A Bus Ride Down South

Due to pressing needs, I had to cut class and attend to matters in the South. So I took a bus ride and it was the usual (Manila traffic, bus stops every now and then, etc). The same-same but when the bus arrived at Sucat; he just had to take the particular bus I was on. At first, I didn't notice him but when he stood up with a bible in hand; that raised a particular red flag in me.

Me: *facepalm*. (Not one of those guys again)

So he preached a particular verse (I think verses from Mark, Matthew, John and Luke are all the rage by road-side missionaries). I tuned out. Thankfully, even though he has a portable head-microphone; traffic was drowning his words. Of all the unlikely things I'll be thankful for: Manila Traffic. But, damn, these road-side missionaries are getting upgraded. It used to be that they had no head-microphone; anyway I digress.

I mean I can't throttle him because it's his right to say something even when its religious but I also have the right to not listen. Can they like preach somewhere else but I guess that's not possible in this country. Actually, I wanted him to speed up his preaching and get to the real reason why he boarded the bus.

Road-side missionary: "Ang pagbibigay ng LOVE OFFERING...(emphasis mine)"

I wasn't disappointed in that regard. And it was attached to the necessary phrase that giving these "love offerings" are pleasing for a god. Well, discarding for the fact that a god/goddess by definition is a supernatural entity (what would this entity have need of money for exactly?) and by what authority does this road-side missionary have in soliciting money from us passengers. How do we know exactly we are giving the money to the right god given the fact that there are many religions (and each religion has different sects)?

I'm not even going to make sense of these questions because quite frankly; I'm tired of making excuses for religion. It really takes mental gymnastics to accept tenets of faith.

Anyway, one reasonable and pragmatic cause I can think of why would anyone give these so-called "love offerings" is that they do good to those who need it. Well, it is true; there are Catholic charities in the world. I'm not going to deny that. But here's the thing: not everything Catholic is good.

I mean, can we honestly say there are no child-molesters in the Roman Catholic Church? This is easily verified by a quick Google search and ignorance of these matters are of no excuse. And how can we Filipinos forget how Catholic Spain literally and metaphorically fucked us.

That mestizo/mestiza(half-Spaniard/half-Filipino) friend you know is a product of an affair between a Spanish friar and a Filipina. So those scenes in Rizal's "Noli Me Tangere" (the affair of Padre Damaso with Pia Alba, Maria Clara's mother, and the rape scene between Padre Salvi and Maria Clara are coming from somewhere; well to be fair, Padre Salvi is a Filipino but still a friar). And need I mention polo y servicios and indulgenia plenaria?

So don't give to charity? Well, I am in no position to tell you what to do with your pesos. It's your pesos after all. Besides, I didn't say there was anything wrong with altruism.

MY PERSONAL VIEW: I won't give to the Catholic Church but that won't stop me from giving money to reputable charities (I used to give money to road-side beggars but a certain E. Rodriguez incident happened to me so I won't be doing that again. I'll tell that particular story one of these days).