DEMOCRACY is freedom in search of inspiration. It waits to be given substance, meaning, orientation and direction. By itself, it simply is a mold, a system that requires a lifeblood to warm up and start functioning. It needs to be given life.
So it depends on the vital elements of the citizens that have it—how they are as a people, their culture, their history, their beliefs and aspirations, their sense of life and purpose, etc. These get factored in and eventually get integrated into one workable whole through the democratic processes.
It can only be perfect to the extent that the people involved in it are. It reflects and mirrors them. But it can also project and mold them. It collects the sentiments of the people, but it can also cause other sentiments too, generating a kind of spiral that is open-ended.
That is why we have to take care of it. Democracy needs to be guided, and we the people involved, especially our leaders, should keenly feel the responsibility for it.
Relevant to all this, let me quote some lines from John Paul II’s Centesimus Annus, kind of dense but I must say all worth it. Let’s bear with it. Here it goes:
“Authentic democracy is possible only in a State ruled by law, and on the basis of a correct conception of the human person.
“It requires that the necessary conditions be present for the advancement both of the individual through education and formation in true ideals, and of the ‘subjectivity’ of society through the creation of structures of participation and shared responsibility.”
Then it warns us of a clever attitude that actually undermines authentic democracy.
“Nowadays there is a tendency to claim that agnosticism and skeptical relativism are the philosophy and the basic attitude which correspond to democratic forms of political life.
“Those who are convinced that they know the truth and firmly adhere to it are considered unreliable from a democratic point of view, since they do not accept that truth is a determined by the majority, or that it is subject to variation according to different political trends.
“It must be observed in this regard that if there is no ultimate truth to guide and direct political activity, then ideas and convictions can easily be manipulated for reasons of power.
“As history demonstrates, a democracy without values easily turns into open or thinly disguised totalitarianism.” (46)
In the current debate for the RH bill that now exposes a few Catholic leaders not quite in step with Church teaching and discipline, this subtle anomaly of democracy distorted by agnosticism, relativism and the mere majority rule emerges.
It is argued that one just cannot be completely for or against it, since there are many good things about it and a few questionable elements, and that the Catholic Church just cannot have its “Humanae vitae” legislated because of the separation of Church and state.
There are a lot of misrepresentations in these claims, gratuitous short-cuts to favor precisely the questionable elements in the bill. This bill has already been scrutinized by many bishops and leaders in the Church and the consensus has been that it is a dangerous bill.
Of course, the bill is crafted to appeal to democratic sentiments—nothing wrong about that—but given the context in which it was created and developed, it will require complete naivete and an almost invincible ideological bias not to see the danger it poses on people’s morals as understood from Church doctrine.
At the very least, that bill is highly divisive. And so if only for that reason alone, it should be dumped. It’s actually not needed.
The good things it contains can continue to be done without the law. And the bad things it contains can also be done. No one can stop anybody from doing it. Just don’t make it a law.
Let’s conclude with some words of St. Paul addressed to those who tend to make exceptions from Church teachings. From his letter to Titus, we have some relevant points:
“Speak the things that become sound doctrine….In all things show good fidelity, that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in all things.” (2,1ff.)
After all, democracy, while respecting pluralism, should also carry the bedrock foundations of a people’s beliefs. Dialogue and consensus-making are no excuse to sideline the faith. One’s faith is nothing to be ashamed about in public fora.
This is not a call for fanaticism. Rather, it’s for democracy to be properly inspired.
Saturday, December 5, 2009
Thursday, December 3, 2009
Science should go with faith
THE Bible is always a source of truths—of faith and morals—meant to guide us for all times and all the way to heaven. It can contain prophetic words that predict and describe how things can to be in the future.
All this, if it is handled properly. Our problem is that many times it has been mishandled, and thus we have the understandable human reaction of some people who have come to disregard and discredit the Bible in their thinking and considerations. But that’s another story. We’ll go into that some other time.
For now, let’s focus on how it guides us and gives us glimpses of how things can be as we run along in time. Some words of St. Paul can come to mind. In his second letter to Timothy, there are some lines which I think are relevant to what we are witnessing these days.
