Separation: guidelines and endorsements

THE RECENT exchange of press releases between President-elect Rodrigo Duterte and some Catholic bishops have once more brought to the fore the age-old controversies on the separation of church and state.

When the bishops outlined several guidelines indicating the kind of character and values that, they said, Catholics should look for in a candidate they should vote, many people considered that as interference by the Church. If that was interference, how about other religious groups requiring their members to vote for specific candidates?

This is even done openly, complete with press releases. It is open knowledge that in exchange for the support, certain concessions on appointments are presumed.

What if the Catholic Church will openly endorse a candidate? We can just imagine the uproar.

—GWEN SUCALDITO, Sampaloc, Manila