28 - On Religion

Religion has been such a significant part of my experience of the Philippines that I felt I really have to write about it. And now seems an appropriate time with the Easter celebrations having just come to a close.

Before embarking on my assignment here in the Philippines, I was quite ignorant as to the extent to which faith drives everything GK does. The ‘work’ is an expression of faith in God, that is to say, it is not really considered ‘work’ but rather ‘service’ to God. I respect peoples’ right to practice their religion, and also expect respect in return. I am honest and open in telling people that I didn’t come to do this volunteer work for faith reasons. My GK co-workers/beneficiaries/friends respect my view but for them they believe that God sent me to them. My experience has certainly given me the opportunity to re-evaluate my own beliefs and position on religion.

I guess I would call myself a non-practicing Christian. I was baptised and brought up Church of England. I attended church regularly where I sang in the choir until the age of 17. I attended a Roman Catholic high school where I took religious studies for the Higher School Certificate and was quite interested to learn about other world religions. I haven’t been to church in years but I maintain certain Christian beliefs and values, as a personal thing, not something I readily express.

In my opinion, there are 3 reasons (maybe more) why people pursue aid work. Some for religious reasons, ie “missionaries”, some as an avenue to pursue a career in development, and others simply to do their bit to help a community less fortunate than their own. I fall into the latter category. I simply wanted to spend a decent amount of time, while I am still young, offering my skills to help a developing country, and in the process gain an understanding of another culture, meet inspiring people, challenge myself and see some amazing places.

I wasn’t prepared for the extent of religious expression in the workplace. But it must be said that this is not necessarily the experience in all Filipino workplaces. I’ve come from a Government department in a secular country to a faith based NGO in a majority Catholic country, so the contrast for me is quite stark.

The expression of the Catholic faith outside the workplace (ie in everyday life) is also more overt than I was anticipating. For example, a lot of buses and jeepneys carry religious messages such as “God Bless Our Trip” and there was a time I was shopping in the supermarket when all of a sudden everybody had stopped dead in the aisles and I realised the Hail Mary was being broadcast across the PA system.

In Australia, religious expression tends to be confined to the privacy of people’s homes and places of worship. With such a multicultural society, there are many different religions – one reason why state and religion are separated. I recall the public uproar at the time of World Youth Day in Sydney (the weekend I left Australia for the Philippines) that tax payers’ money was being used for a religious event. But due to the nature of Australia being a multi-religious society, this also means Australians are exposed to alternative views and therefore, in my experience, generally seem to have a greater level of understanding about different religions than Filipino society. For example I was asked recently if Protestants also have the Bible. And Aruna has mentioned she has experienced a healthy amount curiosity and mystification from friends and workmates about Hinduism.

GK is a faith based organisation because it was started by Couples for Christ (CFC) – a charismatic Catholic organisation. It has a huge following in the Philippines, where it was founded, and has now spread throughout the world. It also extended to include Kids for Christ (KFC), Youth for Christ(YFC), Singles for Christ(SFC), Handmaids of the Lord (for widows) and Servants of the Lord (for widowers) – collectively known as the CFC Family Ministries or locally as “the community”. It is a community that is structured around weekly evening prayer meetings in members’ homes known as “households”. The style of worship is based on praying aloud as a group and singing and clapping. Back in November I attended the 21st Anniversary celebrations of CFC where thousands came from all over the province to attend the celebration Mass in the sports stadium in Bacolod. On previous travels to foreign countries when I say I’m from Australia I’m used to the “Oh, Kangaroos!” response. Here, its “Oh, Hillsong!”. The music of this Sydney based evangelical Christian church is a big hit here with CFC.

GK was essentially started as the ‘action arm’ of CFC so to speak – ie “ok, we pray for the poor but what are we actually doing about poverty?”. The office where I work is really the CFC office which the GK full-time workers have been given a corner of. I believe one of the main reasons for the amazing success of GK so far is that it had this ready made network of people to draw on – the CFC Community. Local CFC members in each town are asked to step forward and volunteer when a new site for a GK village is donated in their area. Their role, as ‘caretaker team’, is to guide and direct the establishment of that GK community. In this province at least, all caretaker teams are still 100% CFC members (although GK management makes it clear that CFC membership is not a requirement for volunteering on a GK caretaker team). For these incredibly dedicated people, it’s about faith first and working for the poor as an expression of that faith – being an instrument of God. I have heard it said that you can work for the poor all you like but if you’re not doing it for God it’s a waste of time.