“Know this also, that in the last days shall come dangerous times,” St. Paul starts. “Men shall be lovers of themselves, covetous, haughty, proud, blasphemers, wicked, without affection, without peace, slanderers, incontinent, unmerciful, without kindness…” (3,1-3)
Every time I read these words and look at least at what we see in the media that mirror the temper of our times, I can’t help but notice the connection between the warning and the reality around us. I can only gasp, “How true!”
Many people don’t pray anymore. They have made God a thing of the past, or at best, considered merely as a museum piece or an ornament. They now proudly talk about how the present is now a post-religion era.
Obviously, with this mindset detached from God, the source and measure of truth, we should not be surprised when we can witness a lot of delusions and sophisms or circular, closed-circuit reasoning.
But there’s one point farther down that has caught my attention these days. It’s when St. Paul says that these proud people who can be “traitors, stubborn, puffed up and lovers of pleasures more than of God” are “ever learning yet never attaining to the knowledge of the truth.” (3,7)
Yes, we are now swimming in a large ocean of data and information, we are now inventing new things at a rate that has gone ballistic, thanks to our new technologies, and yet we can ask whether we are getting any nearer to God, to truth, to goodness, to loving each other better, etc.
What’s more obvious is that we are getting more controversies, more animosities. Many people are getting more self-absorbed in their own world, practically stonewalling themselves from others.
Other worse things come. Relations among people get corrupted by all forms of greed, and then deceit and hypocrisy. Gossips, lies, detractions, calumnies develop and thicken. Hatred grows and when unchecked it can lead to murders and even to terrorism.
As St. Paul says: “Evil men and seducers shall grow worse and worse—erring and driving others into error.” (3,13) Nowadays, global networking is not only to advertise products, but also to promote evil and error.
The media have to be warned about this. They can easily be used and prostituted by some subtle forces masquerading as forces of progress. We cannot anymore deny that there had been instances when this anomaly has been committed.
Still St. Paul warns us of another terrible scenario. In that same letter, he says that “there shall be a time, when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, they will heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears, and will indeed turn away their hearing from the truth, but will be turned unto fables.” (4,3-4)
When I think of what is now known as Climategate, the unraveling scandal of a science-based superstition spinning around global warming and climate change hysteria, these Pauline words make a bull’s-eye hit.
Cutting-edge sciences are now made into tools of post-religion ideologies to weave a vast complex of fables generously spiced with plot points to entertain people.
What to do? Go back to God, of course. Revitalize religion. Strengthen the faith. Thus, St. Paul says: “Preach the word, be instant in season, out of season, reprove, entreat, rebuke in all patience and doctrine.” (4,2)
Reason and science cannot go alone without faith, without God. They’d be flying in dangerous circles.
All this, if it is handled properly. Our problem is that many times it has been mishandled, and thus we have the understandable human reaction of some people who have come to disregard and discredit the Bible in their thinking and considerations. But that’s another story. We’ll go into that some other time.
For now, let’s focus on how it guides us and gives us glimpses of how things can be as we run along in time. Some words of St. Paul can come to mind. In his second letter to Timothy, there are some lines which I think are relevant to what we are witnessing these days.
“Know this also, that in the last days shall come dangerous times,” St. Paul starts. “Men shall be lovers of themselves, covetous, haughty, proud, blasphemers, wicked, without affection, without peace, slanderers, incontinent, unmerciful, without kindness…” (3,1-3)
Every time I read these words and look at least at what we see in the media that mirror the temper of our times, I can’t help but notice the connection between the warning and the reality around us. I can only gasp, “How true!”
Many people don’t pray anymore. They have made God a thing of the past, or at best, considered merely as a museum piece or an ornament. They now proudly talk about how the present is now a post-religion era.
Obviously, with this mindset detached from God, the source and measure of truth, we should not be surprised when we can witness a lot of delusions and sophisms or circular, closed-circuit reasoning.
But there’s one point farther down that has caught my attention these days. It’s when St. Paul says that these proud people who can be “traitors, stubborn, puffed up and lovers of pleasures more than of God” are “ever learning yet never attaining to the knowledge of the truth.” (3,7)
Yes, we are now swimming in a large ocean of data and information, we are now inventing new things at a rate that has gone ballistic, thanks to our new technologies, and yet we can ask whether we are getting any nearer to God, to truth, to goodness, to loving each other better, etc.
