Delaying the RH Bill:  It’s not the politics, it’s the religion, stupid

Lately, it’s been fashionable for some politicians to anoint themselves as divine messengers against the Reproductive Health (RH) Bill.  

the number of offspring to two)" while Senator Tito Sotto has convinced himself that opposing the RH Bill is his religious mission.

Not to be outdone, Palawan Representative Dennis Socrates and Parañaque Representative Roilo Golez, being true to their version of Catholicism, took upon themselves the task of derailing the opening of the bill to amendments. And to cap it all, Cagayan de Oro Representative Rufus Rodriguez blustered with an apocalyptic “’til kingdom come” swagger to stall the bill’s passage in Congress. What a revelation!  Their heavenly supreme being must have been very desperate to appoint these politicos-turned-divine messengers in order to delay the bill. Do we really trust these characters to have the political imagination to take us out of the muck of religious fundamentalism, if not, extremism?  Do they possess the moral purchase to lead us to a truly democratic future?   I doubt it. Unfortunately, excessive notions such as these grab our attention because of our pervasive religious upbringing. But at some point we are likely to ask ourselves why these self-proclaimed sycophants exert considerable effort to block the passage of the inevitable RH Bill---and to what end? Is it because they really believe what they say, or say what they believe?   I am not sure. In a country with a disquieting tinge of de facto theocracy, honesty on the RH issue becomes increasingly suspect.  More so, when its minions unceasingly ram man-made dogmas into the affairs of the state down our throats. I have already heard enough of these anti-RH arguments to conclude that many of the expounders’ comments are willfully misleading and absurd. In fact, there is something fundamentally sinister when religion trumps all other issues, particularly democratic and scientific ones. I just hope that our country will not end up a tragic spectacle in these critical times when the RH Bill is crucial to the preservation of our democratic principles. That is why in expressing my stance on the Reproductive Health (RH) Bill, I’d like to paraphrase former President Bill Clinton’s campaign bumper sticker “it’s the economy, stupid” into “it’s the religion, stupid!”  

How can they not be when many of them panic at the thought of a political backlash from the Catholic Bishop Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) if they support the RH Bill? How can they not be when they retrogress our democratic state by legalizing medieval religious ideas rather than promoting the RH Bill as a necessary step to break our way into the light of advancement in education, medical, and clinical technology on reproductive health? How can they not be when they trifle with women’s rights like absolutist patriarchs and prevent them from having a say in the matter? How can they not be when religious thinking is no longer a source of real expertise on issues like population control, alleviation of environmental problems, employment, family planning, women’s rights, and health care? In short, how can one stop the inevitability of social change? If many think that supporting the RH Bill is a matter of schmooze or lose for these religious drones, I don’t blame them. I am just glad that unlike the Jihadists, they have not declared their mission, a holy war.