I believe in the work of GK, without necessarily doing it for God. In my opinion, the GK model of Community Development is very sound. My Mum, as a social worker, attested to this based on what she learned about GK on her brief visit here over Christmas. But I now understand, from the perspective of my co-workers, this is seen as using my head and not my heart.

As I have said previously, the Filipino’s are a very happy people. I think my friend was right in her observation that often times this happiness is attributed to their relationship with God. Therefore, it is likely that they think I’m missing out on something that makes them very happy and as a result feel sad for me. Isn’t it true that from time to time we all want others to experience what we’re passionate about?

I am currently part way through the 13 week course known as the “Christian Life Program” (CLP) which is the pre-requisite to becoming a member of CFC or SFC etc. I decided to participate, partly out of curiosity, partly to better understand the people I work with and partly as an opportunity to reassess where I currently stand on my own beliefs. It is very well run by the local SFC group and I’ve found it a very interesting experience. I agree with some aspects and disagree with others. And I think some of my fellow participants have found it interesting learning about my views. They have also said that it has inspired them to volunteer more with GK when they see that I have come all the way from Australia to dedicate 10 months with the organisation.

Coming from a secular workplace, though, it took me some time to get used to working in an organisation based around faith. This manifests itself in various ways. For example, emails, business meeting minutes and text messages signed with ‘God Bless’ and prayers at the start of meetings. In fact, these were relatively easy to get used to. A greater challenge was finding out information on upcoming meetings/events. The communication structure is based on the household meetings and as a non-member of the CFC Community, I don’t attend household meetings. (I subsequently initiated an events calendar on a whiteboard in the office to try and address this.). Another challenge came when helping a colleague with a powerpoint presentation. I suggested more graphics to emphasise the points, rather than slides of block text. I didn’t anticipate the response: "Jesus didn't use graphics, he told stories. I'll tell stories”. I went on to suggest we have a practice run through. "I’d prefer not”, he said “I usually pray before the workshop that God will guide me in delivering the presentation and that the participants will be open and receptive. That’s enough.” Sufficed to say, he knew the cultural context and it worked fine on the day! As I understand it, this concept known as “Bahala na” or “leaving things in the hand of God” is quite a strong concept in Filipino culture not just in GK e.g. “Whatever will be, will be. We’ll pray for it”. But this idea of ‘letting go’ or ‘giving it up to the universe’ is not just Filipino and not just Christian. Elizabeth Gilbert talks a lot about this concept in Hinduism and Buddhism in her fabulous book “Eat, Pray, Love” which tracks her personal journey in search of God through Italy, India and Indonesia. (Fabulous book – highly recommend it!)

I think it is important at this point to make the distinction between the living out of personal faith/beliefs and the Church as an ‘institution’ with influence. It is the influence of the ‘institution’ of the Catholic Church on Filipino society that Dr. Joze Rizal was reacting against when he wrote “Noli me Tangere” (Touch me Not) and the sequel “El Filibusterismo” (The Reign of Greed) back in 1887 and 1891. I finally got my hands on an English translation and they are fascinating pieces of historical fiction with a strong nationalist message. In the Noli, he writes: ‘… here one has to bow one’s head or lose it.”, which is highly ironic, or perhaps prophetic, as Rizal was executed in 1896 at age 35 for inciting rebellion (through his writings) against the Spanish colonialists (who Christianised the Philippines). His execution only served to help his cause, the subsequent revolution succeeded (to some extent – it got the Spanish out but then the Americans took over). Jose Rizal became a national hero. His face features on the 1 peso coin and just about every town and city in the Philippines has a Rizal street, Rizal monument, a Rizal park etc.

“… the government itself does not see, or hear or judge beyond what it is allowed to see by the priest, or by the Father Provincial. It has decided that it rests on them alone; that it stands because they support it; that it lives because they allow it to live; and that the day they are gone it will collapse like a broken mannequin which has lost its legs.”

This is what Rizal wrote in 1887. I wonder if much has changed if you remember an earlier blog post, Power and the Passion? It was the Bishop who was the one mediating between the City Government and the Electricity provider here in Bacolod over the issue of the power being cut to the City Hall.

