In a recent blog post, you lamented the fact that the Department of Education removed the words “God-Loving” from their Vision Statement. You called this an “appalling” move, one made by a minority group to pressure an institution. You claimed that if a group doesn’t want to believe in God, that is their problem and “not the problem of our constitution.”
You don’t know what you are talking about.
I do not know which constitution your are looking at, but the 1987 Constitution has this non-establishment clause found in Article III Section 5: “No law shall be made respecting an establishment of religion.”
According Fr. Joaquin Bernas, S.J., one of the foremost authorities on our Constitution, the non-establishment clause prohibits both direct and indirect aid to religion if the support involves “preference of one religion over another or preference of religion over irreligion.” (from The 1987 Constitution of the Republic of the Philippines: A Commentary by Joaquin G. Bernas, S.J. 2009 Edition, page 345.)
Therefore, when a government institution like the Department of Education has as its vision and mission to make its citizens “God-loving,” it is, in effect, giving support towards religion over irreligion, which it has no business doing.
Please note though, that we are not saying that being or wanting people to be “God-loving” is wrong or bad. It is simply an inappropriate objective for a state institution which is supposed to represent ALL of its citizens — not just the majority — as Mr. Lei Remuel Crisaldo (whom you quote) erroneously asserts when he cites that the Philippines is 80% Christian and 5% Muslim, and our laws should therefore reflect the sentiment of this majority.
No, what you are proposing is simply a bully-mentality — that because there are more of you, then it is your whims and desires that should be followed. Let me ask you then, if 85%of the Filipinos would favor slavery, would you not speak out against it? Would you quietly sit in your little corner of the country and acquiesce to the desire of the majority?
Besides, your claim that a “minority” group has exerted this pressure is laughable. Who has more power to exert pressure — a minority group or a majority one? You are like a 200-pound bully complaining that a 90-pound weakling has pushed you into a corner.
We are not pushing or pressuring anybody around. How could a small group like ours even do anything like that? We have no connections, no guns nor goons. We have no money, certainly not the kind that can pay comfortable salaries to pastors or build huge megachurches. We cannot cut off DepEd’s funding or force them to dismiss even a single clerk or janitor. Politicians do not pander to us as they do to church groups like yours. Pressure? What are you yakking about?
We simply pointed out that the text heavily favored the religious, which should not be so, in accordance with our existing constitution (not the imaginary one in your head). They could have simply ignored the letter and we could probably do nothing about it except rant in our own personal spaces. But to their credit, they gave the matter some thought and consideration, and even made some changes. Now that is a kind of sensitivity and fairness that we rarely see in our government, and I for one, am grateful for that.
You, however, say that “this is the case of whose voice is louder and influential. As a Christian nation, we have to start shouting what we stand for and not let a few minority change the constitution and values of our nation.”
Really? It’s not about what’s right and wrong now, is it? It’s not about what’s fair and what’s not, is it? You simply want to exert your power and authority and bowl over those few who disagree with you. Is that what you are all about, pastor?
You are nothing but a bully. Why don’t you act like a man, like the title of your blog says?
Pastor Dennis Sy committed two fallacies:
1. Appeal to Tradition
2. Appeal to the Crowd
I know emotions are hurt by this article by Andy but let’s use our heads once in awhile. If we want to succeed as a nation, we should practice critical thinking. Let’s be sensitive to fallacies, people. I believe in God but I don’t believe in a dumb God who tolerates fallacies. Pastor Dennis Sy has to do better than that.
Reading through the pastor’s blog easily reminds me of a certain case of Congressman Palatino who pushed for a move to eradicate saying prayers in government offices. And as expected, the Catholic Church gave an outcry at lightning speed, but as with all else ringing with hypocrisy, the Filipino Freethinkers had their guns ready. I am so in love with the FFT. They are not afraid to challenge, to question. They are not afraid to be hated, to be ostracized, or to be excommunicated. And so am I.
I’ll examine the pastor’s statements.
1.) “…this is a case of being pressured to have an institution change its VALUES and mission to accommodate a group…”
Let us not forget that in 2011, CBCP lawyer Jo Imbong said that the LGBT should not be considered the same as the elderly, the handicapped, and the poor, adding, “These people are disadvantaged not by their own choice. But the third sex, they choose this. How can you give protection to a choice like that?” “The government may not penalize a religious organization for … excluding a person from Church responsibilities, for example, based upon that person’s moral behavior which could include the practice or promotion of homosexuality.”
