Not A Christian Nation
Despite being very much Jesus Christ country, an honest inspection of the Philippine culture will reveal that behind the overwhelming dominance of Christianity as the main religion most notably the Roman Catholic Church, saying the Philippines is a Christian nation is wrong and a gross misrepresentation of the true nature of our nation’s religious diversity. Aside from the roughly 85% Christian population, about 5% of the population profess the Muslim faith while another 3% are Buddhists, mostly Chinese-Filipinos. Additionally, we have the small minorities of animists like the Aetas, the Sikhs, agnostics, and of course atheists. The constitution of the republic guarantees equal right and protection to these minorities. The Christian majority owe it to the religious minorities not to misrepresent our nation with the misplaced pride that our nation is the only Christian nation in Asia, because it’s not.
Popularity: 42% [?]
September 30th, 2007 at 7:48 pm
Although we are not a Christian nation, the movers-and-shakers of our country are mostly Christian. And so many of our laws and practices adhere to Christianity. That’s why I highly recommend the book, Letter to a Christian Nation by Sam Harris. I wrote a book review in my weblog about it and I posted it here: http://lestercavestany.com/2007/09/30/a-must-read-for-filipinos-letter-to-a-christian-nation-by-sam-harris/
I hope more Filipinos can read this book as it gives Christian believers a thorough reality check.