Consolation

I heard a short piece this morning on Catholic churches in the Philippines, where typhoon victims flocked for consolation after devastation. Several extremely religious Filipino women were interviewed. The usual pablum about prayer and God and faith.

This report, delivered soberly by an NPR correspondent, never once reflected on the place of religion in post-colonial societies, like the Philippines, named for an ancient Spanish king. The Black Ships of the Spanish and Portuguese in Southeast Asia brought priests, enslaving predators and disease to these islands. Those same ships took away anything of value they could carry. 

Wily Jesuits concocted a Catholicism which would interlace with the native beliefs of native inhabitants. Inquisitor Dominicans brought torture and public execution to those who resisted. Spanish soldiers, absolved of atrocity by the Inquisition, raped and pillaged at will. The psychological conditioning of the surviving populace was so thorough that even today the Philippines are 80% Catholic. Subsequent overlords have implemented religion effectively to get what they have wanted. 

Overpopulated regions too close to a rising ocean are the real legacy of Roman Catholicism in the Philippines. A superstitious population with limited education are still exported throughout the world as work slaves on cruise ships, in hospitals, in sweat shops and in private homes. They are instilled with a fear of and loyalty to patriarchy, the working model of Catholicism. They pray masochistically as faithful servants of Father God, consigned to their lot in life. Yes, religion is an opiate of the poor and ignorant, but it does not really ease the pain. It encourages internalization and sublimation of the pain by the afflicted.

Religion is an arm of patriarchal power. Any liberated heterosexual woman or gay/lesbian person understands this. Any humanist. scientifically examining the human condition, understands this. Slowly, a growing population of liberated women, liberated gay/lesbian people and liberated secularists is making a difference. Gay marriage is a symptom. Women achieving positions of political and economic power are examples. Secular organizations and meet-ups are growing in major cities. The media are gradually covering this phenomenon. This is a process of progress by an enlightened humanity, not simply consolation for the subjugated and afflicted.