IDEOLOGY AND RELIGION IN THE PHILIPPINES
(Lecture to Filipino Catholic priests in The Netherlands, Belgium and Austria)
By Prof. Jose Maria Sison Chairman, International Network for Philippine Studies
Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 7 May 2005
Dear friends,
The subject given to me for discussion today is quite general and large. We need to reduce the scope to something more manageable. I propose that we take up the three ideologies that are historically most influential in the Philippines or have demonstrably most affected the Filipino people. These are Christianity, bourgeois liberalism and Marxism.
I use the term ideology, to mean the study of ideas or a system of ideas. For the purpose of our study, I shall make some differentiation of the aforesaid three ideologies at the philosophical level, by referring to their respective basic ‘Weltanschauung’ (world view) and some basic tenets.
We shall not go deep into philosophical questions, like ontology, epistemology, or even ethics as such from any viewpoint. But we shall discuss how each of these three ideologies has taken some material, institutional or social force in the Philippines and how significantly it has influenced and affected the Filipino people.
We may discuss briefly how the ideologies are irreconcilable at the philosophical or theological level and likewise how they are open to dialogue and cooperation. We can discuss how these ideologies have materialized in the Philippines and have resulted in friendly or unfriendly relations among their adherents. The ultimate purpose of the study is to prove that dialogue and cooperation among adherents of different ideologies are possible and desirable, especially at the social level for the common benefit of the people.
padidioni 