She said this when Senate Bill 2814, known as Anti-Ethnic, Racial or Religious Discrimination and Profiling Act of 2011, was discussed by a bicameral conference committee. Not far is the RH Law, when they pressured the President with threats of excommunication. If pressure was an Olympic event, the Catholic Church would have gold medals by now.
2.) “…a certain group to pressure us to change who we are, that is intolerant and discriminatory…”
Fresh in our memories is the recent video of a single mother that went viral on the internet. She was berated by a priest on the day of her baby’s baptism, simply for being unwed. My heartfelt gratitude goes to the person who took the video. Perhaps anyone can send a link to Pastor Sy? If intolerance and discriminatory was a disease, the Catholic Church is beyond all hopes of a cure.
For the most thought, the FFT helped me arrive at a personal conclusion that perhaps Catholicism is the saddest thing that has ever happened in the Philippines, in terms of tolerance, openness to change, and respect for the law. By law, I mean the kind of which that doesn’t resemble the Inquisition nor advocate Political Catholicism.
I seriously wish that writers will continue to beat the fuck right out of people like Pastor Dennis Sy.
Hi Aisha,
Thanks for the comment. In retrospect though, I may have gone a bit overboard in calling him a bully, although I don’t think I was wrong in calling out the bullying attitude and mentality of a lot of religious (like your priest example).
Dennis may well be, in all probability, a nice person. Let’s not turn the issue into a personal war because it never was in the first place. I certainly do not want to “beat the fuck” out of him.
I just think his reasoning is dead wrong and should be called out.
Oh and by the way, it’s FF, not FFT. Freethinker is one word.
Thanks again for the note 🙂
no one needs to respect beliefs without criticizing them first. ideas need to earn respect, not cry about it. people that think can usually tell the difference between a good idea and a bad idea.
[…] of Victory Christian Fellowship Greenhills and author of the blog “Act Like A Man,” posted his own take on the DepEd’s […]
I see that you’ve opened a can of worms, Andy. Good job! Our beliefs (or non-beliefs) should not be forced on anyone. It’s good to remind our religious leaders of this once in a while.
Thanks Boom 🙂
Theism is not necessarily religion
What makes you think that that is already establishing a religion?
Seems you’re unaware that the 1987 Constitution is theistic. It can be read from the Preamble…”We, the sovereign Filipino people, imploring the aid of the Almighty God..”
By the way, you forgot the other part of Art III Section 5 – “or prohibiting the free exercise thereof”
Hi Anthony,
At which part of my article did I say that it was about “establishing a religion?” Please point it out to me because I’ve been re-reading it again and again and I cannot seem to find where I said that.
I am aware of the preamble and I have my own thoughts on It. However it is not relevant to this discussion as I am bringing up the clause in Art III, Section 5. And no, I did not forget the other part of section 5, but it is again irrelevant.
Since when did removing the words “God-loving” prohibit the free exercise of religion? Was there talk of any sanction or consequence for those who privately want to be God-loving? No, we are simply removing the inherent bias from the vision and mission statement of an institution that is supposed to be neutral.
Take this example: What if there is a world gathering of around 100 leaders from different nations all having different religions and on the ceremony is a part called the “Opening Prayer.”
What would you do now? To have one religion represent and pray for everyone? But then some of the others would object and feel bad or offended. What about if we have each religion do a prayer? Well, with 100 leaders, even if each prays for only a minute, that would take almost two hours.
Now, what if someone suggests to simply remove the Opening Prayer portion and just have each leader do his/her own silent prayer before the ceremonies — wouldn’t that be a better solution? Is that prohibiting the fair exercise of prayer? No. It is simply a point of making sure that no one religion gets favored over another, or that religion gets favored over irreligion (for those leaders who don’t have one).
I hope that clarifies my position.
