There is something about the Philippines that sets it apart from the rest of our progressive neighbors like Japan, South Korea, Singapore and Malaysia. The Philippines holds claim to the title “the only Christian nation in Asia” and yet ironically ranks among the worst in the list of those most infested with corruption and crime to the very core of their national psyche. To identify the root cause of Pinoy dysfunction, one only needs to notice a consistent pattern: the strong link between the Spanish brand of Catholicism which we share with many Latin American countries and the pervasive socio-economic ills that plague such nations. Combine Spanish Catholicism with hot-humid tropical weather and presto: you get a narco-state banana republic filled with crime, corruption and zombies multiplying like rabbits, a sure-fire recipe for a failed society.
It’s indeed sad to see how Elon Musk’s SpaceX is already laying out the plans to conquer and colonize Mars using their BFRs, while we are still here stuck in the “Middle Ages” grappling with the struggle to conquer our negative traits and Pinoy cultural dysfunction. At this point we all need to take a long deep breath and in unison belch out one big “Sigh…”
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Questioning your religion
It’s not wrong to question the faith you grew up in. In fact, testing the veracity of claims and the relevance of certain practices can filter out the false and useless human inventions from the truth and pure essentials. All it takes is the application of common sense. It involves using one’s brain to augment your faith. Take for example the practice of confessing sins before priests and praying to Mama Mary as a bridge to God; if the author of Christianity specifically instructed followers to confess and pray directly to God, why do Catholics practice these outright violations to the principles clearly laid out in their scriptures?
Christianity is a very simple religion which involves belief in the truth and showing basic loving care for one’s neighbor. Yet through the centuries, men have invented loads of baggage – beliefs, practices and traditions to make this simple faith far more complex than it really should. There are just two ordinances that the Christ introduced: the Lord’s Supper and water baptism, but clergymen through the ages thought it was a great idea to add truckloads more.
Padre Damaso and Maria Clara
Jose Rizal in his seminal literary work Noli Me Tangere accurately pinpointed one crucial and primary root of corruption back in the days of Spanish colonization: the dysfunction represented by the character Padre Damaso – a Catholic priest who had some illegal sexual relations that brought forth an unintended offspring, Maria Clara.
Here we see something gravely disturbing about priests having illicit relations which result in children who suffer the consequences. A priest who should be leading an example of moral uprightness and teaching the ways of truth and righteousness becomes the prime violator of proper marital laws and will need to play the hypocrite compounded by lies to cover up the said immoral act/behavior. Sadly, many of these children of priests grow up without a proper father figure and without a normal family with parents and siblings.
Pinoy dysfunction and unwed priests
Here lies the nexus between Pinoy dysfunction and Catholicism. The fact that priests are forbidden to marry and barred from leading a normal healthy family life is the key to unravelling the root of social dysfunction in the Philippine. The Catholic priesthood holds sway over the masses as they basically “program” captive audiences from their podiums – from the least to the greatest, from the lowly house-help bhoy and katulong to the elite VIP politicians and business owners. Priests serve as the society’s moral compass, and what they say up in the pulpit during mass is rendered gospel truth and defines how the rest of the population behaves.
If the priest is corrupt, the fathers in homes will be corrupt. If the priests enter into extra-marital affairs, married couples will follow suit.
Now since priests in their mandatory vow of celibacy are not allowed to marry, how will they satisfy the basic human need of a romantic relationship? (Note: a lady I know once confided about how a young priest had wanted to court her, and how people around began to find things turning awkward.) Sex along with food, water, air, clothing and shelter is essential to human existence and survival. Where do priests get feeding when they “feel the urge” so to speak? That is why we end up with pregnant nuns trying to undo their shame by undergoing abortions; that’s why you have priests entering into pornography, pedophilia and homosexuality when no one is looking.
This may be why many Catholics I know have no qualms about lying, cheating or stealing. They see no reason not to when their role models are priests who (everyone knows) lie and cheat to cover up their hidden immoral lives and who greedily amass vast amounts of wealth as evidenced by their tax-free parish estates while they preach “the blessedness of being poor”. Everyone can see through the hypocrisy; it’s all just a show – just like how Yellows in sheep-like white clothing line up praying at VIP pews reserved for them in a chapel with media lapping up their yellow ooze.
Why unwed priests cannot be authorities in basic social affairs (marriage and family)
A strong marriage and a healthy family bring about functional children and a responsible society. If the basic unit of society is broken, all sorts of problems and symptoms arise – drugs, teenage pregnancies, out-of-school youth, and a people who turn to crime for failure to getting accepted into decent jobs.
