Fighting back

Lady Gaga is said to have gotten away with her hedonism in the Philippines because her concert was not disturbed, unlike in Indonesia where she was warned that if she continued with her concert there would be violence. She backed off as she did in South Korea and in Malaysia.

Christians had been taught to follow the example of Christ to offer the other cheek and this has been understood and misunderstood as timidity and acquiescence even in the face of evil. The Muslims, on the other hand, will fight back and declare a person or groups of persons in a fatwah which means they are open game. Nobody messes with Islam’s beliefs and get away with cheers.

And so, Gaga’s minions believe they had gotten away. Nobody got physically hurt and Gaga and producers and their local sponsors ran away to the bank.

There had been protests against lewd presentations but they failed to stop them and to a large extent this failure has disappointed many and had allowed even those they despise for attacking their sense of values, their beliefs and their traditions to go and do whatever they please.

These are all in the guise of freedom to do whatever one chooses even if they are intrinsically evil. The doctrine of freedom to choose has become dominant. The right to choose what is right is ignored.

But some are now fighting back because to allow evil to proceed unchallenged sends a message of defeat and acceptance. Silence and inaction are usually interpreted as acquiescence, a surrender to evil.

Edmund Burke, British statesman, presented it more eloquently. He said, “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”

Oftentimes we are slaves to our fear of doing good, of publicly opposing evil, thinking that such action is either useless or dangerous and puts us into risk of being ridiculed by those who have no qualms about abusing other beliefs.

St. Augustine describes what kind of persons we are in the face of evil. He said, “He who is good is free, even if he is a slave; he who is evil is a slave, even if he is a king.” Indeed, those who think they had one over those who protest evil, as in the case of Gaga, are wise and better because they got away with it.

In the end who become slaves of their own success? History is replete with examples of this thinking that they can get away with evil. Some believe there is no evil; it is a bogeyman hoisted by religion

To do nothing is to encourage evil for it does exist.

The Catholics in the United States long subjected to all forms of hatred, contempt, ridicule and bad-mouthed for opposing the anti-life and unnatural acts like contraception, abortion and same sex marriage, are fighting back.

Reports say 43 Catholic dioceses, universities and organizations have filed suits across several states in the US opposing the requirement that their health plan should cover birth control that includes contraception and abortion.

US government wants Catholics and other Christians to pay for contraception and abortion otherwise they will get penalized.

Sounds familiar? Indeed it is similar to our Reproductive Health bill which is a copy of the American Planned Parenthood program of controlling birth under the guise of concern for women’s health and freedom to choose whatever they want to do with their body or sexuality.

The RH bill is stuck in our Congress. But wait until President Aquino meets with US President Obama, the promoter of this federal health program that would run roughshod on people’s religious beliefs, and Aquino will again push for his favorite RH bill.

Congress is set to adjourn in three weeks, so there is no time for consideration of the RH bill but once Congress reopens he will pitch for it again as he did everytime after he meets with Obama.

We fought this bill from the onset, but in the US the Catholics had tried to reason out but because media was on the side of the Planned Parenthood with their billions of dollars supplied by multi-national pharmaceutical companies, Catholics were on the disadvantaged side.

Contraception and abortion are multibillion dollar businesses and if mandated the state (as in the Philippines) assures tremendous profit for these companies. They are thus investing in the programs that violate people’s beliefs because they, like Gaga could not care less about other’s religious beliefs as long as they become wealth as if wealth can buy everlasting happiness.

Now they are bringing their case before the courts charging that Obama’s program infringes on religious freedom.

In fighting back, the Catholics say that Obama is requiring people to pay for and facilitate something that violates their religious beliefs.*

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