Religion equals neither ‘Goodness’ nor ‘Evil’

This is in reaction to Edwin de Leon’s commentary titled “Is a secular ‘church’ inevitable?” (Opinion, 3/25/15).

I humbly write as a believer in Christ, without any intent of critical response to De Leon’s article. I write more out of the desire to share my own reasons for believing in God, as it may provide contrast to De Leon’s conclusions that faith in God is the “most anachronistic of all human inventions,” a “predilection important for human survival at a time when a God was the only source of comfort and answers”; and that “science and technology are slowly replacing superstition” with “the rise of meditation and ‘mindfulness’ (being) testimony to the demise of prayers.”

In most cases, I agree with De Leon’s observations: “[T]he homily, a potential game changer, is stale, out of touch and medieval in content”; and “the people are tired of lousy homilies that ramble in inanities that begin and never end, and never end because they should never have begun.” He added, “people are tired of sectarian violence brought about by divisiveness and intolerance which begin with religion”—which I also find to have basis.

Our own performance in the area of religion, nevertheless, does not necessarily cancel out the argument that God exists. In the same line, some people’s “mindlessness” about their beliefs, which may lead to superstitious practices, will not cancel out the great minds of faith like C.S. Lewis and Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, whose works I read and take comfort in as I try to grapple with this very difficult reality of the invisible God. There are many other outstanding believers from times past, and I allude to Lewis and Chardin only as my personal reference.

The existence of evil, including sectarian conflicts, is something we can inherently understand if only we muster the courage to be honest to ourselves. It is within us, and this is equally difficult to intellectually grapple with—as the invisible God. The invisible self, as I would put it, is someone we can confront if we would like to. And if we are able to see him or her, face to face, we can manage to humble ourselves—although with utmost difficulty, I must admit.

There are many reasons why one might be led to believe that there is God. The most pressing for me is the undeniable reality, which I am pressed to face every day, that there is indeed Good and Evil. There is such a thing as The Truth. Despite my attempts at making alibis, thanking God at a decreasing rate as I age, this reality has been so pervasive and no amount of relativistic thinking in me and out of me changes the equation or the recipe for a full life.

The jargon about “free will” and “freedom” is true only in terms of the exercise of the action itself but not of the consequence. What complicates the exercise of choice is the presence of two standards or dimensions, that of the world and that of the invisible God. What is highly esteemed by the world is detestable to God. What is considered foolishness and weak by the world could be precious to God. This is the whole “crisis of being” imposed on us by the Christ and by His Cross.

The statistics shared by De Leon—about atheistic nations outnumbering religious nations percentage-wise, among the happiest, most peaceful, richest and least corrupt territories in the world—need to be handled with more granularity. Religion does not equal Goodness. But prosperity neither equals Goodness. Neither does “peace” equals Goodness as the cost that it took to achieve that peace and the quality of the peace achieved require closer scrutiny. Remember that these nations have the most restrictive immigration policies and they guard their way of life with full force. And remember what it took for them to achieve their wealth and their level of sophistication, which makes corruption beneath them, a thing for the underdeveloped and uneducated “bastards” of the earth.

Given that religion does not equal Goodness, neither should it be equated with Evil when confronted with the absence of peace and of prosperity. Evil has many faces, and can be cloaked in sheep’s clothing.

As Saint Paul postured, both in times of abundance and in times of dire need, he adopts an attitude of thanksgiving—although increased patience is required in times of want and increased humility in times of excess. There is no other way. Outside of this position of obedience is a path to destruction from the vantage of the unbendable definition of what is GOOD.

This is not a statement of “spiritual intimidation” but a statement of hope and faith that God exists and that God is just.

Ma. Luna E. Cacanando is a senior officer in a government-owned and -controlled corporation.