Church-state separation and cooperation

Both the Constitution, the supreme law of the land, and the Bible, the rock of faith of the vast majority of Filipinos, ordain the separation of Church and state.

To begin with, our Constitution’s Preamble heralds that our nation is theist, not atheist or agnostic: “We, the sovereign Filipino people, imploring the aid of Almighty God…” While it recognizes the “elevating influence of religion” (Aglipay vs Ruiz, March 13, 1937), our Charter (Art. II, Sec. 6) mandates a wall of separation that is “inviolable.” The Bill of Rights reinforces this inviolability by barring the state from establishing a religion.

Otherwise stated, the state is neutral in the “competition,” as it were, among religious denominations. Hence, Congress cannot appropriate and the President cannot spend public funds to build a basilica for the exclusive use of one religious group.

It cannot subsidize or promote the dogmas or practices of another to the detriment of the rest, or pay the salaries of priests, pastors or imams for performing strictly religious duties.

Further, state officials cannot condemn a religious belief for alleged heresy, falsity or stupidity. Neither can they impose their own religious tenets nor attack, ridicule or belittle those of others.

On the other hand, the biblical mandate for separation is partly found in Jesus’ answer to these questions of the Pharisees, “Is it lawful to pay the census tax to Caesar or not? Should we pay or should we not pay?”

Pointing to the Roman emperor’s portrait on the denarius (or coin), the Lord responded rhetorically, “Whose image and inscription is this?” With the Pharisees’ admission that it was Caesar’s, He chided them, “Repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God.”

The original Greek of this reply is also translated to “Render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s,” to show a more forceful command to separate the secular from the spiritual.

As the only Filipino appointed by the late Pope (now Saint) John Paul II to the Vatican-based Pontifical Council for the Laity for the 1996 to 2002 term, may I humbly say that, based partly on this biblical quote, the general policy of the Church is to avoid confronting the state on political issues, and to intervene only in matters relating to faith and morals.

This is why the Church faced a painful dilemma during the 2001 Edsa People Power Revolution that toppled President Joseph Estrada. The details deserve another column. Suffice it to say for now that the dilemma nearly split the Catholic hierarchy.

This hands-off policy endures till now. Consequently, many prelates refrain from publicly commenting on purely secular matters like economics, monetary policies, public works, etc.

However, on matters involving the sanctity of life, marriage, family and other sacraments of faith, the prelates speak out and defend the Church’s teachings. Of course, the laypeople, as citizens, are not bound by this wall of separation.

Given this background, several bishops and lay leaders — Catholic, Evangelical, Protestant and others — remonstrated at the recent attack labeling “their” God “stupid,” denouncing it as an unmitigated affront and outrageous blasphemy.

Unless handled properly, this confrontation will escalate and needlessly divide the nation. To avoid this faceoff, a good start is to heed the advice of Luis Antonio G. Cardinal Tagle to “be calm” and not be “distracted from addressing other pressing concerns with the fervor of faith and love.”

Amid the Cardinal’s call for sobriety, let us cross the wall of separation and focus on what unites us to “build, build, build” roads, bridges and ports; secure “jobs, jobs, jobs” for the tambays and the unemployed; provide “food, food, food” for the hungry; and “help, help, help” the impoverished.

Moreover, let us avoid the divisive “kill, kill, kill” of poor addicts and loiterers while we “chase, chase, chase” the rich drug lords, and end the “curse, curse, curse” of God, Allah and Yahweh.

Yes, let us unite and cooperate to eliminate poverty; fight corruption and criminality; foster education, health and well-being; and safeguard liberty, prosperity and the rule of law.

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