MARIMLA, Lyka P.

E-401

Reflection Paper

Centuries had passed since the Philippines was colonized by the Spaniards, which lead us
to know Christianity. Back on those days, churches had more power than the government. Friars
had the authority to control over the Filipinos and had also strong contribution in making the
laws in the Philippines. Consequently, in this modern time, this accustomed matter is sill present
in our country.
We should admit that being religious affects how we perceive everything, including how
the government works and the laws they are making. Historically, organized churches in the
Philippines have been involved in electoral politics, including candidate selection and church
members who have run for political office, such as the Iglesia Ni Cristo (Church of Christ) which
do a traditional mass voting up until now. Catholic also had several arguments with our
government because of the laws that were not morally correct according to them. As a great
believer of God, and as a citizen of the Philippines, I see this matter as a way on balancing our
country. Government creates laws that are sometimes not applicable or correct in our country,
such as the Death Penalty that is why we have the churches to strongly disagree with this
because aside from it is not right to kill people according to the Bible, it is also a gateway for the
higher ups to take advantage of it by means of framing up poor and powerless, but
knowledgeable people to shut their mouth. Without the churches, brutal people that work in the
government will do anything they want, including passing laws that are not correct in the eyes of
God. For me, churches are there to criticize the government and to give more factors when it
comes to right way of governing our country. However, I also believe that the power of churches
should stop right there. They may be the critics of the government and the people, but they have
no power in controlling what the Filipinos or the people want to do, because it is also in the bible
that God gave us freewill to choose the decisions in our lives.