Of Religion and the RH Bill

I was watching the last two episodes of the series “The Tudors”. There was a scene wherein Bishop Stephen Gardiner presented a warrant of arrest to Lady Hartford, accusing her of heresy. A person would be considered a heretic if you believed in something that strayed even the slightest bit away from the Catholic faith.

But I digress. Lady Hartford told the Bishop that the warrant will never be served because she knows his secret. The secret had something to do with the Bishop embezzling land and money from King Henry VIII, a crime that the Bishop would certainly be punished for. This specific crime was also true of Cardinal Wolsey, former Lord Chancellor to the same King. These two put a lot of “heretics” to torture or death or anyone they thought had to be removed. They were ruthless. They would sometimes advise King Henry about something that would serve personal interests. And they were supposed to be pious men.

And it occurred to me. I am sure that the Wolsey and Gardiner are just two of the priests of the Catholic persuasion during the Renaissance who had the King’s ear. Surely, with plenty of other kings and plenty of other Bishops and Cardinals who advise these kings on matters of trivia and utmost importance, they would have enjoyed certain benefits/advantages from the kings they serve. My point? These guys are wealthy, either secretly or openly. Their wealth may have been either passed on to family members, if they had them, or returned to the state for whatever reason. And I know that kings at the time may have offered pieces of land to the Pope as well.

By the time I finished with the two episodes, I decided I was done with the Catholic faith and that I am almost disgusted with it because of some people who ran and are currently running it. My decision did not come from just two episodes of The Tudors. It didn’t come from four seasons of the series. The feeling of disgust comes from news all over the world, especially those coming from our country, about priests having sexual relations with women and/or children. They’re priests, for heaven’s sake. They shouldn’t be perverting themselves.

My distaste comes from observation of them feeling high and mighty, feeling the need to meddle with the affairs of the state when there is a SEPARATION between the church and the State.

Yes, I understand that we cannot forget our morality but is it also possible that our so-called “morality” is keeping us from progressing because of old-school views on important issues?

So I think that the CBCP (Catholic Bishop Conference of the Philippines) should just butt out of the Reproductive Health Bill.

From what I understand, the Catholic leadership here in the Philippines are against the following:

• Pre-marital sex
• Extra-marital sex
• Gay sex
• Solo sex
• Porn
• Sex with unnatural family planning (condoms, IUD, etc)
• Vasectomy
• Ligation
• Sex for fun
• Sex not intending to procreate

Okay. So I’m with them on the first three. Yes, while I have gay friends, I still think that sex should be between a physiological man and a physiological woman. The others are just plain ridiculous.

I think family planning using the “rhythm method” aka “natural family planning” is just plain unreliable. A woman who has an irregular menstrual cycle cannot determine when she’ll be fertile or not.

My stand is this: Every one should have a choice. A married couple should be able to enjoy sex for fun. And since the reality is a lot of people are engaging in pre-marital sex, condoms should be accessible to prevent sexual diseases, not only pregnancies.

Taking it to another level, I am even pro-abortion only in the following cases:

• If continued pregnancy will harm the child and eventually the mother
• Rape survivors should be able to have a choice and not be condemned for it. If they decide to keep the child, fine and good. If they decide that they don’t want a reminder from the painful and humiliating experience, they should be able to do it PROVIDED that the crime is well-documented (police blotter at the very least).

And this is what I have to say about the current events that we have here.