Our Filipino Religiosity

The Paradise Philippines, by an large, is basically a religious community. Roman Catholic churches, Protestant houses of worship, Muslim mosques, Jehovah's Witnesses' kingdom halls, Iglesia ni Cristo cathedral-chapels, and other church-related institutions dot our countryside from Batanes to Tawi-tawi.

But we can really characterize our Philippine society as a religious community, strictly speaking? Why is it that when you happen to be at our restaurants, karinderias, and other eating places, say, at noontime, when an overflow crowd troop there to eat lunch, that you hardly see more saying grace before meals?

Why is it that the angelus, when our ancestors used to pause reverently for a moment of prayer and meditation at dusk, is now only a relic of our nostalgic past? Is Fernando Amorsolo's “The Angelus” just a beautiful masterpiece of Filipino art to decorate our homes and offices, but the fact is hardly internalized in the lives of the people anymore?

Why is it that many of the faithful enter churches only twice during their lifetime-fist, when the padre sprinkles baptismal water on them while they are cradled as infants in their mother's arm, and, second, when the parish priest sprinkles holy water on the remains while they are lying in state in their coffins?

Why is it the Bibles are found in only 15 percent of our homes, and who know whether they are really read or are merely pious conversation pieces of our coffee tables?

Why is it that the attendance at the sabungan is bigger than at the simbahan?

Are we really a Christian nation in the Asia Pacific, or is our Christianity merely a thin veneer which we wear as a cloak over our Athenian superstitious beliefs and animistic practices?

Are the external trappings of our irreligious ways?

These are candid questions which call for candid answer from us Filipino religionists.