Intellectual courage

Many of us have probably encountered a loud mouth and very opinionated friend or relative who thinks his/her ideas are the best ideas there is. This person can rattle much information yet is inflexible when questioned or challenged or when in the face of opposing or contrary ideas. When we fail to appease or reason to this person, our normal reaction is either to shut up, move away or change the topic.

The problem gets infinitely harder if you’re a talking to an older Filipino person, who thinks that going against his/her ideas is considered bad manners and a breach of cultural mores called “paggalang sa matatanda” (respect for elders); or if you’re talking to someone in a position of moral authority, say a priest, it is often seen as “walang galang” (no respect) and unthinkable to even go against an institution that is thousands of years old. Failure to show restraint and respect in front of elders and in the face of authority is a ticket to social banishment.

This in-group hostility is bad for intellectual growth because it discourages new ideas. If history is our guide, much of human progress was done through challenging old ideas and trying on new ones. Imagine if scientists like Copernicus and Galileo didn’t challenge old beliefs about the world, then most of us would still hold the belief that the earth was flat and 6,000 years old.

Much of Filipino culture now is anchored on religion: from Black Nazarene and Sinulog processions to the largest 10 commandments monument in the world in Baguio; from local town fiestas to PPCRV’s involvement in the barangay and presidential elections; from TV networks to DepEd promoting God in their vision missions; from chapels and prayer rooms in almost all government buildings to CBCP and religious groups lobbying lawmakers against RH Law - religious based thinking is the accepted way of thinking. It is no wonder that we always include God in all our social and personal activities whether its opening with a prayer before a congressional and senate inquiry; thanking God for that product endorsement and movie award; or posting on Facebook about how God inspired you to live your life to the full, or how Jesus saved you from the typhoon, or how God stopped you from punching that arrogant friend of yours in the face.

The problem with this behaviour is that we have shunned every other way of thinking about the world. For example, science has opened our minds to the evidence that there is a bigger world out there. The Hubble telescope has just captured a view of a part of the sky, about the size of a one dollar coin, of roughly 8,000 galaxies each comprising billions of stars and many of those stars with planets that could possibly harbor life like ours. Now, if you ask me, that is more awe inspiring than the revelations and unverified claims written in the Bible.

When Pope Francis came to visit the Philippines last Jan 2015, Filipino Catholics went on fiesta-mode  again, so effectively shutting opportunities for conversations about the various questionable statements the Pope had; or any expression of dissent some groups may have against the Catholic Church. Imagine a US president visiting the country without the perfunctory KMU/BAYAN anti-US rally. Filipinos love to please visitors especially the Pope. They want this visit to come out pleasant and wonderful, as any host would. But there is no place for reasonable dissent. I believe that part of the visit that makes it meaningful is the engagement with disagreements, criticisms and dissent. When President Aquino criticised the Filipino clergy in front of the Pope in Malacanang, he effectively brought a good conversation. Yet many Catholics still saw this as disrespectful. What does that tell us as a people: that we are intellectually lazy.

That is why I am calling for an intellectual courage, not only from the President, but from the secular communities as well, to be brave enough to constantly challenge and bring forward avenues for fruitful conversations to the common Filipinos. The media also should not shun these conversations and stop protecting the Pope or any person from criticisms. You are not doing them or the Filipinos any favours at all in the long run.

ABS CBN needs to stop patronizing religious viewers

Catholics are a sensitive bunch. I know because I used to be one. Five years ago, I would have been offended, for example, over accusations that the Church was directly responsible for the murder of countless nonbelievers during the Inquisition, or the corruption in the Vatican. I had this attitude of denial only because I already convinced myself that the Catholic Church, the Church founded by Jesus Christ, God himself, was incapable of any wrongdoing.  So, naturally, criticisms of the Church must be exposed as lies and propaganda by the nonbelievers. Being a Catholic seminarian for eight years only further supported this attitude. And theology became that elaborate and self-reinforcing language to defend this point of view.

