Religion
It would be a serious
understatement to say that most Filipinos are Catholic. That would be like
calling the atomic bomb a firecracker.
Filipinos are, by and large,
VERY Catholic. In fact, the first thing the Spanish did when they landed in the
islands four centuries ago was to start educating the pagans they found there
about the merits of Christianity, Catholic style. It was an education that
lasted from around the year 1565 to 1899, when the United States drove the
Spanish from the Philippines. A popular expression goes that the Philippines
spent “300 years in the Convent”, and that’s not far from the truth.
As a result, the Philippines
is the third largest Catholic nation in the world, behind the United States and
Brazil. Images of the Virgin Mary and Jesus are absolutely everywhere in the
Philippines. Crucifixes and rosaries abound. Most homes have at least a shelf,
if not a full-blown shrine, dedicated to the Virgin and Child. It is usually
adorned with small figurines, weathered palm leaves, vials of holy water, or
other religious memorabilia. Church attendance is unquestioned and frequent,
especially among females. In Pampanga, during Holy Week, flagellants whip
themselves in the streets and a few even get nailed to a cross, reenacting the
tribulations of Christ. Visions of the Virgin Mary are widespread and stories
of miracles are widely circulated and rarely questioned. Divorce is illegal,
largely because the Catholic Church is opposed to it.
You get the idea. Don’t jump
to any conclusions just yet, though. In the Philippines, many things are more
complicated than they appear. Here are some things you might want to know...
If you’re not Catholic, you
might think that you’re automatically disqualified from consideration as a
potential mate for a Filipina. Not true. Most Filipinas are quite amenable to
non-Catholic men. It helps tremendously, though, if you’re Christian, or as
most Filipinas put it, “God Fearing”. As an example, I’m not Catholic, but
that’s never been an issue in my marriage. If you’re not Christian, or perhaps
not religious at all, you’ll probably have a harder time finding an admiring
Filipina, though if you express respect for the lady’s beliefs, that will go a
long way toward her acceptance of you.
Not all Filipinas are
Catholic, of course. In fact, the percentage is around 85%, which means that
there are still tens of thousands of Filipinas who are not Catholic. The other
15% is composed largely of, and Muslims.
Many Filipino Protestants
worship in small churches that are united under an umbrella organization called
the National Council of Churches in the Philippines (NCCP). This includes,
notably, former President Fidel Ramos. Protestantism has existed in the
Philippines for only a short period, roughly a century, and consequently has
vastly fewer converts than Catholicism. At the conclusion of the
Spanish-American War in 1899, American Presbyterian and Methodist missionaries
began to trickle into the islands, but found limited success among the diehard
Catholic population in the lowlands. Conversion in the highlands, where
Catholicism had not yet taken root, was considerably easier.
Today, you’ll find a sampling
of almost all Protestant denominations in the Philippines, to include
Methodists, Baptists, Church of God, etc. There are also a few indigenous
Protestant movements that you may not be aware of.
Consider, for example, the
“Iglesia ni Kristo”, literally translated as “Church of Christ” - though it’s
not affiliated with the Church of Christ in the United States. It’s a uniquely
Filipino brand of Protestantism that claims one of the largest Protestant
congregations in the islands. A Filipino, Felix Manalo Ysagun, founded the
church in 1914, and almost all church members are Filipino, even in those
churches that exist outside the Philippines. The biggest doctrinal difference
between this faith and traditional Protestantism is that the Iglesia ni Kristo
portrays Jesus as a mere prophet. I have no firsthand experience with this
church, but it’s reputed to be extremely strict and authoritarian, with church
leaders wielding absolute power over their flock. Reportedly, only members of
the Iglesia ni Kristo faith are allowed to attend church services (i.e., no
visitors of other faiths). Also, importantly, an Iglesia ni Kristo follower
may not marry anyone who is not also of the Iglesia ni Kristo faith. Thus,
marriages between westerners and Filipinas of this faith are almost unheard of.
Then there’s the Philippine
Independent Church. When Filipino revolutionary leader Aguinaldo returned from
his Hong Kong exile at the request of the Americans, he appointed Rev. Fr.
Gregorio Aglipay as Military Vicar General of the Revolutionary Government.
There was no love lost between Aguinaldo and the Catholic Church, yet the young
leader knew his followers desired spiritual guidance. Consequently, he charged
Aglipay with providing it. Though Aguinaldo, Aglipay, and their followers lost
their war against the Americans, Aglipay’s ministry continued. He formally broke
from the Catholic Church in 1902, blaming the Church for many of the ills his
countrymen had suffered, and began the Iglesia Filipina Independiente
(Philippine Independent Church). The faith itself is usually referred to as
Aglipayanism. The Aglipayan church has suffered a bit a schism in the 1930’s,
when Aglipay began professing what was tantamount to a Unitarian viewpoint,
which included a rejection of the Trinity. Church members unwilling to reject
the Trinity rebelled in large numbers, yet they still considered themselves
Aglipayans. These dissenters sued for the right to call themselves the real
Aglipayan Church, and ultimately won both that right and all church properties.
The victors have since associated with the Protestant Episcopal church of the
United States.
Islam in the Philippines is
ages old, and the entire archipelago would have probably ended up Muslim were it
not for the arrival of the Spanish in the 16th Century. Islam had
already taken root in the southern islands and was progressing north at a steady
pace until the Spanish missionaries arrived and put a Christian roadblock in the
Visayas. Then, and in later centuries, many thousands of lives were lost in the
southern Philippines as Spanish, American, and Filipino nationalists
(predominantly Christian) tried to subdue the Muslim tribes there. That battle
continues to this very day, in fact, with groups like the MILF (Moro Islamic
Liberation Front) and MNLF (Moro National Liberation Front) engaged in frequent
firefights with government forces. Almost all this activity occurs on the
island of Mindanao and a few adjacent isles.
It is extremely unusual for a
westerner to enter into a relationship with a Muslim Filipina. It’s
statistically unlikely because there are very few western Muslim men seeking
Filipina wives, and very few Filipina Muslims seeking western husbands. It does
happen, of course, on rare occasions. There was the much-publicized
relationship between Jeffrey Schilling, a Muslim American, and his Muslim
Filipina wife. The reason it comes to mind is that Mr. Schilling was kidnapped
by Filipino Muslim separatists while on vacation in the Philippines and held for
several months before finally being released, ostensibly because he was Muslim
himself (though that fact didn’t seem to deter his kidnappers from detaining him
for several weeks).
(End
of book excerpt – if you’d like the entire text, please consider ordering
The ASAWA Guide to Fil-West
Relationships. Thank you!)