COMMENTARY
MANILA, JANUARY 1, 2012
(INQUIRER) IT may not have been a really disappointing
year but it was neither exactly the year we dreamt of. After the raised
expectations of 2010, the year 2011 just seemed to get worse the further it went
on. War raged on. Crimes continued to be committed with impunity. Strong winds
blew with ferocity, and rains fell, triggering deadly floods. And bad things
just kept happening due to either human folly or bad luck, or a combination of
both. Then as the year was coming to a close, another destructive natural
disaster struck and led the nation to its darkest holiday season in recent
memory. But now comes the time to reflect on the year past and pray for the year
to come.
So we pray first for peace. Both soldiers and non-combatants are dying in the
North and in the South. The war down South, in particular, saw a shocking spasm
of violence that resulted in high casualties in Basilan and Zamboanga. The
government of President Aquino found itself pressed into an escalating conflict
with the Muslim extremists in Mindanao but could not afford to ignore the
continuing attacks of the New People's Army elsewhere in the country. The
fighting wouldn't stop and some of our brightest and bravest soldiers came home
in flag-draped coffins.
This cannot go on. We pray for ceasefire and conciliation with the communist
rebels as well as with the Muslim separatists, for only then can the nation be
said to be truly at peace with itself. We also pray for a stop to the rising
wave of dangerous, violent crimes done by people with very little, if any,
regard for the lives of others, just for a car or a few thousand pesos. Most of
all, we pray for an end to a culture of impunity.
We pray for vigilance. In a year where even nature seemed to turn against us,
we seek the solace of safety. While the weather itself cannot be controlled, we
do expect our government agencies tasked with tracking it to be vigilant and
effective. If there is anything we have learned from terrible tropical storms
like 2009's "Ondoy" and 2011's "Sendong," it is that government needs to
prioritize the allocation of funds and resources for both the detection of
dangerous weather disturbances as well as for flood prevention. Then it needs to
make sure those displaced by the typhoons will be provided shelter as well as
sustenance. The Aquino administration needs to listen to experts and seek to
mitigate the effects of devastating and deadly storms, perhaps by resolutely
enforcing the logging ban and reviewing the development of hinterland areas. It
is time to exhaust all measures to make sure we will never be caught so badly
unaware by yet another weather disturbance.
We pray for justice. The Filipino people deserve a justice system that not
only works but one which has the nation's best interests in mind. Filipinos
deserve a Supreme Court they can look up to and a government they can believe
in. With the Judiciary and the Executive locked in what seems to be a no-win
situation, we pray for a swift and fair impeachment trial and for equanimity
from both sides of the aisle. We pray that all Filipinos, rich and poor, young
and old, go about their lives with a newfound respect for the rule of law and an
intelligent obedience to the laws of the land. We ask that all those who enforce
the law do so with a healthy respect for civilians and with an understanding for
the reasoning behind those same laws. Let the guilty, regardless of who they
are, be punished.
Finally, we pray for prosperity. We ask this for all Filipinos, but most of
all, for those who have nothing. More and more Filipinos are sliding down into
poverty. A sluggish economy keeps unemployment high. Once again the Aquino
administration should lead the way to create more jobs. This is the only way to
truly fight the growing specter of poverty, the only way to lift Filipinos from
poverty and give them the decent future they seek. We pray for all this because,
even at the deepest end of our sorrow and despair, we Filipinos remain hopeful
that better days are coming. This is the most resilient and brilliant part of
our identity as a people, our ability to overcome doubt by simply believing that
things will get better—and to do what we each can to make sure that happens. Now
is the best time to continue to believe in the will and the hope of the Filipino
people, right here in the New Year, right here in the very beginning of 2012.
INQUIRER COMMENTARY
Christians PINOY KASI B y: Michael L. Tan
Philippine Daily Inquirer
There are now about 2.18 billion Christians, about a third of the total
global population. The figure comes from an American organization, the Pew
Research Center's Forum on Religion and Public Life, in a report, "Global
Christianity:
A Report on the Size and Distribution of the World's Christian Population."
(Go to pewforum.org for materials.)
Last year, Pew released a report on global Islam and estimated there are
about 1.6 Muslims, so Christianity is still the world's largest religion.
That's assuming Christianity to be one religion. The reality is that
Christianity is actually quite diverse in terms of beliefs and practices. The
Pew report in fact breaks down its statistics into "Catholic," "Protestant,"
"Orthodox" and "Other Christian"—and each category includes many diverse groups
as well.
"Global Christianity" is full of surprising facts and figures, challenging
many of the assumptions we have about Christianity. The Pew report notes that
the Middle East/Northern African region, where Christ and the first Christians
lived, is now the region with the smallest number of Christians, both in
absolute numbers and as percentages of the total population.
The same night I was reading the Pew Report I came across an article in the
New York Times about Dura Europos, a very cosmopolitan city that flourished from
the third century B.C. into the third century A.D. in what is Syria today.
