I have often wondered if Christianity is for Filipinos. Many of us have watched spellbound as Cardinals all over the globe convened in Rome to elect a new Pope. In Rome! All because Catholicism began in the Empire of Rome. So, in effect, Catholicism is a Western religion embraced by Eastern people.
It’s no different with Evangelical Christianity. We have streams of foreign (more often than not, American) preachers descending on our land to preach, again, a Westernized spiritual concept. Then watch as Filipino pastors begin to preach like their American counterparts complete with American idioms and twang.
Many Filipinos like to boast that we are the only Christian nation in Asia. Actually this is an embarassment. To look at it in another way, we are the only nation without an Asian spirituality. Yet we are one of the most corrupt and violent countries in the world. Go figure.
I wonder if there’s any book or reading material on how our forebears worshipped. We might learn a few things about our spirituality and maybe even about ourselves.
Perhaps Christians would dispute me and claim that Christianity is the only way to God. Well, I won’t try to argue a thoroughly subjective subject. But I’ll say this: When we look around us and see our corrupt officials, discombobulated traffic, hypocritical church leaders and half-hearted parishioners, do we see a fulfillment of religion or a lack of it?
