Why the INC rally was warlike

There seems to be an indefeasible claim that the social has become the fastest source of information and/or disinformation. In a proverbial blink of an eye, an event taking place somewhere gets quickly reported in the internet and shared among thousand others and practically analyzed even by those with little understanding of the event. This happened to the mass action done by the members of the Iglesia ni Cristo (INC) last Monday. Staged reportedly in 13 places all over the country, it was especially mammoth in Manila where over a million of the followers of the church joined. Facebook postings of the demonstration got viewed by thousands cellphone owners.

I took note of the reports in their varied degrees of presentation both in the mainstream and social media. While there were strikingly interesting comments in the internet, I was particularly awed by the depth of the analysis of many of the country’s respected opinion makers and distinguished podcasters. The INC’s National Rally for Peace was significant in its social impact such that many people began to strive to learn more about the church as they expressed the opinion that the demonstration did not have peace for its object as it was a foment for social chaos and civil disorder, if not a misguided declaration of war. Sadly, I agreed with them.

In my case, I retrieved from my files while teaching Constitutional Law, the case of Iglesia Ni Cristo versus The Honorable Court of Appeals, Board of Review for Motion Pictures and Television (BRMPT) and Honorable Henrietta Mendez. The Supreme Court decided this case about 25 years ago. This case was about a television program titled "Ang Iglesia ni Cristo", then aired on Channel 2 every Saturday and Channel 13 presenting and propagating INC's religious beliefs, doctrines, and practices, often in comparative studies with other religions.

It must be remembered that INC teaches that its members constitute the “elect of God” and that there is no salvation outside INC. By the way, in so saying, the INC has condemned my soul to be already in hell. Probably, in furtherance of such teaching, the INC submitted for the review of BRMPT video tape recording (VTR) tapes for Ang Iglesia ni Cristo TV programs in September, October, and November 1992. The Board classified those series as "X" or not for public viewing, citing that they "offend and constitute an attack against other religions.”

The Court of Appeals ruled that the board had jurisdiction and did not act with grave abuse of discretion in denying permits for the exhibition of the INC programs. It also found the programs "indecent, contrary to law, and contrary to good customs." In deciding the case, the Supreme Court allowed the INC to air its religious programs without prior submission to the BRMPT for review emphasizing the primacy of religious freedom and freedom of expression, subject only to the clear and present danger test.

In my lectures, I opined that the INC, in the litigated TV program, waged war against other religions although we needed to bow to the court’s ruling. To me, the INC “attack against other religions” (mainly the Catholic Church) was difficult to understand in the light of the church’s core values. I have read somewhere that INC adopts predestination which in theology, as reported, is the doctrine that all events have been willed by God usually with reference to the eventual fate of the individual soul. If we are, indeed, all predestined, warring against other religions was, and will probably be, unnecessary.

The warlike posture could explain the fighting rhetoric of Congressman Rodante Dizon Marcoleta, during last Monday’s INC rally. His fiery speech did not appear, in any reasonable manner, as directed for peace. In effect, he declared war against those supporting the impeachment of Vice President Sara Duterte Carpio, specially the quadcomm, in the same manner that the contested controversial VTR tapes of INC was a war against Catholics and other protestant groups.