Filipinos Represent

Study: belief in God strongest in Philippines, weakest in former East Germany

April 18, 2012

A study of religious belief in 30 nations conducted by the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago has found that “countries with high atheism (and low strong belief) tend to be ex-Socialist states and countries in northwest Europe.”

“Countries with low atheism and high strong belief tend to be Catholic societies, especially in the developing world, plus the United States, Israel, and Orthodox Cyprus,” the study continued. “In the case of Poland, it appears that its strong Catholicism trumps the secularizing influence of Socialism.”

“From 1991 to 2008, Israel, Russia, and Slovenia showed consistent movement towards greater belief,” the study continued, while “ten countries showed consistent decline in belief (Australia, Austria, East Germany, Great Britain, Ireland, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Northern Ireland, Norway, and Poland).”

“Strong believers run from 60% in the Philippines down to 2.5% in East Germany, while strong atheists rise from nearly zero in the Philippines to 46% in East Germany,” the study also found.

Original article here

Praying That Common Sense Prevails

Please keep the Philippines in your prayers as the country teeters on the edge of legalizing contraception and instituting sex-education for children at school.

From CatholicCulture.org:

The Catholic bishops of the Philippines have endorsed a campaign of civil disobedience against aggressive family-planning legislation that is due to go into effect in February.

“We, together with our priests, are willing to go to jail to protest this immoral action,” said Bishop Arturo Bastes of Sorgoson.

Bishop Nereo Odchimar of Tandag, the president of the bishops’ conference, has written a pastoral letter urging public opposition to the new legislation. Although he says that the faithful must choose for themselves whether or not to join in public protests, the AsiaNews service reports that the Filipino bishops are united in a willingness to challenge the law.

The new legislation, which is subject to final legislative approval this month, allows for the sale of abortifacient pills, promotes family-planning programs in schools, and offers no conscience protection for health-care workers.

(Link to original here.)

And another link from Michael Voris, here.

The aggressive tactics of groups like Planned Parenthood along with the glamour of western culture, hopefully won’t win out over the country’s deep Catholic roots and sheer common sense.  Amidst the insidious and well-orchestrated move here in the U.S. to provide children with sex-education and even contraception, the number of sexually active children and the birth-rate and the STD rate among them have all sky-rocketed.  Surely, such a startling fact isn’t being glossed over.  Can anyone rationally argue that contraception and sex-ed in the classroom have shown themselves to be an effective solution to any problem?