‘Bottom line is whether you are a Catholic bishop or a Christian preacher, greed
is a difficult temptation to avoid.’
THE socio-cultural history of the United States, particularly in the last 100 years, is littered with men (and a few women) who rose to fame thumping the Bible and spouting the “word of God.” Eloquent to the point of being silver-tongued, these men (and a few women) were able to generate a considerable following of believers who flocked to prayer rallies, shouted “Amen” and “Hallelujah” and, of course, provided the “material support” needed to proclaim, and spread, the word of God.
In the 1970s and 1980s, I watched with a mixture of amusement and awe as the televangelist versions of these preachers did their thing before packed auditoriums, oftentimes banishing the Devil from worshippers, making the deaf hear, or helping the handicapped stand up and walk. But rather than strengthening my faith, I have to admit that these shows left me feeling that these men preaching the word of God were nothing more than slick snake oil salesmen who used the medium of television to greatest effect.
That many of them spoke often about the “sin of homosexuality” or some form of illicit sex, only to end up being accused of and even arrested for the very same acts they railed against has always been, to me, the best proof of their hypocrisy.
But, to be fair, for every Jim Bakker, Jerry Falwell, Ernest Angley or Jimmy Swaggart, there was a Bill Graham, a Pat Robertson, a Robert Schuller, or a Fulton Sheen.
Still, I have always been uneasy with those who would quote Bible passages in situations which were not religious rituals or masses. Part of this unease stems from a fact: Philippine history is replete with chapters that detail how the fear of God was used to abuse us.
I need not remind any Filipino who is well-read on our history how the big religious orders during the Spanish era evicted local landowners, consolidated vast tracts of land under their names — the friar estates — and then converted the previous occupants into mere tenants that they abused, all in the “name of God.”
If you think about it, it is very very possible that the widespread poverty in our countrysides has its roots in the displacement of the original settlers who had to give way in the face of a stronger force — military as well as spiritual.
Oh, many friends have pointed out to me that the Church has long apologized for this — and for other sins it has committed against the people. But to them I always reply – “Ha? Apologize lang? Shouldn’t there be some form of restitution?”
What’s an apology but mere words without restitution?
Such double standards, these churchmen and Bible-thumpers have.
Bottom line is whether you are a Catholic bishop or a Christian preacher, greed is a difficult temptation to avoid. But with the cloak of “piety” so carefully draped around your shoulders, many can be made to believe anyone so devout as you will not be able to even hurt a fly.
So why avoid it? Cloak it as part of doing God’s work!
The disguise is solid.
God has so completely masked the greed.