How can a priest who has no personal first-hand experience in marriage and child rearing be expected to impart crucial wisdom to the rest of the lame-brained masses who look up to him for counseling, advice and general direction for decisions in these areas? Where else do people get education for topics such as love, courtship and marriage? How does he admonish a poor farmer on balancing family size with income/expenses if he doesn’t have no freakin’ clue?
The religious sector is expected to fill in the gaps for things we don’t learn from regular secular schooling. But somehow Filipinos have the propensity of fielding people in seats of responsibility who are in no position to be there. Just look at the mess in Senate halls these days – how Trillanes and Hontiveros have been installed as “top lawmakers” of the land but are blatantly ignorant of basic laws on bank privacy and wiretapping in their rabid attacks on the present administration.
Some say that you don’t have to be a former cancer patient to treat cancer; and to extend the same principle: you don’t need to be married to do basic counseling on marriage. But there’s something wrong about applying that analogy to the case of priests being considered fit to be “credible” leaders and models for fathers, mothers and children who attend their mass. A romantic love relationship, family planning or child discipline/rearing is not a disease. It is not something that needs to be treated, but rather involves a social/management role to be lived out that is best learned from PEOPLE WITH EXPERIENCE.
Declaring “Marital Law” in the Catholic clergy
Priests and nuns should be allowed access to the right of having marital laws applied to their lives. Ideally, a priest and a nun should be married as they make a perfect partnership in their common burden and direction in ministry. They should be declared free of their celibacy vows as these are outright heretical practices. It is time to annul these vows, and make them void. The founding apostles of the Christian faith had wives and families of their own. Peter, whom Catholics claim to be their first pope, was a married man. Paul spoke against the heresy of “forbidding to marry” – being a doctrine of apostates. Let’s just face the truth: celibacy of priests is a scheme to keep the church’s wealth intact. (It’s always been about the MONEY right?)
Bong Saquing (CCF) and Francis Chan (Crazy love) are not unwed priests; so when they talk about matters of marriage and family, they can relate more to ordinary couples and parents who day in day out have to deal with family-related realities. This is why many Catholics are flocking to Christian groups outside traditional Catholicism for spiritual feeding. Unless priests are allowed to become credible authorities in the area of normal human relationships (marriage and parenthood), Filipinos who adhere to the Catholic religious faith will perpetuate the dysfunction and religious corruption that Rizal exposed in his novels.
Rather than meddling with state affairs and crying out in protest against Duterte’s declaration of martial law in ever dwindling Yellow activist rallies, Catholic priests and nuns should just fight for their basic rights and demand the declaration of “marital law” for the clergy in church. Considering their enormous influence, they of all people should have first-hand insight into socioeconomic reality by living as normal married human beings raising kids of their own. Likely then will we see order and functionality trickling down to the rest of Philippine society – marriages, families and children, who form the backbone of every institution in the country.
Zealous revolutionary advocate of bringing back common sense for the common good in a land of dysfunctional and delusional zombies.
Awkward silences rule the world. People are so terrified of awkward silences that they will literally go to war rather than face an awkward silence.
Human Beings have libidos. Sexual urge is a very powerful urge in any human being.
We cannot debate on the celibacy or non celibacy of Priests or Nuns. If they want celibacy and can withstand it. They can have it, as long as they are true to their vows of celibacy and poverty.
There should be a separation of the Church and State. Religions, Priests and Nuns, Pastors, Imams, etc…have no business dictating to the State , of what to do. Their duties are to preach the gospels/beliefs of their religions; and “save souls”…
We are not a Theocracy. We are not even a Democracy. We are Feudal Oligarchy !
Must be also priests saying there is nothing wrong with drugs. They might be forgetting that drug abuse is abusing the temple of the Holy Spirit, and so is wrong. They seem beholden to certain political views and will probably support those politicians who are big donors.
“A strong marriage and a healthy family bring about functional children and a responsible society.”
What is your proof of this bold statement? I find it very obsolete, out-dated thinking. Still living in the Middle Ages?
“I find it very obsolete, out-dated thinking.”
Why do you think it’s obsolete? Do you represent today’s modern thinking? What is your proof that universally it’s not? Please give facts based on actual scientific research studies and not just on your opinion!
I look around and see gay, lesbian and heterosexual couples having (adopted and/or IVF and/or natural) kids. I see single people having kids and I see single people without kids who all have a great and good time.