What’s more obvious is that we are getting more controversies, more animosities. Many people are getting more self-absorbed in their own world, practically stonewalling themselves from others.
Other worse things come. Relations among people get corrupted by all forms of greed, and then deceit and hypocrisy. Gossips, lies, detractions, calumnies develop and thicken. Hatred grows and when unchecked it can lead to murders and even to terrorism.
As St. Paul says: “Evil men and seducers shall grow worse and worse—erring and driving others into error.” (3,13) Nowadays, global networking is not only to advertise products, but also to promote evil and error.
The media have to be warned about this. They can easily be used and prostituted by some subtle forces masquerading as forces of progress. We cannot anymore deny that there had been instances when this anomaly has been committed.
Still St. Paul warns us of another terrible scenario. In that same letter, he says that “there shall be a time, when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, they will heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears, and will indeed turn away their hearing from the truth, but will be turned unto fables.” (4,3-4)
When I think of what is now known as Climategate, the unraveling scandal of a science-based superstition spinning around global warming and climate change hysteria, these Pauline words make a bull’s-eye hit.
Cutting-edge sciences are now made into tools of post-religion ideologies to weave a vast complex of fables generously spiced with plot points to entertain people.
What to do? Go back to God, of course. Revitalize religion. Strengthen the faith. Thus, St. Paul says: “Preach the word, be instant in season, out of season, reprove, entreat, rebuke in all patience and doctrine.” (4,2)
Reason and science cannot go alone without faith, without God. They’d be flying in dangerous circles.
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
From primitive to sophisticated barbarianism
WE seem to be swinging from one outrage to another these days. In the local scene, we just had that shocking massacre in Maguindanao. Everything in it was just unspeakable. Is it still possible to have such brutality at this stage of our national life?
This looks like our version of America’s 9/11 carnage. The deliberate malice put into it, the conscience-less killing of everyone in the group irrespective of whatever, in short, barbarianism in its distilled form, is simply too much for an average heart to bear.
I normally don’t like to talk about this kind of events. Silence is a preferable option if only to lighten the ugly scenario. Talking adds fuel rather than douses water to the sickening situation. But this one grates at the guts and one simply has to instinctively react.
Let’s pray that this incident will yield us tremendous lessons we need to learn quickly and permanently. Let’s remain positive and hopeful! Let’s do everything to make this a thing of the past, never to happen again in the future.
But as if this black-eye to humanity is not yet enough, we also are now witnessing another form of barbarianism in the world stage, perpetrated by highly educated people, the elite of the world of sciences and technology, the cutting-edge in human knowledge, but, sadly, not much more.
Lately it has been discovered by hacking the computer of the Climate Research Unit of Britain’s University of East Anglia that many of the data made to support all this hysterics about global warming and climate change are not all true.
Some important data, significant to the issue but contrary to their position, have been dumped, and there appears a massive and systematic effort to manipulate the public to believe in their assertions. More and more shenanigans are now exposed. What the hell is this!
Though there are many global warming skeptics who also are scientists, these have been effectively sidelined and projected as obstructionists to what they call as obvious pieces of evidence of global warming.
Al Gore, the self-appointed patriarch of this group, managed to make the film, “The Inconvenient Truth,” that mesmerized a lot of people and won him a Nobel Prize. I heard that he is raking in a lot of moolah!
But the first time I heard about global warming, I checked the relevant write-ups in the Internet, and while I followed the arguments of the supporters, I was also aware that there were dissenters who sounded to me also serious.
I was amazed that the doubters and deniers were not given a fair chance to present their ideas to the public. Dialogue and discussion between the two camps were discouraged. That’s when I started to look deeper into the issue and to probe into who the people, pro and con, involved are.
I just wanted to have glimpses of whether they are competent scientists who also are believers, or just scientists but not men of faith and vulnerable to play politics or to ideological biases.
Sorry, I have to use these criteria in this increasingly maddening world driven by all sorts of man-made inventions but putting God aside. That’s my basic guiding principle. Science has to go with faith. Any attempt to separate the two is immediately suspicious to me.