I guess u need to re read the blog again or go back in high school to study proper comprehension. His blog was not about enforcing a religion. its addressing the government to take more consideration in changing a vision statement. The act that depEd did showed how weak they are and are easily pursuaded by a simple letter. Think about it. Will you change ur family’s values if your stubborn 5 year old says “I don’t like math. Let’s remove it from school”. Should we remove the value of teaching Filipino language to students just because a group of elites hates the idea of studying filipino? A fact is Not all students could speak filipino but they have to study it because it’s the majority/culture. It is the same way with religion.
As much as I know about separation between state and church. Our constitution is based on biblical values as was said in its 1st paragraph. Everything has its basis. We can’t base our law on human judgement alone. We misjudge all the time.
But of course, I know. In ur head, I won’t make a sense to someone fooled by the idea of false freedom
Hi, let me just show you how off your analogies are:
Math is academic and factually helps a great deal later in their working lives.
Is teaching Christianity statistically help them kids be a better member of society in contrast for example teaching basic ethics?
We are in the Philippines and our National Language is Filipino, so it makes sense to have Filipino in the curriculum, not that because it is used by the majority. I’m sorry to say, but Christianity is not the National Religion or Theism of this country, nor is this a “Christian Nation”, it is however the discipline of the majority, but to impose it on others (yes, that “God loving” really does that) actualizing your beloved “Christian Nation”, then you do make us second class citizens, that our not following the beliefs of the majority is a demerit to our character even if we are also contributing citizens.
Hi Jack,
This article was addressing the ORIGINAL content of Dennis’ post, which has since been “updated.” My reaction was to the original tone and tenor of his post in which there was a rallying cry at the end, which I quoted in the second to the last paragraph of this piece.
The way I took that was, “Come on, Christians, let’s show these guys that we have a louder voice than they do. Let’s drown DepEd with our own shouts and requests.”
There was no mention then of this “consideration in changing a vision statement” — that came with the edited version. What prompted that change? I don’t know.
Boohoo! You just want everything your way! You get angry when people publish their views that are not the same as yours? Hello, that’s his blog and obviously you know he’s a Christian so he would post views reflective of his beliefs. It’s not like he’s writing an “Open Letter to DepEd” like what you guys did! Your group is what I hate the most because you BULLY (yes, that’s the truth) every one who believes in God. You DEMAND change in every thing that you read that is contradicting to your views. You are the most intolerable bunch of people I know and I’m just sick of reading your noise everywhere!
So why do you keep reading them?
How could I NOT read them?! You’re all always on Christian blogs I go to or Christian FB posts I’ve read! You’re the most pakialamero people in social media! You don’t respect other people’s beliefs. You go to obviously religious posts and then condemn everyone who have religious beliefs! And in FB, my atheist friends post more of your condemnation of other religions than religious ppl post of their faith. Talo pa nila ang kulto sa exag na everyday post ng panglalait nila sa faith ng iba. The best hypocrites. Tsk!
Kristina, I’m a Catholic (search my name “Boom San Agustin” if you want proof that I am a Catholic) and so are my Kids… but, I think you comment’s out of line. If you don’t want to be bullied, stop bullying.
yo man – you may have a very interesting perspective – you agree, and rightly so, that your beliefs should not be forced on people. that’s very admirable. How do you reconcile this stance with the Catholic God who wants faith from people, but threatens non-belief with eternal suffering? This is also bullying no? Give me your lunch money – or i stuff you in a flaming locker? just curious man.
Miss, do you realize that’s exactly what you’re doing? You went to this blog reacting to a post expressing beliefs that are different to your own. And you do also realize that the pastor’s blog post can also be considered as an open letter as it is posted publicly.
Exactly the same sentiments as Julia. Tit for tat, Kristina. The day I stop seeing “Share if you love Jesus”, Bible verses, and “prayer, it works” posts in my FB feed, I will stop bugging you with mine.
You post it on the internet, be ready for the consequences. It’s not exactly a private journal you know. I know and accept exactly what I’m getting into when I make public posts. But you seem distraught by all this and make absurd generalizations (e.g. we ALL ALWAYS go on Christian blogs? we condemn EVERYONE?). Hello? We don’t have all the time in the world to do that. We have lives as well.
Perhaps if you weren’t so busy getting all hyped up on these damn atheists, you could always quit facebook and go have a life too.
Are you an idiot or are you an idiot? Typical Christian unable to think correctly
Haha I love this!