In his recent PhilStar colmumn How Catholic Talibans stormed the CCP, William Esposo lamented “the terrifying emergence of a Catholic Taliban who threatens to destroy the very foundations of our Christian morality.” Indeed, it is happening. On the Visayan Daily Star, Nida Buenafe writes about how parishes in Bacolod are unreservedly demonising artist Mideo Cruz who, as we recall, is at the centre of a Catholic fatwa being incited by the Philippines’ Roman Catholic Church over an exhibit of his work at the Cultural Centre of the Philippines (CCP)…
The exhibit prompted the Church in Bacolod to hold an indignation rally today at 4 p.m., starting with the praying of the rosary inside the San Sebastian Cathedral.
A para-liturgical service will follow at the Bacolod City Public Plaza with the burning of the horns and tail on a Mideo Cruz’s effigy.
In his homily yesterday at the church of Our Lady of Candles in Capitol Heights in Bacolod City, Fr. Danilo Cenal said the symbolic burning of the horns and tail will depict the public indignation over the exhibit.
“Only the horns and tail will be burned. The picture of Mideo Cruz as a person will be left untouched. The sin should be condemned but not the person,” Cenal said.
The Roman Catholic Church, perhaps, as “Father” Cenal lamely tries to demonstrate may deny going as far as attacking Cruz’s very person. But history is rich in accounts of how the Church had stood by and watched as hideous atrocities were committed by its zealous followers in the name of its “God”. Filipino Catholic officials should look to the example of their former top honcho in Europe who in 1998 apologised (albeit using wording that failed to impress many Jews) for “failing to speak out against the Nazi holocaust during World War Two”…
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Pope John Paul has said he hopes the apology will help to heal the wounds of past injustices and misunderstandings between Christians and Jews.
But the document makes no criticism of the Pope of the time, Pius XII, who has been accused by the Jews of pro-German tendencies.
The Vatican mentions that Pius XII saved hundreds of thousands of Jewish lives himself or through his representatives.
But the document fails to explain why Pope Pius never took sides during World War Two by speaking out against the holocaust while it was actually taking place.
The slope into extreme religious fundamentalism is an extremely slippery one, particularly for an impoverished country such as the Philippines which is populated by a people desperately scrounging around for symbols of “hope” to latch onto. Religion is renowned for its ability to provide a narrative of “hope” to its adherents through a belief system that promises nothing in life and everything in death. That simple principle which lies at the core of Roman Catholic dogma all but places blanket indemnity over that organisation against any ethical or intellectual accountability over just about any idea it implants in the most vacuous minds among its followers.
If we examine the rhetoric of the most militant Catholic lieutenants in the “laity”, we will find much of the same you-are-either-with-us-or-against-us false dichotomies that characterise that of some of recent history’s most brutal war mongerers and war criminals — Osama Bin Laden, George W Bush, Adolf Hitler, Mao Zedong, and Benito Mussolini among others.
The three-step process with which these dangerous demagogues hijack common sense in societies that happen to be vulnerable at the time to clever persuasion techniques is quite evidently at work in the Philippines today…
First they define a non-negitiable ideological construct that they pitch as an “absolute truth”…
A part of the homily by Jojo Zerrudo, Diocese of Cubao, was aired on the same morning show, where he asserted that proper respect should be given to the image of Christ.
“…you think an image of Christ is nothing different from the posters of celebrities? Jesus Christ is the son of the Living God, therefore, it is not right to dishonor his face,” said Zerrudo.
Then, they proceed to define a bogeyman — the them in a them-against-us “crusade” that they begin to incite…
“When you say church, tayong lahat [“all of us”], we are a church. Filipinos who are Christians and Catholics must defend their faith,” said [Ang Kapatiran (“The Brotherhood”) party’s Manolo] Dayrit in the same “Unang Hirit” report.
And, third, organise spectacles mounted in full regalia displaying emotionally-charged symbols while demonstrating rituals designed to induce conformity…
As an effort to supposedly seek forgiveness from their Creator for what they deem as “blasphemous” art […] more than 200 members of religious and lay groups participated in a reparation mass held Aug. 14, reported “Unang Hirit” on Aug. 15.
