turnaround on @carlosceldran http://goo.gl/7OJd […]