I am an atheist, but i have a certain respect for religions as (1) carriers of of culture of humanity for thousands of years, some elements of which can still provide inspiration, (2) medium of solidarity for people that must work together to achieve something to improve their lives.

In the Philippines, parish priests were instrumental in setting up cooperatives that helped people acquire their needs, in getting people involved in civic issues including the fight for human rights, and many other positive undertakings. Catholicism as a common religion served to unify people to work together as communities.

Catholicism, however, is also a reactionary force in the Philippines, the Catholic Church exert a great deal of moral influence on a huge number if not most Filipinos. That is why politicians are still reluctant to openly challenge the church position on reproductive rights, specifically, the Church opposition to making safe contraception affordable and accessible. The Catholic Church justifies its position on the issue not just on doctrinal or religious grounds, but also by claiming that poverty is caused not by rapid population growth but by the inequitable distribution of assets and resources. It may or may not be the case that the population is growing faster than the ability of the economy to provide. It is definitely the case that there is severe social injustice in the Philippines (formally a democracy, in reality an oligarchy). The point, however, is that the individual rights of Filipinos to choose to have children or not or to plan their family size using the contraceptive methods legally available elsewhere ought to be recognized by the government. Religion in general is the single most important obstacle to the realization of individual freedom in this regard.

There is no freedom when majority of Filipinos who are Christians can willingly choose not to use artificial methods to control their fertilily yet the choice to use methods not sanctioned by the Church is denied to even just a tiny minority. However, the reality is that more and more Filipino men and women who are demanding recognition of their reproductive rights.

We can leave the philosophical fight on theism vs. atheism to college students. There is a real political battle out here that we must win!

erikvillanueva@yahoo.com