[…]
After the mass, the group launched a procession from Roxas Boulevard to CCP featuring relics of the Virgin Mary and the Black Nazarene, significant symbols of the Catholic faith, as reported on “TV Patrol” last Aug. 14.
Clearly, the signs are impossible to ignore. The Philippines has always teetered on the brink not only of economic collapse but catastrophic collapse in its ability to uphold common sensibilities and intelligent regard for the challenges it faces. The Roman Catholic Church of the Philippines is, at best, sitting back and waiting in the same way it did during Hitler’s Holocaust or, at worst, actively facilitating Philippine society’s descent into its own version of the Dark Ages. Both are scary prospects, considering Filipinos’ renowned track record of being such bad copy cats.
benign0 is the Webmaster of GetRealPhilippines.com.
Pity, that’s why I never trust religion. Everything went downhill the moment I entered the seminary. We’re just like in a frat, a group you belong to cause you belong to the ‘true’ religion, go away and you’ll be cast out, shunned, and forgot they ever met you.
Until we break off religion, and stupidity, we’ll never be a great nation.
Good one, Benigno, particularly after you berated the atheists for wasting their time attacking religious fundies:-)
Thanks john. Of course there’s no avenue I won’t explore on either side of the “debate.” 😉
soo… you’re an equal-opportunity offender?
at least no one can accuse you of coddling either side 🙂
no religion can save our souls. it’s so sad that most of us depend on graven images and rules set by mere humans.
How dare Manolo Dayrit drag the name of Christianity in these talks? Because I haven’t heard any other Christian groups protesting against what Mideo Cruz did. As a Christian (and a former Catholic), those images are an abomination, I wouldn’t even let one enter my house. I can tolerate them “worshipping” their idols, I just can’t when they drag “Christianity” into it. Sa inyo na yang mga paniniwala ninyo, pakiusap lang. The Catholic clergy doesn’t remember history well, do they? Because the reason why the Reformation happened is because of what the Catholic Church was doing then which is what is happening today. I just hope that common Catholics would just get fed up by this, seek the truth through the Word, leave their Catholic beliefs and embrace true Christianity, which is based on the Word.
“When you say church, tayong lahat [“all of us”], we are a church. Filipinos who are Christians and Catholics must defend their faith,†said [Ang Kapatiran (“The Brotherhood”) party’s Manolo] Dayrit in the same “Unang Hirit†report.
As far as I can remember having read the whole Bible twice, the only way to defend our faith was through SOUND REASONING, which these people are obviously not doing. Followers are even told not to engage in heated debates because it wouldn’t produce anything good. That is why Christian followers are instructed to be ready, in season or out of season, to answer any question about our faith, always studying and testing everything, while all doing it in patience, humility and charity.
“…history’s most brutal war mongerers and war criminals — Osama Bin Laden, George W Bush, Adolf Hitler, Mao Zedong, and Benito Mussolini among others.”
And what are the brutalities of Bush?
You are again in disinformation/misinformation mood.
Your choice of words against Catholics – taliban and fatwa which have no relation to Catholic teachings anyway you look at their definitions.
All I can read from your post is anger to the point that you are in disinforming and misinforming your unsuspecting readers again.
“promises nothing in life and everything in death”
I am sure you can’t even explain that one in reference with Catholic faith or Catholicism itself.
In colloquial – “makatira lang, banat ng banat!”
Ad hominem alert! Ad hominem alert! 😀
As I’ve commented before, my ad hominem, your deliberate flagrant dishonesty has no boundary.
(Ad hominem is necessary for your repeated dishonesty. Next time I’ll just do a copy and paste).
Of course, I don’t oblige you to reply to my comment. My intention is purely to alert the unsuspecting readers of your deliberate flagrant dishonesty with your post.
Closing this comment with my another ad hominem:
“Which is worse: purveying misinformation out of ignorance or incompetence, or deliberately and maliciously twisting the facts just to satisfy an agenda? “
Sure. So which part of it do you consider “dishonest” then?
benign0
Sure, let’s start with your dishonesty about W Bush being compared with most brutal war mongers and war criminals — Osama Bin Laden, Adolf Hitler, Mao Zedong, and Benito Mussolini among others.
I know that you’re a Bush Lied, Kids Died bloke, but at least what exactly did W Bush
do to be compared with those murderers? He could be a war monger for the defense of his country but have he intentionally ordered a million of people to be brutally massacred en masse?