I also see couples getting a divorce without the kids becoming a victim or ruined.
The only question that needs to be asked and answered is: what is one (as parent) able to give his/her/their kids (regardless of one’s sexual orientation/preferences).
There are also cases and situation that kids become victim of lousy parents. So its the whole entire template.
The only thing I sense from Zaxx’s statement is that only married couples is the only right form for kids to excel. And that is BS. And in that he has an outdated, obsolete mind.
Robert, For every general rule there is always an exception. Not ALL children of dysfunctional homes end up as social failures; an exceptional few are able to rise above the “natural pull of gravity” so to speak. There are cases where a child who has seen his alcoholic father beating up his mother and sexually abusing his elder sister does NOT turn out to be anything like his dad. This is where the importance of external help (such as listening to a Sunday preaching, or attending parenting seminars) comes in.
Loweton was asking for scientific evidence. Where are the studies disproving the fact that a “A strong marriage and a healthy family bring about functional children and a responsible society”? You can always cite the exceptions, but what’s the general trend?
Take an analogy from the computer world: a healthy virus-free computer leads to functional software applications. I think the burden of scientific proof lies with you. Please show research disproving common sense. Where are the statistics that show that a child of abusive or sexually unfaithful parents is more likely to be a successful parent him(her)self.
What I see more often is that dysfunction perpetuates and begets dysfunction. I personally know of a young woman who did exactly what her mother did: had premarital sex with a married man, ending up in a fatherless child.
There are character traits that a father can give that a mother can’t. That’s why a child who lacks a strong father figure can have the tendency of becoming a homosexual (which I see to be a perversion of the natural function of sex). Yes, homosexuality for me is a dysfunction. If you disagree, please cite any animal species on earth that has survived after it’s entire population went homosexual.
So this is where married priests could have been of value – they could have helped salvage these broken lives by being themselves shining examples of what’s it like to have a good strong marriage and family. Had they been so, their preaching would have been taken more seriously by the masses. Instead, people who go to mass either go there to sleep or see the priest to be fakes whose primary message is “do what I say, but don’t do what I do”.
The LGBT model of a “nuclear family” sounds outright fake/artificial to me. It’s gonna be a tough sell. Good luck on that one. If the rest of the Europeans are thinking just like you do, it’s no wonder strong family-oriented Muslims are overtaking your demography there. Unless you get back to the correct father-mother-children model that’s been the foundation of every society/civilization since time immemorial, you may be rendered obsolete sooner than you think.
BTW, here’s research-backed evidence to prove the point on healthy families.
Zaxx,
A priest can not give/provide any help bec he simply doesn’t know how it is to be married and have kids. He has no authority – whatsoever – on the matter. Like me, bec I am also not a dad. Of course, I have ideas about it. Those ideas are based on looking at my own parents and every time I visit(ed) friends (male and female friends) and look at how they interact(ed) with their parents.
I try to avoid the name “family”, instead I use the name “household”. The latter covers really everything.
Homosexuality? Perverse? Wow. I look at it as 2 people loving each other. Whats wrong with that? Yes, they cant make babies (well even that is not true).
Two lesbians (both females) can ask their best male friend to help them out, either in a natural way or through IVF. Or they will and can adopt a baby/child or they can decide to stay childless. This also applies for 2 gay people (both males).
Oh and those babies/children, I just mentioned are legal and legitimate in my country.
Again, you too are too obsessed with words like nuclues/nuclear, ethics and moral. You will live much longer if you have an open mind.
Do I have scientific evidence? I would have to check some official websites to obtain them. But I dont see many dysfunctionalities in my country.
What I do remember from articles written by Benign0 is that he was the first (for me) to use the words “dysfunctional society” when writing about the Philippines. And I do agree with him. Yes, I translated Benign0’s words in my own way (based on what I saw and see for myself in PH).
Maybe it goes too far to give you my translation. So I will keep it short. I really think that the dysfunctional society has everything to do with the PH culture. That culture is rotten to the core. And you can add a few 100 laws to that.
You and some other authors preached progress in some articles. Well, that will never happen (the way I see it). Progress requires an open mind and change.
Muslims dont have a strong family idea. They fuck like rabbits bec then they think they will get to heaven and do that to please mohammed the prophet (or is it: mohammed the profit?, lol).
You have every right (and yes you are entitled to it) to think what you want. I just look at the facts that I see by looking around me. My eyes dont lie, I observe and I talk with people.
Zaxx,
One other thing.
