‘Acts of God’ reference to adversities dropped

The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) urged the public to replace the phrase “acts of God” when referring to natural calamities and other adversities as it seemed to give a negative connotation that God is a destroyer.

“While God has traditionally been thought of as the ‘universal cause’ in the sense that all that exists owes its existence ultimately to God, the use of ‘acts of God’ in reference to tragic events conveys the misleading thought of a God who wills catastrophe, calamity and misfortune,” CBCP President Socrates Villegas said in a statement on Friday.