I also know that your head explodes every time the word Catholic is mentioned to you, but at least provide your readers citations of your claims against the Church.
Your claim:
“But history is rich in accounts of how the Church had stood by and watched as hideous atrocities were committed by its zealous followers in the name of its “Godâ€. Filipino Catholic officials should look to the example of their former top honcho in Europe who in 1998 apologised (albeit using wording that failed to impress many Jews) for “failing to speak out against the Nazi holocaust during World War Twoâ€
And you did not even verify if that claim is true. Maybe there is some truthiness in it but the dishonesty is very obvious.
Read my other comment about that matter that I sourced from a JEWISH, yes, Jewish as in Jew, website.
I’ve got an even better idea, Trosp. Why don’t YOU provide some evidence that what I say is not true? Up to the challenge?
benign0,
You are an stupid asshole.
Prove to me that you are not.
Thanks. I’ve been called worse. 😀
i think if you put an “an” to refer to “stupid” that makes you… guess what? stupid!
benign0
It’s no that I really mean you’re a stupid asshole. I’m making a point based on who should have the burden of proof.
Unfortunately, you still did not get it.
@GiNn
Thanks for the correction.
My apology to comment readers for my imperfect grammar.
Nevertheless, I hope my mistake did not alter my story line.
Nah. You are the one who makes the accusation that I am dishonest and what I write are all lies. So guess what: That means the burden of proof is on YOU dude. Deal with it. 😀
benign0
So you can just tell us that W Bush is a brutal war monger and a war criminals like Adolf Hitler, Mao Zedong, and Benito Mussolini among others and you are telling us that for a fact. These murderers you are comparing with W Bush have deliberately massacred million of people en masse and we should just believe your say so?
Is accusing you as dishonest not valid since you just were making claims without fact checking them?
I agree with you. I’m dealing with them by directly confronting your false claims.
As I said. The thing for YOU to do is to prove that what I assert is FALSE.
It’s simple, reallyâ„¢ — though not for the small-minded. 😀
benign0
There’s nothing everywhere that W Bush has ordered mass murder similar with Hitler, Mussolini, and Bin Laden as you have compared him to them.
Your claim is false and an outright dishonesty.
As for your dishonesty with Pope Pius XII, actually your ad hominem with Catholicism, I have rebuked it here in this thread.
Is it really your habit of not citing your source?
Gusto mo parati short cut in favor of your agenda. Don’t you have any shame in gloatingly claiming things which for sure you have not fact-checked?
Do you have any problem with facts as a blogger?
What makes you think I am comparing Dubya with Hitler, Mussolini and Bin Laden, Trosp? Cite specific examples plez…
From this post, you claimed in your ad hominem attack on Catholics –
(Your Catholicophobia really has no boundary.)
“If we examine the rhetoric of the most militant Catholic lieutenants in the “laityâ€, we will find much of the same you-are-either-with-us-or-against-us false dichotomies that characterise that of some of recent history’s most brutal war mongerers and war criminals — Osama Bin Laden, GEORGE W BUSH, Adolf Hitler, Mao Zedong, and Benito Mussolini among others.”
Indeed, I lumped Dubya in the same category as Bin Laden and Hitler. But does that necessarily mean I liken him to them directly? Not necessarily so, dude. The categories may be shared but the *degrees* may vary.
Seems like somebody here is grasping at straws. 😀
“All I can read from your post is anger to the point that you are in disinforming and misinforming your unsuspecting readers again.
“promises nothing in life and everything in deathâ€
I am sure you can’t even explain that one in reference with Catholic faith or Catholicism itself”
Ok then, go pray for a million dollars, a good car, or a hot husband/wife instead of working to earn that million dollars, that good car, or that hot husband/wife while you’re alive and let me know when you get those through prayers.
Also, do me a favor as well, if they promise everything in death, go die so that you’ll have everything you wanted. Oh -wait-, suicide is a mortal sin so you’re going to hell. So I suggest start selling all your stuff, live like sh*t and keep praying your life will be better. Again let me know if anything good happens through prayers.
