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Most
Filipino Neo-Atheist would
like you to believe that there is some nefarious religious plot at work (LOL),
calling some running Partylist as Religious Extremist by presenting
baseless ground such as (a) Anti-abortion was based purely on religious
ground;(b) Atheism and pro-life activism are incompatible and not adhere
to the common belief of secular society etc.
Anti-Abortion based on purely religious ground?
(Point
A) The 1987 Philippine Constitution, written over two decades ago, states that:
ARTICLE II
DECLARATION OF PRINCIPLES AND STATE
POLICIES:
xxx Section 12. The State recognizes
the sanctity of family life and shall protect and strengthen the family as a
basic autonomous social institution. It shall equally protect the life of
the mother and the life of the
unborn from conception. The natural and primary right
and duty of parents in the rearing of the youth for civic efficiency and the
development of moral character shall receive the support of the Government.
Do
you see a religious appeal anywhere in here?
(Point
B) The anti-Abortion premise:
(major premise) A fetus is a human
being;
(minor premise) all human beings are
entitled to human rights;
(conclusion) therefore fetuses are entitled
to human rights
The
first premise is scientific and the second is legal.
The
scientific premise is that the life of the individual member of every animal
species begins at conceptiona. The legal premise is that the law
must protect the most basic human rights.1
Not
once in this argument have I appealed to the Catholic Bible or the Qur’an;
nowhere have the words God or soul appeared, correct?
We
can easily deduct that an anti-abortion position is not dependent upon adhering
to a specific religion (or to principles of any religious beliefs), this is
based solely on social issues not just the church’s suggestion, it is done
absent of religious arguments per se!
Clearly,
both pillars of the Pro-life thesis that abortion (including the abortifacient contraceptive pills that
RH bill is pushing) should be illegal are thus vindicated solely on the
authority of Science and the Constitution.
Anti-Abortion is synonymous to
Theism?
This is just a
Catholic issue; Atheism and Pro-life activism are incompatible!
Presenting
the “We-want-to-be-everything-you’re-not!-attitude” of
Filipino Neo-Atheists (LOL)
Many
people think that opposition to abortion is a sole religious stance as observed by Ms. Reed. Seeing
"Pro-life" and "Catholic Church" as
synonymous and exclusive. [or “Pro-life movement” being seen as a religious
agenda].
The
question is, is someone who doesn’t believe in God would subsequently have no
problem with the killing of an unborn child? Not to all! Is there really such a
thing as a pro-life Atheist? Absolutely YES!
Welcome to SecularProLife.org. The pro-life movement is
expanding beyond the cathedral walls and we want you to be a part of history.
[…] who are eager to save lives and fight the media portrayal of pro-lifers as
"religious extremists." http://secularprolife.org/
Secular
Pro-Life — is a nontheistic
anti-abortion group. According to the organization’s website, their mission is
to expand the pro-life movement “beyond the cathedral walls”, “eager to save
lives” and “to fight the media portrayal of pro-lifers as religious
extremists.” They declare themselves “pro-life for a reason”.
They
are but one of a number of pro-life Atheist organizations such as:
Atheist and Agnostics Pro-Life
League, Americans United For Life, Susan B. Anthony List, Created4Life, http://www.godlessprolifers.org/home.html and National Right to Life Committee that
consider themselves secular-minded. Arguing against abortion goes beyond the
policies or teachings of any religious text. For them, it is not an issue
restricted only to the religious but rather an issue concerning human rights
and therefore defies the labels of religion, political affiliation, race,
gender, sexual orientation, and so on.
Here’s
a list of Profess Atheist but holding same position with the Catholic Church on Dignity of Human Life:
Surely,
pro-life belief is not esoteric to any single religion, thus it could be that the “Ang Pro-life Partylist” is representing
not only the theistic marginalized and under-represented sector of the society but also those [Filipino] (like above-cited groups) who has a
“Secular stands”.
Ignorance of the law really excuses
no one!
