Politics and Divinity

 The battle between good and the evil is somewhat as old as the battle between separation of the Church and the State, I being exaggerated. These two groups run the society itself and their influence greatly affects the lives of the people. While the laws of religion bind the church, the government is bound to the laws of the land. Each having own rules tends to clash having been situated in one society.

None other than the Constitution grants the freedom of religion to every citizen of the State. As a constitutional right, the government respects the discretion of every person in associating himself in the society where he lives in. In due respect to this right, the judiciary gives relief to those citizens whose right to freedom of religion has been infringed by the State.

In Estrada v. Escritor, the Court has upheld the Right to Freedom of religion.  In the case, a woman’s morality has been challenged because of her relationship with another man while both of them are still legally married. The petitioners assailed that their religion granted them a valid marital relationship with respect to their legal impediments as set by the laws. The Court said that the law recognizes actions, which are in accordance to religious beliefs and held that the conjugal agreement between the plaintiffs is valid.

The strict scrutiny test is a test whether the State has intruded to the right of freedom of religion requires such compelling state interest in order for the State to have a valid intrusion on the right to freedom of religion. Even if granted a constitutional safeguard, the right is not exempted from political processes. As Justice Scalia once said and feared that if anyone with a religious objection to a law could simply refuse to obey it and demand an exemption as a constitutional right; the result would be anarchy. In the Philippines that is a religiously plural society, every legislation without differentiation of purpose could potentially burden the religious interests of some faith. The Court provides a relief to clashing interests and give everyone a chance to be heard so as to protect each constitutional right and to uphold the laws of the land.