Look before you leap

Monsignor Juanito Figura said if a law or state policy is against Christian teachings, the Catholics are not bound by conscience to obey. Is he advocating anarchy against his elected government? A government that is responsible to all people, not only Catholics. A Bishop said “civil disobedience remained an option if the Aquino administration pushed for the distribution of artificial contraceptives to COUPLES WHO WANT THEM”. Are they saying they won’t allow their brethren to follow their own conscience, follow what they believe God has told them in their prayers? What about couples that aren’t Catholic, like the some 18 percent of Filipinos? Are they to be denied what they want, and to which they have a right to?

The reproductive health bill, if it is enacted, doesn’t demand you use artificial contraceptives, it just tells you all about them. There’s no coercion of any kind involved. The only coercion is by him and others in the Church that is trying to force their beliefs on all of us. The Church is acting against everything it stands for on this issue. People have a right to knowledge. They need to know the evils of the devil, so they can avoid joining him. They need to know the “evils” of artificial contraception so they can afford going there.

People have an inherent right to know their options that no Church may take away. Life may be God’s gift, but God gave man the intelligence to decide if he wanted to bring life into this world or not, and gave us the intelligence to only want to do so if we could assure our children of a healthy, decent, productive life. Not 5 years of scrambling for an existence then dying of malnutrition or disease.

The Philippines where contraceptives are banned by the Church has 32 deaths of children under five per 1,000 births. Australia has 6. I consider the bishops responsible for those 26 deaths.

Pope Benedict apparently said, “What was true yesterday is still true today”. He’s quite correct. The problem is the Church didn’t know the truth yesterday. None of us did, but little by little science is uncovering the truth for us. They burnt “heretics” at the stake for claiming the earth revolved around the sun. Scientific research discovered that the earth was not static, for almost 300 years the Church refused to accept it; the Church finally, belatedly admitted its mistake.

It will equally belatedly be forced to admit life indeed doesn’t start until a couple of days after the ovum has attached to the womb. So contraceptives are not abortifacents. That’s the truth. I’m sorry, but I object strongly to a body that forces its will on anybody. By all means persuade them, enlighten them as they see it, inform them of the dire consequences for their afterlife then it’s up to them to decide. I think God is merciful and understanding.

The world today is a far, far different place than when Christ was teaching. We have learnt much, we have discovered unknowns of then and should change our views based on that new knowledge. –Peter Wallace, Manila Standard Today