The
crux of the matter.
The Catholic Bishop’s Conference of the
Philippines re-post the “Ang Pro-Life Partylist” declaration on their official website but our Filipino Neo-Atheist friend accuse Katoliban (I don’t know which group
he was referring to (LOL)) for being ignorant to the law by citing
Comelec Rules on Partylist:
The Comelec may, motu proprio or upon
verified complaint of any interested party, remove or cancel after due notice
and hearing, the registration of any national, regional or sectoral party,
organization or coalition on any of the following grounds:
[a] It is a religious sect or
denomination, organization or association organized for religious purposes;
To
make it clear, the 1986 Philippine Constitution provides:
[2] The party-list representatives
shall constitute twenty per centum of the total number of representatives
including those under the party-list. For three consecutive terms after the
ratification of this Constitution, one-half of the seats allocated to
party-list representatives shall be filled, as provided by law, by selection or
election from the labor, peasant, urban poor, indigenous cultural communities,
women, youth, and such other sectors as may be provided by law, except the religious sector; Article
VI, Section 5.2
Let
me cite the Supreme Court decision on the petition for disqualification filed
against Ang Buhay Hayaang Yumabong,
a party-list group backed by El Shaddai
- a Catholic charismatic movement:
[I]n view of the objections directed
against the registration of Ang Buhay Hayaang Yumabong, which is allegedly a
religious group, the Court notes the express constitutional provision that the
religious sector may not be represented in the party-list system. The
extent of the constitutional proscription is demonstrated by the following
discussion during the deliberations of the Constitutional Commission:
“MR. OPLE. x
x x
In the event that a certain religious sect
with nationwide and even international networks of members and supporters, in
order to circumvent this prohibition, decides to form its own political party
in emulation of those parties I had mentioned earlier as deriving their
inspiration and philosophies from well-established religious faiths, will that
also not fall within this prohibition?
MR. MONSOD. If the evidence shows
that the intention is to go around the prohibition, then certainly the Comelec
can pierce through the legal fiction.”
The following discussion is also pertinent:
“MR. VILLACORTA. When the
Commissioner proposed “EXCEPT RELIGIOUS GROUPS,” he is not, of course,
prohibiting priests, imams or pastors who may be elected by, say, the indigenous
community sector to represent their group.
REV. RIGOS. Not at all, but I am
objecting to anybody who represents the Iglesia ni Kristo, the Catholic Church,
the Protestant Church et cetera.”
Furthermore, the Constitution provides that “religious denominations
and sects shall not be registered.” The
prohibition was explained by a member of the Constitutional Commission in this
wise: “[T]he prohibition is on any religious organization registering as a
political party. I do not see any prohibition here against a priest
running as a candidate. That is not prohibited here; it is the
registration of a religious sect as a political party.”
In
short, the above-cited constitutional provision on the Party-List System
(Article VI, Section 5.2) cannot be faulted in its desire and design, that
the separation of Church and State prohibits the registration of religious
denominations and sects as political parties BUT the prohibition does not extend
to organizations with religious affiliations or to political parties which
derive their principles from religious beliefs.
So
I suggest if our Neo-atheist friends
who share the belief of Ms. Camille Paglia that abortion is murder, and that’s
okay (Using murder to improve your life isn’t necessarily a bad thing),
want their groups to have a representative at Lower house, go and register your
group but make sure that your platform is logically, legally and scientifically
sound that adhere to the boundary set by current Philippine Constitution which implore
the aid of Almighty God (and
not relying on “We-want-to-be-everything-you’re-not!-attitude”)
[Postscript: This article is not intended to show that the "Ang ProLife" Partylist is confined to the Anti-abortion platform and merely an "advocacy" group, rather this was written to rebut those who accuse anti-abortion position as an exclusive ultra-conservative idea of the Catholic Church]
[1] Mr. Peter Kreeft The apple argument against abortion
[a]
Scientific evidence on “When human life begins”
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