Faith Communities

This title refers to organized groups of believers in our country. The number of these believers ranges from the thousands to millions.

The Catholic communities are the biggest in number followed by the Protestants. Both groups are generally called Christians. The third largest are the Iglesia ni Cristo. The Muslims are number four in this list.. The Indigenous Peoples are also believers but are not organized as faith communities but they too are in the millions numerically..

It is safe to say that our faith communities compose almost the entire population of 90 million. If there are professional unbelievers or atheist they are only a handful. The same can be said of Buddhists and Hindus. And, except for the Indigenous Peoples who are polytheists or believers in Many Deities,, our faith communities are monotheists, that is, they believe in One Deity whom they call with several names.
These names are God-Christ, Dios/Cristo, Yahweh/Jehovah, Allah, or other secondary but related titles.
These communities differ a lot in terms of doctrine, worship, and morals. But they do have many things in common. Because of these commonalities they can unite and constitute a formidable force for change and transformation, development, progress and peace.

The faith communities are now being considered as potent and invaluable partners in national transformation. In a previous column I have mentioned the urgent call of the Bishops-Ulama Conference for interfaith dialogue, interreligious and ecumenical, through the social media and the internet. For, as spiritual leaders and moral guides, the heads of the communities can contribute to the promotion of authentic justice, holistic development and lasting peace.