I tuned in to "Lakay" Deo Macalma and "Pangga" Ruth Abao's AM radio program, DZRH Hataw this morning because of the storm, and I must say there's a bigger storm than Helen that's making a scene in the radio waves.
Lakay and Pangga were discussing artificial family planning; specifically, they were roaring about the Church's "extreme" view of birth control. They claimed it's unfair that the Church does not let people who use contraceptives to take Holy Communion. Pangga asserted that contraception is not abortion anyway, and that there's no worse feeling for a woman than to go through a pregnancy she did not plan. Lakay joked that he should text Pope Benedict XIV to plead that the Philippines is so overpopulated and by all means contraception is the only answer....
Makes me wonder where these media peeps get their information. What's so extreme about the Church's stand on contraception? In fact, the reasoning is so simple: the Church upholds marriage, an institution rooted in real love and made for the purpose of procreation. Contraception defeats the purpose of marriage (not to mention propagates a different culture altogether); hence, the Church is against it.
Regarding contraception being "not abortion anyway," that's true--to some shallow extent--because they're really not the same thing. That said, however, both do promote a culture of sexual freedom outside of marriage.
What makes contraceptives and abortion so different when their end is the same? They both blur significantly the line the separates love from lust because they represent a culture that believes sex is good but the natural outcome should never! ever! happen.
Which brings to mind the woman and the unplanned pregnancy. It happens--even within the family set-up, even with natural family planning. But babies are always a gift--planned or not. It's only the propagators of contraception and abortion that assert that babies are punishments. After all, they thrive on destroying life.
It's sad to listen to people whom you know have good reputations for their work in the media spurt nonsense and assumptions carelessly. Of course, they have the right to express what they think. But my problem with this particular episode was that it seemed like Lakay and Pangga took the issue too lightly, as if all our problems would be solved by one masterstroke: giving the go on artificial family planning.
3 comments:
A lot of people harp about the Philippines being "overpopulated" that it has become easy to forget that there is no overpopulation problem in our country! The problem is POPULATION DISTRIBUTION -- Manila is the one that's overpopulated because people from elsewhere in the country flock here. But go to the provinces especially those areas outside the urban centers. So much space, so few people. Fresh air, cheaper goods, hardly any crowds. Population explosion in the Philippines huh?
But it is easy to propagate this myth of overpopulation -- just take a snapshot of a bunch of kids (preferably in a depressed neighborhood) and you can slap it with a caption stressing that there are "too many people in the Philippines." Just a few days ago, the front page photo of a broadsheet showed a tricycle with people hanging from all sides. "The gung-ho spirit of Pinoys" or something like that was what I expected to be accompanying the picture, but no! Imagine it being used once again to say that the Church is against family planning even as the country is overpopulated. (More than 1 error in that short sentence, reflecting the ignorance of whoever crafted that caption!)
Okay, I'm done with my rant for the day, heehee!
Great blog ;-) Keep it up!
p.s.
You may want to check this out sometime -- I bookmarked it to remind myself once in a while of the misinformation going around and of the need to do our part in bringing out the truth. I had replied to the post when I was still with Pro-Life full-time. :-)
http://pinoyatheist.wordpress.com/2006/02/20/just-like-rabbits/
Yeah actually palagi na lang nila bini-blame ang Church, as if to say, there's so many of us because the Church is against artificial family planning.
There's a running joke in radio and print media about Gloria going against the Reproductive Health bill only because she's afraid the priests will not let her take Holy Communion. Nye.
What's annoying is the media peeps take this opportunity to paint a clown face on religious leaders, without taking to account that there are many other ORDINARY people who would back up these Catholic leaders, bec they're the ones who make sense.
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