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President Rodrigo Duterte. Image credit to www.politics.com.ph |
“I tend to talk a lot about things…I
believe in one supreme God…I never said I do not believe in God. I’m not
agnostic and I’m not an atheist. I just happen to be a human being believing
that there’s a universal mind somewhere which controls the universe,” the President stated.
Duterte then tackled on why
would such a God make his people suffer through agonizing injustice.
“We’ll never
really know until maybe God chooses the time for us to know the answer,” he added.
The
President then laid all the cards on the table giving everything on the fact
that there is not one person who has witnessed God and actually is able to
converse with Him, prove him otherwise and he’d quit his office immediately.
“You do that today, one single witness that
there is a guy, a human being, who’s able to talk and to see God. Of the so
many billions that passed through Earth, I just need one. And if there is one,
ladies and gentlemen, I will announce my resignation immediately,” he
finally announced.
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Garden of Eden. Image credit to www.tomliberman.com |
“So where is the logic of God there? You create a perfect (world) then you spoil it through a snake and an apple. And you give us the sin that we never even agreed to commit and that is the original sin,” Duterte continued.
A PCM member, Aleta Tolentino hugely disagrees with the President since in her perspective, what Duterte said was “a very strong statement condemning the blasphemy…” and with that being said, she set out a “...call on the faithful to reject such blasphemy and to speak out against it.”
Tolentino wrote a two-page letter expressing dissent and disappointment over the President’s statements which she asked a security guard to send it to the bishops.
She and her Church members
beg for clarity within the haze of confusion that the standing of the State
created, denial isn’t easy to overcome anyway.
“If the President is disrespecting our
church and our God, is that right or wrong? They should categorically tell us
because we are listening to them, they should lead us,” Tolentino then said.
The letter also contained the
condemnation of Duterte’s war on drugs which “lead” to the deaths of three
Catholic priests.
“Your Eminences and Excellencies, they are killing our
flock – even the most vulnerable children are not spared. They are killing our
flock – the rule of law is disregarded, the leaders who fight relentlessly for
truth and justice are viciously silenced, and the indigenous people who live
peacefully in the land they have nurtured all their lives are oppressed. They
are killing our flock – our freedom of speech, our right to information and the
sacred guarantee of the Constitution to due process are now clear casualties,” the letter read.
And what would such a letter be without
their willful stand on the matter.
“We refuse to be defeated and just stand idly
by. We choose to learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression, bring
justice to the fatherless and plead the widow’s cause,” the letter
continued.
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President Rodrigo Duterte. Image credit to File photos |
They are unable to deny the fact that they’ve been defeated so they reach out to higher powers whom have the same confusion as they do. Amidst the controversy and a Chief Executive that condemns their beliefs, what would the Church do now? Deny and blame Duterte on something again or accept defeat and just pray to whoever is out there?
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Source: PhilStar