I remember discussing the concept of sin to a group of high school graduates in Caloocan during their class retreat at Grace Park parish. When someone asked why we need God, my prepared answer was because we were sinful in the first place. This idea sounds ridiculous of course. Why would a god allow humanity to become sinful creatures only to punish them for the sinfulness that he allowed in the first place? Any eight year old child can see through this silliness. This same attitude and behavior was in full display when ABS CBN began selling t-shirts with the words: “No race. No religion. I embrace diversity” and “Ganito ako. Ganyan ka. Who am I to judge?”

It sent Catholics into rage mode on social media. One even labelled ABS-CBN as an anti-Christ organization.

They accused the network of selling shirts with ‘distorted’ quotes of Pope Francis. However ABSCBN clarified itself in a statement saying that the shirt expressed “love, patience and humility”. ABSCBN has since pulled out the offending “No race. No religion” t-shirt from its online and retail stores. Honestly, the no race, no religion shirt made me think of John Lennon’s song Imagine:

Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for

And no religion too

Contrary to what the CBCP President Socrates Villegas said, religion is allied to racism. Just look at the many dictatorships in history that used religion and race to discriminate and kill minorities including Jews, homosexuals and nonbelievers. Villegas would like you to believe that religion has no role in violence and social injustices. A close examination of their dogma and biblical texts reveal many injunctions against homosexuals, nonbelievers, women, and even children. Exodus 21 encourages slavery. 1 Timothy 2 admonishes women to be silent. The 19 hijackers who flew those airplanes into the Twin Towers were not “selfish, uncharitable and judgemental people”, they were educated men and they got inspiration from the text of the Quran and were “happy” to die for their faith.

"Ganito ako. Ganyan ka. Who am I to judge?” shirt was interpreted as an excuse to commit immorality. Yes you read it right; homosexuality and homosexual acts are viewed as immoral by many Catholics, and by extension, all liberal views that contradict the Catholic teachings. Sad to say but in order to preach morality Catholics have to denigrate the LGBTQ community.

It has now become impossible to offer better ideas in the face of an overwhelmingly bellicose Catholic social media. As soon as you have formed and shared your ideas, be prepared to be called names and worse maybe lose your jobs, business and even social life. Filipino Catholics rarely paid attention to criticisms of Catholic Church before. When I was a kid 30 years ago, I often heard people say that the Catholic Church was the one true apostolic Church that cannot be destroyed and that the Philippines was a Catholic country. But after the loss in RH Law, perhaps the defining issue of the Filipino culture war of our generation, Philippine Catholic Church leaders and apologists have increased their attacks and found their new purpose.

Rollie delos Reyes, that staunch defender of the Catholic faith, penned an open letter to ABS-CBN detailing his equal disgust over the twisting of the Pope’s words and at celebrities who promote promiscuous lifestyles. Now any decent journalist or writer knows not to conflate criticism of ideas over criticism of a group of people. It is intellectual dishonesty, yet this has become the norm of discourse among the religious set.

Compared with western media where there is robust conversation about many social, political, economic and religious issues, I deplore the state of Philippine media myself. ABS-CBN, being both a victim and perpetrator of shallow media content, has contented itself over the years to sucking up to religious crowd and viewers. ABS-CBN needs to get over its religious phase and decide for itself whether to let this lesser issue of religious rabble rousing over Pope t-shirts paralyse, influence and control them as a media organization. Eventually, ABS-CBN and other media organizations must learn to slowly detach themselves from the religious worldview and religious moralizing to gain viewership. They must also realise that religious morality are not real morality – they are commands. Religion offers only instructions what to do. Real morality emanate outside of religious traditions. Religious morality cannot offer real world solutions to issues like racism, homosexuality, empowerment of women, free speech and sex, among others. Here I offer secular humanism as a better philosophy and morality to engage its viewers. One of the positive aspects of secular humanism is that it is not engaged in indoctrinating its viewers with ready-made morality or a list of do’s and don’ts. Secular humanism engages its viewers to think for themselves about many issues while rejecting superstition, supernaturalism and dogma as the basis of decision making.  In the end, it’s a question whether you want to apply 1^st century morality to 21^st century problems.