A Call to Collective Action

In our previous Shalom column we asked the question, How then can religious faith and culture lived in communities help bring about fundamental change? More specifically, how can the many faith communities, which are culturally different in the teachings and practices of their respective faiths, find a common ground for unified and collective action? Can this common ground be the moral justification for a fundamental or systemic change?

In the 21 August 2013 Joint Statement of the Bishops-Ulama Conference on the Present Situation we the convenors said that –:

1) the bombings, the pork barrel scam, poverty and fraudulent elections inflict physical and moral violence on our people;
2) such violence is a crime that cannot be morally justified;
3) since the criminals are from our different faith communities, we admit with a sense of shame and confess our failure in spiritual guidance and leadership, and ask God’s/Allah’s pardon;
4) while we condemn the crimes, we ask God’s/Allah’s mercy on the criminals and justice for the victims who are our people as a whole;

Now since genuine justice cannot be obtained through the Office of the President, Congress, Supreme Court, and Local Government Units which have become more or less dysfunctional, we must engage all the leaders of the different faith communities in respectful interfaith dialogue through the social network. This dialogue is based on the conviction that what unite us believers is stronger than what divides us. We hope and pray that once our similar sentiments, conviction, identities and numbers as leaders of faith communities are known regarding the unjust socio-political situation through social networking a credible opposition is formed by talented and morally upright senior citizens and young professionals from our faith communities. This will hopefully be the group the Armed Forces and the Philippine National Police will support and protect.

This then is the basis of our hope that God’s/Allah’s mercy is given to criminals in the LGU’s and in high offices of government when the present system of governance is changed. This way they are being prevented and saved from doing more harm to themselves and to our people. It would be an act of charity.

This systemic change can be made directly and peacefully by the people because in a democracy a government is a creation “of the people, by the people, and for the people”. When this happens God’s/Allah’s justice is attained, a justice whose prosecution will be tempered by the forgiving mercy of the non-violent. For, as Pope John Paul II once said, “there is no peace without justice, no justice without forgiveness”, and “the peace of the heart is the heart of peace”.

To this cyber interfaith dialogue the Bishops -Ulama Conference respectfully invite our brothers and sisters, servant-leaders in the different faith communities nationwide, to join us. In a very special way we make this CaLL TO ACTION to —

* the Shamans of the Indigenous Peoples;
* the different national associations of Ulama;
* the National Council of Churches in the philippines;
* the Philippine Council of Evangelical Churches;
* the Philippines for Jesus Movement of Bro. Eddie Villanueva;
* the televangelist Pastor Apollo Quiboloy:
* the Iglesia ni Kristo;
* the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines together with, Council of the Laity, El Shaddai of Bro. Mike Velarde, and the Couples for Christ, among others.
* the Catholic Educational Association of the Philippines;
* the Association of Major Religious Superiors of the Philippines.

We hope and pray, for “Hope springs eternal in the human heart”!

God bless the Philippines!