Archaeologists have dug up evidence to show it had people from all over the
world, practicing different religions. One building, which looked like a
residence from the outside, actually housed an early Christian church with
paintings showing Jesus performing miracles and women in a baptism ritual.
Christianity had to be practiced in such houses because it was illegal in the
Roman Empire for the first centuries after Christ. After the Roman emperor
Constantine endorsed the religion, it spread throughout Europe, which was to
remain its main base until the 20th century. The growth was not without
problems, with divisions between Roman Catholicism and eastern Orthodox
Catholicism. In the 16th century there was the Reformation and the rise of
Protestantism, which today has many different denominations.
Catholicism arrived in South America through Spanish and Portuguese
colonizers, while North America attracted Catholic and Protestant settlers from
Europe, including smaller Christian groups that were persecuted. The United
States later gave rise to what the Pew Report classifies as "other Christians":
groups like the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-Day Saints (Mormons) and
Jehovah's Witnesses.
The Pew Report notes that a century ago, two-thirds of Christians were to be
found in Europe, making it a mainly "western" religion and associated with the
colonizing powers. Today, 61 percent of the world's Christians are found in the
"global south" (Latin America, Asia and Africa), where the practice of
Christianity can be much more conservative than in western countries.
Only Christian country in Asia?
The Pew Report should make us rethink our claim to being the "only Christian
country in Asia." Yes, we rank fifth in the world with our total number of
Christians and third with Catholics; and yes, we have the most number of
Christians in Asia with 86.7 million.
But Christians in China number 67 million, many in the early tradition of
underground house-churches. India has 31.8 million Christians and Indonesia,
21.1 million. And while Papua New Guinea has only 6.8 million Christians, that
represents 99.2 percent of the population.
The Pew Report estimates Christians represent about 93 percent of our total
population so if you want to play the numbers game, Papua New Guinea is a "more"
Christian nation than we are.
The Pew Report noted that 70 percent of Filipino Christians are Pentecostal
or charismatic. Pew explains Pentecostals, who are usually Protestant, are those
which believe in a baptism of the Holy Spirit with post-conversion religious
experiences like healing, speaking in tongues; while charismatic Christians are
defined as those who are "non-pentecostal" but believe in a renewal of one's
faith through Pentecostal practices such as divine healing. Catholics can also
be charismatics and the Pew report cites Mike Velarde's El Shaddai as an
example, with a large following.
The Pew Report's section on the Philippines needs to be corrected though. In
their discussion of Pentecostal churches, the Pew Report names the Church of
Christ (Manalista), Jesus is Lord Fellowship and Assemblies of God. "Church of
Christ (Manalista)" is a term used by the enemies of the Iglesia ni Cristo
(INC), similar to the way Muslims used to be called Mohammedans.
The Pew Report mentions the INC again, this time as under "Other Christians,"
grouped together with the Mormons and Jehovah's Witnesses with a total of about
850,000. I thought that estimate was very low since the INC alone should have at
least a million members. Unfortunately, the INC itself does not release official
figures, so it's hard to say what the real situation is.
I know some readers are probably reacting now to the INC being classified as
Christian. The INC denies Christ's divinity but looks at him as their real
founder. I once asked a graduate class of mine if they thought of the INC as
Christian. The class was on the anthropology of religion and had as members
Catholic priests, a Protestant pastor and an INC lay leader.
One of the Catholic priests was quick to answer, "They follow Christ so they
are Christian as far as I am concerned." It was a gracious answer, so different
from the heated exchanges Christian groups have with each other on television
and the Internet over Christ and the Bible.
Beyond the numbers, I'd like to see studies on how Filipinos look at
Christianity, as an institution, and as personal faith.
I'd say too we should give up this tiring mantra about the Philippines being
the only Christian country in Asia. We make that claim whenever we want to show
ourselves to be morally superior or, paradoxically, when we're thoroughly
ashamed of our corruption and our failings, and want to call for inner
transformation. Ultimately, our "salvation" just might come about as Filipinos,
now found all over the world, begin to understand a more catholic (in the sense
of universal) Christianity.
Last-minute gifts
Two tips for last-minute gifts. Philippine Educational Theater Association
(Peta) has a P300 desk calendar for its Arts-zone (Advocate Right to Safety Zone
for Children) project, with guides for teachers and parents to protect children
from violence and abuse. Calendars are available from their office at 5 Eymard
Drive at the back of Quezon City Sports Club.
The Ortigas Foundation has desk calendars too, as well as postcard sets
showing vintage photographs of Manila. In addition, they are selling, at a
discount, Fr. Rene Javellana's "La Casa de Dios: the Legacy of Filipino-Hispanic
Churches in the Philippines." The foundation will be selling its publications
until the end of the month at Virra Mall's ground floor at the Greenhills
Shopping Center.
Chief News Editor: Sol Jose Vanzi
© Copyright, 2012 by PHILIPPINE
HEADLINE NEWS ONLINE
All rights reserved
PHILIPPINE HEADLINE NEWS
ONLINE [PHNO] WEBSITE
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