Maybe it’s Divine Providence. In this Year of Faith of the Catholic Church, the Philippines, Christendom’s bastion in Asia, the emerging center of global economic and, eventually, political power, has also become a major battleground between spirituality and materialism on the planet.

In one corner stands the nation’s millennia-old, deeply ingrained belief and trust in Almighty God, whose will is seen as law and whose love and mercy never fail to lift the suffering, oppression and distress on the nation’s shoulders. In past burdens and challenges, from family troubles and needs to national struggles for freedom and dignity, Filipino spirituality has been both an anchor and a beacon amid the tsunamis of life.

The nation’s faith was given a singular boost in 1986, when religious and lay faithful, brandishing crucifixes and religious images and statues, stopped tanks sent by strongman Ferdinand Marcos to dislodge rebel soldiers. Then Manila Archbishop Jaime Cardinal Sin called out Filipinos to protect the troops with their bodies, igniting the EDSA People Power Revolution. Sin again propelled the Church to prominence in 2001 when he backed anti-corruption protests that ousted then President Joseph Estrada.

Now, a hugely popular leader has taken on the Church in public controversies, from the so-called “Pajero bishops” wrongly accused of having bought luxury sports utility vehicles with state charity funds, to Archbishop Oscar Cruz’s accusation of jueteng payolas against a presidential shooting buddy, and the ongoing Reproductive Health Law pushed through Congress with Palace pressure and pork barrel funds.

It is the irony of ironies that the son of democracy icon Corazon Aquino, propelled to the presidency by Cardinal Sin’s people power call, now defies Church moral authority and thus leads Filipinos to do the same. Having brought Congress to heel and openly opposed the Supreme Court and replaced its head, President Benign Aquino 3rd has taken on the oldest and most respected institution in the country.

At stake is nothing less than the Filipino soul. If Aquino weathers his battle with the Church by maintaining or expanding his administration’s hold on national and local positions in the May mid-term elections, then many Filipino Catholics, possibly millions of them, would think that God approves of his opposition to Church positions. And that would reduce their respect for religious authority, and open the door to more laws opposed by the Church, including those legalizing divorce, jueteng and prostitution.

This battle royale reprises Church-State conflicts over the centuries, from King Henry 8th’s establishment of the Church of England, breaking away from Rome in 1532; to the health care policy of US President Barack Obama forcing Catholic hospitals to provide or fund abortion and contraceptive services, on pain of heavy fines. Those conflicts over legislation and government policy have left the Philippines as the only nation with no divorce in its statutes and, until Aquino signed it on Dec. 21, one of the few that did not have a contraception law.

In the latest round of Church-State confrontation, French President Francois Hollande’s administration has demanded that Catholic schools stop teaching students the Church position on homosexuality. France plans to legalize same-sex marriage and the adoption of children by same-sex couples—both opposed by the country’s major religions: Catholicism, Islam, Judaism, and Orthodox Christianity.

In the countless tests of wills between State and Church, what is reprised over and over are the three temptations of Christ in the desert, recounted in the fourth chapters of the Gospels of Matthew and Luke. In essence, the Church is being pressed to put human and earthly concerns above those of God.

Two millennia ago, the devil asked Jesus to use His heavenly power to satisfy His hunger. Today, religious and moral edicts are supposed to give way to man’s physical urges and allow contraceptives for “a responsible, safe, consensual and satisfying sex life,” as the RH Law puts it.

The demon also wanted Christ to put God to the test and subject Him to earthly standards. The RH Law wants God’s gift of life to conform with human parameters of economic and social capacity, so that “parents bring forth to the world only those children whom they can raise in a truly humane way.” Imagine how many great men and women in history would never have seen the light of life if that provision were followed.

Finally, the desert tempter offers power over all the kingdoms of the world if the Son of God bowed before him. This is the most alluring and deceptive temptation, to which even the Church has fallen prey over the centuries. How right it often seems to obtain power for holy ends. And yet too often, the path to earthly clout means bowing to the devil in various guises, from money politics and media manipulation all the way to suppression, killing and war.

As Catholics ponder their response to the RH Law, they must affirm and assert the Church’s moral teaching and mobilize communities to disseminate Christian values and natural family planning. But they must take care not to play the power game, putting great store in campaigning against RH advocates. Rather, the key is broadcasting and living Christ’s message of divine life and love, with the unshakeable faith that God will triumph where it counts: the hearts, minds and souls of Filipinos.

Ricardo Saludo serves Bahay ng Diyos Foundation for church repair. He heads the Center for Strategy, Enterprise & Intelligence, publisher of The CenSEI Report on national and global issues ( This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. ).