This issue cannot be resolved by science alone, especially if it’s a science already prostituted by politics and ideologies. Faith has to come in. Our human condition demands it.
And I found out that while all sorts of people can be found in both camps, the supporters tend to be non-believers and just contented with being “pure” scientists, while the doubters and deniers are at least open to the faith.
Of course, there are many who are neither strong supporters nor strong deniers, but are just swept away by the bandwagon effect of the controversy. They like mouthing hand-me-down clichés just to be with the flow.
Among these are clerics and other religious people whose pronouncements peppered with global warming terms sound really funny and ridiculous. I just pray for them and hope their embarrassment will not be too biting.
Of course, many public officials like to play Pied Piper mostly for the fund of it. I often wonder whether they really know what they are talking about.
This is now the modern, very sophisticated barbarianism that seems to be committed flagrantly and with impunity against the whole of humanity, and not just Maguindanao.
Let’s pray, learn our precious lessons and move on!
This looks like our version of America’s 9/11 carnage. The deliberate malice put into it, the conscience-less killing of everyone in the group irrespective of whatever, in short, barbarianism in its distilled form, is simply too much for an average heart to bear.
I normally don’t like to talk about this kind of events. Silence is a preferable option if only to lighten the ugly scenario. Talking adds fuel rather than douses water to the sickening situation. But this one grates at the guts and one simply has to instinctively react.
Let’s pray that this incident will yield us tremendous lessons we need to learn quickly and permanently. Let’s remain positive and hopeful! Let’s do everything to make this a thing of the past, never to happen again in the future.
But as if this black-eye to humanity is not yet enough, we also are now witnessing another form of barbarianism in the world stage, perpetrated by highly educated people, the elite of the world of sciences and technology, the cutting-edge in human knowledge, but, sadly, not much more.
Lately it has been discovered by hacking the computer of the Climate Research Unit of Britain’s University of East Anglia that many of the data made to support all this hysterics about global warming and climate change are not all true.
Some important data, significant to the issue but contrary to their position, have been dumped, and there appears a massive and systematic effort to manipulate the public to believe in their assertions. More and more shenanigans are now exposed. What the hell is this!
Though there are many global warming skeptics who also are scientists, these have been effectively sidelined and projected as obstructionists to what they call as obvious pieces of evidence of global warming.
Al Gore, the self-appointed patriarch of this group, managed to make the film, “The Inconvenient Truth,” that mesmerized a lot of people and won him a Nobel Prize. I heard that he is raking in a lot of moolah!
But the first time I heard about global warming, I checked the relevant write-ups in the Internet, and while I followed the arguments of the supporters, I was also aware that there were dissenters who sounded to me also serious.
I was amazed that the doubters and deniers were not given a fair chance to present their ideas to the public. Dialogue and discussion between the two camps were discouraged. That’s when I started to look deeper into the issue and to probe into who the people, pro and con, involved are.
I just wanted to have glimpses of whether they are competent scientists who also are believers, or just scientists but not men of faith and vulnerable to play politics or to ideological biases.
Sorry, I have to use these criteria in this increasingly maddening world driven by all sorts of man-made inventions but putting God aside. That’s my basic guiding principle. Science has to go with faith. Any attempt to separate the two is immediately suspicious to me.
This issue cannot be resolved by science alone, especially if it’s a science already prostituted by politics and ideologies. Faith has to come in. Our human condition demands it.
And I found out that while all sorts of people can be found in both camps, the supporters tend to be non-believers and just contented with being “pure” scientists, while the doubters and deniers are at least open to the faith.
Of course, there are many who are neither strong supporters nor strong deniers, but are just swept away by the bandwagon effect of the controversy. They like mouthing hand-me-down clichés just to be with the flow.
Among these are clerics and other religious people whose pronouncements peppered with global warming terms sound really funny and ridiculous. I just pray for them and hope their embarrassment will not be too biting.
Of course, many public officials like to play Pied Piper mostly for the fund of it. I often wonder whether they really know what they are talking about.
This is now the modern, very sophisticated barbarianism that seems to be committed flagrantly and with impunity against the whole of humanity, and not just Maguindanao.
Let’s pray, learn our precious lessons and move on!
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