I would also say it is the ‘institution’ of the Church that impacts on the delivery of some aspects of the Health Program in the GK villages. Health volunteers are advised to teach the natural method of family planning and not to give any information on modern family planning (the use of contraception). A GK Health worker talks to people in the villages about health problems and uses the “Bakit, Bakit” or “Why, Why” game. The purpose of the questioning is to get to the root cause of the problem, so that effective solutions can be found rather than ‘bandaid’ solutions. She told me about a recent Bakit, Bakit game in one of the villages which produced a very interesting result:

The problem raised was:
“We have a problem with kids getting water borne diseases”
So then the questioning began:
“Why are the kids getting water borne diseases?”
“Because we have poor sanitation”
“Why do you have poor sanitation?”
“Because families aren’t cleaning their surroundings properly”
“Why aren’t families cleaning their surroundings properly?”
“Because they have no time”
“Why do they have no time?”
“Because we have so many children to look after”
“Why do you have so many children to look after?”
“Because we don’t use/aren’t knowledgeable about family planning”

The issue of religion and contraception is a complex topic*, which I don’t intend to go into here. Right at this moment, it is also the topic that is dividing the Filipinos, as the controversial Reproductive Health Bill goes before congress. The bill proposes to channel funding into the provision of information on and access to both natural and modern family planning methods, which are medically safe and legally permissible, on a national scale. This is a departure from the present setup in which the provision for reproductive health services is devolved to local government units, For further info, take a look at the Daily Inquirer article explaining the content of the bill, followed a week later by a series of rebuttals giving a snapshot of the catholic perspective on the bill.

Australia went through the same process in the 1950’s and 1960’s**.

In essence, the Philippines has one of highest birth rates in the world. I think the average number of children per woman is something like 5. While the rapid population growth is not the only factor contributing to the high rate of poverty, it is a significant one (Asian Development Bank, 2004). Many traditional Catholics I speak with deny the link between poverty and large families, citing government corruption as the problem.

I’ve always come from the camp that believes that all the information about family planning – modern or traditional, should be presented, and individuals, based on their personal faith or not, can decide for themselves. (An opinion that got me into trouble at my Catholic High School). I feel this is also particularly important given that there is no pre-requisite for GK beneficiaries to be Catholic or become members of CFC, although they are given the opportunity to attend the CLP.

Culturally, family is such a strong unit of Filipino society. I’ve found that, more often than not, the easiest conversation starter is to ask someone about their family. They love to tell me about their brothers/sisters, their children, their grandchildren. They express an immense sadness when they hear I have no brothers or sisters and no cousins either. There is a great sense of pride in family. But yet, there are so many families split due to a parent or a daughter or son working as nurses or maids in foreign countries in order to send money home to their families. Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW’s) are the Philippines’ biggest export. (There is even a special line for OFW’s at the airports). On the home front, due to the massive population, labour is cheap, so industries such as agriculture are still very manually based. There is no point in mechanizing as there are so many who need the jobs and the land owner can pay them very little for the hot back breaking work. After seeing what I’ve seen, I can’t help but wonder how life-at-all-cost can have priority over quality of life.

I pray that little Dave Angelo will enjoy a good quality of life. Last month I became his Ninang (Godmother). He is the nephew of my friend Marj. I felt somewhat underqualified to become a Godmother, but in Filipino baptisms, there are multiple Godparents so I didn’t feel too bad. Dave Angelo was welcomed into the Christian world early Saturday afternoon in a hospital chapel. The ceremony was over relatively quickly but the Godparents, family and friends continued the festivities into the early evening at a restaurant down the road. Of course, it wouldn’t be a Filipino celebration without a whole roast pig and karaoke! Little Dave Angelo slept soundly throughout the entire proceedings!

This year has raised more questions for me than answers … about religion … about life … about my life. In the words of Reverend Tom Honey: “The only thing I can say for sure is, I don’t know. And that might just be the most profoundly religious statement of all”.
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/tom_honey_on_god_and_the_tsunami.html


*Contraception and Religion - website which looks at the attitudes of various religions towards contraception.

** Compass – Pregnant Pause - Australian National Film and Sound Archive website giving an overview of the attitudes and events regarding contraception in Australia in the 1960’s.