Church 'has silenced women's rights debate'

This statement: "The church's catechism opposing the Reproductive Health Bill, which is now before Congress, has silenced election candidates on women's rights, a leading advocate of the proposed law says" illustrates that this post is wrong. Who is "silenced?" Not Alberto Romualdez.

What I'm not hearing is Mr. Romualdez engaging the bishop's position as stated in the "Catechism on Family and Life." Disliking the bishop's teaching does not constitute engagement with it.

Since when do women have a "right" to kill their daughters (and sons) in the womb???

That's not a "right"--it's a "wrong".

Since when is it "religious extremism" to try to save innocent lives?

Another reason we need to see taxation of any and all religious organization who cross over into the political process. This is why so many Catholics worldwide see the current leadership of the Catholic Church in Rome and in many parts of the world as either a right wing front organization or in the case of the Catholic Church hierarchy in America, an arm of the Republican Party. They should no longer have the privileges of tax exempt status. It is an unfair advantage that hurts the democratic process the same way Corporations have too much power and subvert the democratic process. This is nothing more than fascism. It must be stopped. I see signs that the working and the middle class is starting to realize this. There is hope.

Whether an interference by a religious body in civil and political affairs is unconstitutional or not, what really matters is what the situation calls for in the name of God's glory and man's total human development or salvation. Besides, the Lord Christ has taught "sabbath is made for man, not man for sabbath," and a saint of the Roman Catholic Church said "the glory of God is man fully alive." What everyone in every sector of the society should be concerned with first is the protection and preservation of any existing human life and the respect to human dignity. Other common concerns only take the subsequent priorities. I strongly believe that the strong influence of the likes of the Roman Catholic hierarchy should rather be exerted first and most intensely on the call and efforts to stop the atrocities, human rights violations and extra-judicial killings perpetrated by the AFP-PNP tandem and its cohorts to serve certain vested personal interests. It is if they are really "pro-life," isn't it? As long as they remain "biased" or indifferent to these proven consistent well-meaning oppositionist groups of altruistic individuals, (sorry to say) they are rather part of the problem, an obstacle even to man's salvation which is the total human development of the majority of the people. Do they want to mix with and "evangelize" only to those with whom they feel safe and comfortable? But they have the Holy Spirit with them.

just testing

Oh this is bishop-Church blatantly meddling in partisan politics. Bad example. Does this mean to say that any priest, any bishop may now publicly announce his anointed candidate and come out campaigning for him without episcopal or Vatican censure? Will not the Pope and the Vatican and the entire CBCP condemn these partisan acts since bishops on account of their role as shepherds for and of unity have gone beyond their mandate?

Hmmm it's possible Vatican or the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines is keeping mum about the partisan choice since the Kapatiran Party is opposed to the Reproductive Health Bill. It's all about sex again which makes celibates more excited than issues of land reform or social justice or oligarchic control or patronage politics or crowded population in depressed urban areas. Come to think of it no bishop before in the annals of Philippine politics has come out in full support of a political candidate except towards the end of martial rule - which was an exceptional situation.

I'm curious though: didn't the two bishops Argueles and Navarra pray hard real hard to the Spirit for enlightenment before deciding to engage in partisan politics? So how could a brother bishop refer to their partisan political option as "pastorally imprudent?" Or what if after days and days and nights and nights of praying some bishops will also opt to come out in the open to support and campaign for their anointed candidates like Ninoy or Erap or Gibo or Villar? Will this be "pastorally imprudent" as well?

"reproductive health and rights" =mass murder of innocent life. It sounds very familiar to what the Nazis did. I guess we could call their plan "racial health and rights."

All of this is not unlike what is happening right here in the USA under the rule of the conflation of the Republican party, the Catholic Church and Scalia and his minions on the SCOTUS. And yet Jesus warned us NOT to merge church and state. Our beloved US Constitution says the very same thing. And yet our church is, since John Paul II, and still continuing today on. So it seems that Holy Mother Church is being run by moral relativists who do what they want despite the laws of God(Ten Commandments) and the teachings of Jesus Christ. This conflation with the Republicans just about guarantees they will because they have all of the money and all of the power, but they will lose their souls to Satan.

The same religious extremists controlling the Philippines are also controlling the USA. Both countries and the entire world may pay a heavy price for their domination of the rest of us who are all but helpless to stop them and gain a small measure of control over our lives.

The latest step in their domination of the powerless ordinary everyday person if the SCOTUS (Scalia, Roberts) ruling that will allow corporations in America to give unlimited amounts of money to elect their candidates, which will of course all be Republicans. They say that labor unions will be able to do the same thing. But thats NOT true because corporations outspend unions by 10-15 times.

Watch it happen!

Scalia called for the end of democracy in the USA in a speech of May, 2000. And then he got Bush-Cheney elected. That's some smart but highly immoral and corrupt lawyer. This latest SCOTUS legislation will guarantee the warping of America into a Fascist theocracy run by the corporations and the pope. Will something similar happen in the Philippines?

Another example of the church and the politicians not listening to the voices of the people who are oppressed by the inability to plan their family size according to their means. Man does not live by rice alone, he needs condoms too.