Think

The church’s power over the government is undeniably strong and can never be ignored. The church still dictates the government, although not directly but its stance, opinions and standing matters.

The pending Reproductive Health (RH) bill in the chamber of Congress, challenges the ties between the government and the Catholic Church. The new president expresses support for the right to contraception but the powerful church is against it.

According to the Catholic Church, the contraception is against the law of God. They argued that it is a type of abortion which is banned by the Philippine Constitution. In contrary, the Philippine law is generally considered to protect a couple’s right to use birth control.

The government believes that through this bill, the ballooning population of the country will be controlled. In one of the news in yahoo said,’ Supporters of contraception have argued that rapid population growth and high fertility rate have exacerbated crushing poverty, and the birth control could be a powerful way to raise living standards’.

In one of the interviews of the president while he is the United States, he suggested that his administration would be very willing to distribute contraceptive to poor couple who couldn’t afford it. This stance angered the Philippine Catholic Church officials.

One of the members of congress said in a press conference, “The Church can always protest; that is the right of the Church. But the people have already spoken that they are in favor of the RH bill. Let the Church take care of saving our souls but let the State pursue unhampered a policy of saving lives”.

He also added, “Neither the Church nor the State can compel the people or the faithful to use a particular form of family planning method. It is the option; it’s the decision of the couple particularly the women who bear the brunt of pregnancy and childbirth. So I think the Church should understand that freedom of informed choice. No one is being compelled.”

Filipinos are generally Christians and the voice of the church is important for them. These differences between the government and the church on the issue of contraception will measure the influence of each institution to the public.

In our generation today and with the population that rise up in very second, the methods endorsed by the church can never guarantee that it will help control one of the biggest problems of the country.

With the hope that it will reduce the high fertility rate, the pending RH bill is mainly and the only effective bullet needed of our country today, to address the population problem that is considered to be the main contributor of the lowering living standards of Filipinos.

Let’s us be wise this time. It is not our faith that is in question in this matter, it is our conscience. Are we willing to sacrifice the lives of millions that are now in slums and suffering, just to favor a teaching that has been written thousands of years ago? It’s not that I’m questioning the teaching of God, but I’m just being realistic enough. I think it is no longer applicable in our generation; that teaching was preached when the world was still young and the people can still be counted through our fingers.

Let us not be selfish. Let us not just think of our own. It’s time to think about the people, our people; Filipinos.