Church and Government
The 1987 Constitution of the Philippines declares the separation of Church and State shall be inviolable. [1]The separation of church and state is a metaphorical description for the distance in the relationship between organized religion and the nation state. It may refer to creating a secular state, with or without explicit reference to such separation, or to changing an existing relationship of church involvement in a state. [2]
Although the concept of separation has been adopted in a number of countries, there are varying degrees of separation depending on the applicable legal structures and prevalent views toward the proper relationship between religion and politics. While country’s policy may be to have a definite distinction in church and state, there may be an arm’s length distance relationship.
According to Oxford Dictionary, religion is the belief in and worship of a superhuman controlling power, especially a personal God or gods, particularly a system of faith and working, a pursuit of interest followed with devotion. [3] The right of a man to worship God in his own view is guaranteed by the Bill of Rights under Article III, Section 5 of the 1987 Constitution of the Philippines which states that: “No law shall be made respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof. The free exercise and enjoyment of religious profession and worship, without discrimination or preference, shall forever be allowed.No religious test shall be requires for the exercise of civil or political rights. [4] Restriction by any law in exercising this right is prohibited by the Constitution itself. There is no question regarding the freedom of choice in religion but the still you can observe in our country the power and influence of those religions with many believers. They are being used as well politically by our government.
Many of us wonder why there is a separation of church and state. Under this policy, the church does not interfere with the affairs of the state and vice-versa. What happens if the government favours a particular religion? Probably, they may become powerful and beneficial to the government and to those who are in the positions as well.
Here in the Philippines, the Catholic Church has always opposed in any bill that seeks to impose the death penalty and the like. In democratic country it is the people who decide what is best for their country and their preference is expressed in their constitution and statutes. [5] But what is really happening in our country is that the Church always intervene and most of the times our government considers. Which therefore is best for a country? Since the Philippines is a republic with a presidential form of government wherein power is equally divided among its three branches the executive, legislative, and judicial. [6] But reality bites they are not the major actors in some cases especially when the Church speaks up and intervenes.
The Church is not to interfere in purely political matters or temporal aspect of man’s life and the State will not interfere in matters purely of religion and morals. The term “Church” covers all faiths, the State shall have no official religion and the State cannot set up a church, whether or not supported with public. But this seems like not being observed in our Country, the Church is always has a lot to say and always been taking into consideration whenever our government has to do something for its people, and those with many believers becomes dominant and can even rule how our government needs to be run. By this kind of practice how can we say that our Church and State is inviolable?
[1] Philippine Constitution, Article II Sec. 6
[3] Oxford Dictionary
[4] Philippine Constitution, Article III Sec. 5
[5] Ugnayan, PhilStar, Emmanuel Dalman, August 26, 2012
[6] http://www.gov.ph
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