SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE

If you believe that there is a separation of Church and State in the Philippines, you might as well also believe in the existence of the separation between insanity and stupidity. As a matter of historical fact, the union of Church and State in the Philippines is just like a good Catholic marriage: what God has united, let no man put asunder,-till death do us part. Both the Church and State protect each other, the former with forgiveness of sins and the latter with tax exemption laws. The job of the State is to keep the people living in ignorance. The job of the Church is to keep the people living in fear. Combine the two horrors inextricably together and we have what is known as Christian values and beliefs more known as the government off, buy, and fool the people under the slogan that it is MORE FUN AND SAFE IN THE PHILIPPINES. Indeed, the separation of Church and State in the Philippines is more than just a farce and a fraud, but also a charade of lies, --a parade of deceptions. Look seriously at our senators as judges in the impeachment trial to dump the Chief Justice Renato Corona out of office for betrayal of public trust and culpable violation of the Constitution. They start the trial not as leaders of our country, but like sinners themselves with prayer to God for the forgiveness of their sins and crimes. The need for religion in the Philippines will end when we Filipinos in our schools are taught to be strong and sensible enough to govern ourselves not as religious fanatic Catholics or what-not, but as self-respecting Filipinos, i.e., who believe in the power of reason and not believe in words written long time ago, by ignorant men who did not know what we know today and in all probability were influenced by the barbarity of a primitive age. Meanwhile, our officials in the Philippine government and the church hierarchy have always enjoyed an illicit secret affair together. They have illegitimate children otherwise more popularly known as "politicians" of the State, and the "theologians" of the Church. Such "leaders" are never lively with intelligent power of ideas for growth and maturity. They are only deadly with the power of daily prayer producing nothing but an obnoxious odor in the air - the bad smell of the Philippines dying as the Sick Nation of Asia. Hypocrisy and indifference to truth make corruption acceptable as part of our national defects. It is sad to see our government officials in cahoots with church officials devote so much faith in increasing and justifying such traditional nonsense. I said it before, I say it again: our leaders drunk with power are destitute of wisdom, and so long as they enjoy the glory of popularity - our country will be devoid of sanity and beauty on the one hand; and, on the other hand, filled with more of the same old misery and poverty perpetually. In the meantime, while there is more creativity in diversity, there is nothing but stupid religiosity in uniformity. And what we have in our sick country is the sick uniformity even in the art of bribery. We have yet to see our way clear that the bribe-giver is no worse than the bribe-taker because there is always in between, the bribe-fixer! There is also the fun of vote-buying, vote-selling, and vote block fixing. Indeed, again, when it comes to the life of crime and sin, graft and corruption - IT IS MORE FUN AND SAFE IN THE PHILIPPINES. There is a tremendous need for the rehabilitation of our damaged nation. If we ever hope to succeed in our revolution against political illusion, against religious delusion, and against social confusion - we must first see to it that there is no more divine revelation at the foundation of our sick and corrupt system of education. No more Immaculate Misconception; no more public prayer transformation; no more revealed Truth that has never been revealed. We need only science and technology and the wonders of its lively evolution. Millions of Filipinos ask: is there hope for our country? My answer is Yes, but first we must allow the nation's youth to learn during their formative years in school to believe not in a weird foreigner more known as Jesus, our alleged savior, but rather to believe instead in living decent life inspired by love of country and guided by the power of knowledge. Indeed, to feel the pleasures of mental growth and positive material achievement, to live, to learn and to love,- happy, generous, and expansive; thoughtful when others are happy, and even more thoughtful when others are not. These beauties should be permanent fixtures in the hearts and minds of our nation's youth after they go through many years of education in our schools, colleges, and universities. In the ultimate analysis, if we can set aside intellectual cowardice against the courage of ideas, there is much more to hope for our country. Indeed, it is high time for us Filipinos to accept the challenge to work for ourselves as a people. After all, this world is the only world we have. The only world where we can, here and now, create a paradise for ourselves as thinking people happy and proud of our existence with self-respect and dignity not as frightened Catholics, but as brave citizens of our Republic. Poch Suzara