Filipinos too are losing religion?

There’s a recent survey report that says Americans are losing their religion. Among Catholics and Protestants the percentage of people who have no religion has been constantly on the rise. Moreover, the survey found out that religion was playing less role in the lives of the respondents. Among married couple, for instance, 30 percent did not have a religious wedding ceremony while 27 percent did not want a religious funeral when they die.

What can be the trend in the Philippines, or in Cebu? This writer has not come across a similar survey but if there is, chances are the result could be comparable to that in the U.S. Signs are aplenty that point to this trend. For one, Cebu churches seem to overflow with churchgoers on Sunday’s but if you look at the number of people residing in the city (almost 500,000) and compute the figure that can be accommodated in the existing churches, taking into account the number of masses therein, you will find that only about one-half go to church.

Recently, we talked to some 300 college students during a life-in-spirit seminar. As a starter we asked who among the participants were regular churchgoers. Only 20 raised their hands. In other similar seminars also among college students only a small number revealed they heard the holy mass regularly. Years back during my stint with DepEd we would gather every year from 600 to 700 student athletes for training at the Cebu City sports complex. Communal prayers formed part of the regimen and on the first day of this we would ask the athletes if they knew how to pray the “Our Father” or “Hail Mary.” The consistent observation was that only about one-fifth, sometimes less, could recite these prayers. At one time when they were asked whether they knew how the Holy Rosary was prayed, only about ten students said they did.

About 95 percent of those students came from public elementary and secondary schools in different parts of Central Visayas. How come they did not know how to pray? The answer could be that their parents did not teach them how to pray. And this happened because most probably religion no longer played a role in the lives of these people. What about the church authorities in their places, did they not teach the youth about God and prayer? Perhaps they did, but what could a few priests do against thousands of parishioners?

And what about in schools, are there no lessons about piety and godliness? There’s none. Open any textbooks in the grades and in the high school – you would be lucky if you could find the word “God” therein. Look for stories that teach holiness and love of God – you might as well look for a needle in a haystack. Classes in religion? This is allowed but only at limited periods and at inconvenient time, and worse, under a caveat that no government money be spent on them. The more serious constraint, however, is lack of trained catechists. Even counting the ones from a few Catholic schools there simply are not enough. Most public school pupils and students are therefore like lost sheep. They are scattered (spiritually) here and there and nobody is guiding them.

In some lowland schools religious services such as retreats and celebration of the Holy Eucharist are sometimes held. But this is happening only in schools headed by religion-conscious officials. But this kind is becoming a rarity. Hence, most schools go through the years with no religious happenings whatsoever. What then can one expect of the students turned out by these learning houses? These may have some grasp of knowledge and skills but their hearts have remained untouched. Untouched too are their souls which thirst for the word of God.

Why is this happening? In a country where 90 percent are Christians the situation aught to be different. In our Constitution we Pinoys are supposed to be “imploring the aid of Almighty God” as we build our social order and set up our government. But why is God a persona non-grata in our public schools?

When this writer was with the public schools he asked that question. The answer of top leadership was that church-state separation was (and is) a tradition in our system. American teachers were our first teachers. They taught us not only the 3R’s but also the idea that religion in whatever form should not intrude into the classroom. Couched in the pragmatism of John Dewy and the naturalism of John Mills, this concept has been deeply rooted in the minds of Filipino educators past and present. Is it any wonder if our schools have not been effective in their character formation thrusts?

As we survey the country’s moral landscape what do we see? A massive corrosion of traditional values which spawns corruptions in various sectors of society. Is this the result of losing our hold on religion?

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