In the mean time, I’ll go work so I have food to eat, a roof over my head, clothes to wear and slowly earn that car I wanted to get. Oh probably impress a girl that I have means to satisfy us both.
@Lightzout
I was not the one who said “promises nothing in life and everything in deathâ€. That’s why I was asking benign0 to explain that one in reference with Catholic faith or Catholicism itself.
I didn’t mention anything about prayers so where did you get that idea?
About your personal matters and beliefs, you may go on with them and would I care?
What I care is when someone is deliberately dishonest.
“promises nothing in life and everything in deathâ€
go read Jesus’ life in the bible, heck I can refer one part where this rich kid asks Jesus how to be a true follower, this kid follows the commandments, obeyed his parents and all that was taught by Judaism. When Jesus said sell everything or leave all earthly possessions he has and follow him, what did the kid do? He cried, cause he couldn’t cause he was rich and very attached to his material possessions.
So in short, he promised nothing in life but everything in death. That’s one part referencing with the Catholic faith or Catholicism itself.
I really hate discussing religion anywhere but what I can’t stand is seeing a disconnect.
About something that has to do with “promises” that you are referring, first, there’s no quotation similar to that one in the bible.
If you want my interpretation of that one, it will be “no human being should suffer if there is really a divine God”.
@trosp, i believe that God gave us free will and a functioning brains, I don’t blame everything to HIM the sufferings and pain in this world. People has to be accountable of how they run their life and not treating God as their janitor service or their magic genie. And I could not expect God to bless a country like Philippines whose core values based on laziness, personal advantage, pretense and lies.
Trosp,
Here is the proof you are looking for:
@ Blade Runner
What you have shown was already scientifically debunked by Popular Mechanics and the ae911truth truthers have not come out with any convincing rebuttal.
http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/military/news/1227842
A snippet from Wiki –
“The community of specialists in structural mechanics and structural engineering generally supports the explanation of the collapse of the World Trade Center buildings provided by the investigation conducted by NIST.[28] The journal Popular Mechanics challenged the theories advocated by Architects & Engineers for 9/11 Truth and others in the special report “Debunking the 9/11 Myths”.[19]
Stuart Vyse, a psychology professor at Connecticut College, said of the controlled demolition theory advocated by Architects & Engineers for 9/11 Truth: “How many hundreds of people would you need to acquire the explosives, plant them in the buildings, arrange for the airplanes to crash […] and, perhaps most implausibly of all, never breathe a single word of this conspiracy?”[6]”
NIST is the National Institute of Standards and Technology in USA.
Mideo Cruz is the real Christian as it is written in Exodus 20:3-4 (NIV) “You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below.”
Funny how these bigots put great importance to these images as it is clearly written that it is a sin to do such. It is not even the faced of Christ for Christs sake, its the mere interpretation of Leonardo Da Vinci in his last supper painting that these images have been derived from. and the cross, ahhh the great electric chair of the Roman army, pati yan inaari din ng mga catholics as a holy symbol where in fact its a symbol of death… I am an atheist btw.
Yeah, these zealots behave and think in ways inconsistent even with their own dogma.
There are a lot of inconsistencies. I always wonder why these images of Christ are all the place when the Bible says so otherwise?
Its not even his real name. If you remember the movie passion of the christ, jesus christ was used in the sub title but in the spoken language its different. In reference with Acts 4:12 that Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other NAME under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.” Could names be translated Or translettered? You have been praying for WTF that doesnt even exist.
The Vatican looked the other way; while Adolf Hitler of Nazi Germany gassed and murdered millions of Jews. After the Nazis were defeated; the Vatican, with the help of the Archbishop of Milan, Italy; issued false passports to fleeing Nazis to South America. The late Argentinian Dictator Juan Peron; grew rich in Nazi loots, by giving refuge to these fleeing Nazis.
It is a paradox, for the Catholic Church, to use its efforts on a statue…They don’t even know how Jesus Christ looks like…there were many people, who were tortured and crucified, during the Roman era…Why not minister to those who are living around the garbage dumps? And do some soul searching in yourselves also?
@Hyden
Pope Pius XII was criticized for not issuing condemnation (for what he did not say) on the atrocities being committed by the Nazis during WWII.
How about on what he did?