To you it may look like that I want to force everybody to do the things the way I want (in your country). Almost like a colonizer. But that is far from the truth. All I want is the Philippines to get out of the mess they are in. Politically, culturally and everything else in such a way that the Philippines can and will be labeled as a first world country. And that is all. Nothing more, nothing less.
@Robert, I’m on board with the liberalism you espouse — except that when you regard it in the context of the broader Philippine society, you will find that liberalism breaks down (as we are seeing it do so today) because the key ingredient to a successful liberalisation of society is a people who are skilled at systematically thinking their decisions and actions through.
To be free and responsible in the use of that freedom requires intelligence and foresight. The latter is important because the ability to think several steps ahead and visualise the different scenarios that could branch out over that horizon is key to making the right decisions. Also as important is framing the problem properly. The Philippines is basically a society that is the result of the wrong solutions being implemented on the back of ill-defined problems.
In such a society, I’d be cautious about espousing too much “freedom” on the assumption that people to whom this will be afforded will apply enough personal accountability to wield it well. That’s the Philippines in a nutshell, basically. It is a society begging for a dictatorship but fatally convinced they are entitled to enjoy liberal Western democracy.
Benign0,
I really do think I understand your points.
I always like to use my ‘favorite’ example when talking about sex/procreation (no, not in a vulgair way).
After putting my penis in a vagina and as a result forming/creating a pregnancy, I know and understand damn well what to do (or not to do) next time. The cause and effect is very clear to me. Everyone sees this with the naked eye. Hence, ergo, no rocket science. So, I will easily learn from my “first” mistake.
(What I can do, is to find out how to have sex without making a woman pregnant (and without using any form of contraceptives. To comply with PH culture, right?)) (But that curiosity is what I miss in PH society. Looking for answers (solutions) and asking questions).
To be led by a dictator (whoever he/she might be) works – IMO – counter productive in the long run. People may get ‘addicted” by being taken by the hand (literally) and not being able to stand on their own 2 feet. Like parents. Parents have to let go off the kids so they can walk on their own 2 feet. But if they (the parents) keep holding my arms constantly, I will never learn how to walk. And that is what I already saw and see today (without a ‘traditional’ dictator).
The fact that many GRP authors suggest and say that the PH needs a leader is very worrying. Indicating (to me) that an PH individual is unable to make good and right (non biblically meant) decisions. Although, in real life, I must admit, I see the opposite happening in PH.
In short:
I am just wondering how a dictator can change a country. Even if his/her goals/objectives are the same as mine. I personally dont believe in change “top-down”. Thats all.
Benign0,
I forgot to summarize my message.
All the criticism I vented can be blamed on the PH culture (IMHO). Kids have to respect their parents (Mano), no matter what. That makes them (the kids) ‘mouth dead’ (is that the right word in english?). They are too afraid to ask – critical – questions (to their parents). The same as in school. Kids have to look up to their parents, to their teachers and to their priests. And this cycle goes on and on for every next generation to come.
IMHO this cycle has to be broken. And I dont see a president or dictator being able to get that done.
@Robert, a dictator can change a country by mere whim — because he wields absolute power to do so. The downside is that the change may be bad if said dictator is bad and be good if said dictator is good.
On one hand you can say then that the outcome of a dictatorship is luck of the draw — that, say, Singapore was “lucky” with Lee Kuan Yew and that, say, Uganda was “unlucky” with Idi Amin. Then again, you look at Greater China (the Mainland, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and, to some extent Singapore) and you will find a good sampling of government types across the spectrum; and in all cases, the Chinese still managed to achieve prosperity.
That says something about how much (or how little) of the fortunes of an entire nation a “dictator” actually influences.
The Philippines may get a “good dictator” someday. But I doubt it would really change the overall fortunes of the nation as a whole — because I still believe that ultimately it is the cultural character of a people that matter. Those who have the character to succeed do so regardless of the quality of leadership they are subject to.
Benign0,
“Those who have the character to succeed do so regardless of the quality of leadership they are subject to.”
I fully agree ^
Just read this article. Regarding this: ” Bong Saquing (CCF) and Francis Chan (Crazy love) are not unwed priests; …”so when they talk about matters of marriage and family, they can relate more to ordinary couples and parents who day in day out have to deal with family-related realities. ” So relating to matters of marriage and family …is more important than people offering and chastizing themselves from careers, marriage, family life , etc. ) for God? How selfish we Christians and Catholics can we get? Also by the way not all priests and nuns are involved in sex scandals….Those in the magnifying glass by media are only a minority out of the clergies around the world.