A snippet from Jewish Virtual Library: http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/anti-semitism/piusdef1.html
“How to Manufacture a Legend: The Controversy over the Alleged Silence of Pope Pius XII in World War II
By Robert A. Graham, S.J.”
“The full truth of what was happening would become known only later. But enough was known to produce, on the Vatican’s side, innumerable interventions with governments still susceptible to admonitions. At the death of Pius XII, Jewish spokesmen, who knew the record, came forward with tributes to the late pontiff’s services in the name of humanity, for the victims of the Holocaust.”
(Read more of them on the link.)
It has been proven that the Vatican has nothing to do with the escape to Argentina of Nazi criminals.
From LA Times February 15, 1992|WILLIAM D. MONTALBANO | TIMES STAFF WRITER:
“During the German occupation of Rome, he said, some priests sheltered anti-fascists. After the war, “the situation was turned upside down. Some fascists, Nazis and their sympathizers were helped by priests or members of religious orders. But not by order of the Holy See,” Silvestrini said.”
Trosp, nice argument.
Isn’t it embarrassing when people talk more and think less, worse, post comments for everyone to see?
Read the book: “The Odessa File”…You will know how those Nazis on the run, escaped to South America, with the help of the Vatican, and the ArchBishop of Milan, Italy…
A Documentary from the History Channel, featured how: Klaus Barbie, the Butcher of Lyon, France; was helped in his escape to South America, thru a forged passport, issued by the Vatican, with the help of the ArchBishop of Milan, Italy…how did these Nazi criminals end up in South America? They did astral teleportation?
There was an Austrian Bishop in Vatican named Alois Hudal, aka Luigi Hudal, who was sympathetic to the Nazi cause; and helped, fleeing Nazi war criminals to South America. Pope Pius was also sympathetic to the Nazi cause, fearing the spread of communism. The Roman Catholich Church is not innocent in helping these Nazi war criminals…
@Hyden
Bishop Alois Hudal according to Wiki:
“Pope Pius XI and Eugenio Pacelli, both attempted first to change Hudal, but after several unsuccessful meetings, broke off all contacts. Hudal, in previous years a popular and influential guest in the Vatican, lived from 1938 on in de facto isolation in the Anima College (which position he was forced to abdicate in 1952). Hudal’s 1933 promotion to Bishop has been cited as evidence that he had close ties to members of the Roman Curia, particularly Cardinal Rafael Merry del Val (an ex-Secretary of State who died in 1930), and Cardinal Secretary of State Eugenio Pacelli, the future Pius XII who had previously been Papal Nuncio in Germany. His very close relation to these prelates and to Pope Pius XI stopped immediately after the publication of his book in 1937, which was interpreted as contradicting Mit brennender Sorge and the 1933 Reichskonkordat.”
Take note of the year when the Nazis were fleeing Germany.
As for Pope Pius, please cite your source.
Neo-Nazis in Germany…former SS Nazi officers…some Nazis still living in South America…
Pope Bendict XVI was a former Hitler Youth Member; and was a former Nazi soldier…Bavaria, Germany was where the Nazi party was started. Pope Benedict is from Bavaria, Germany…
Funny.I have heard this from a filipino-foreigner(He’s Italian-Filipino) friend:I am a Roman Catholic.I have been a stockholder of the Jesuit Education Corporate-conglomerate yet I had never withdrew any shares but neither do I like what they teach,preach and practice.I am my own person.I believe in Christian Fundamentalism and open to secular systems.Religious Extremism is dangerous.Communism and the International Banking Cartel are nothing but Zionist Machines to subjugate Islamic,Buddhist and Christian Gentiles.Roman Catholicism has issues and is in denial with their thorny relations with the Greek Catholics.The problem with Roman Catholics is that they forgot their Christian Fundamentalist or Basic Beliefs about The Word,The Divinity and the Trinity.I now say…..Pinoys are brainwashed by a Clerico-Fascist dictatorship managed and supervised by the Jesuit Mafia.Now if only I can withdraw my stocks so I can start my own religion este business….este organization.Whew!-That made me laugh so hard.
‘wag nyo naman siraan ang roman catholic dahil di lahat parehas, saka napalakas talaga ni Hitler noong mga panahon na yon…
Complete rubbish if i may say.
A country with 80% Catholic and the vatican can only give $150K for the victims?