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While in the U.S. Army, the author of this piece realized that he was training to kill people, something that could not match up with his nonviolent principles. He, then, decided to appeal to the military authorities for discharge as a conscientious objector. After a certain process, he was finally granted the conscientious objector status.
A priest was able to travel to North Korea recently, taking considerable risks. He could verify the truth of various reports and hear numerous witness stories from North Korean refugees. All forms of religions have been banned and Christians are singled out for the worst persecution.
Today, some estimate there are over 100 million Christians in China, many of whom are influencing areas of society from small villages to sprawling urban centers. Yet, despite this incredible development there remains much work to be done within the Chinese church.
The government should shift more into eliminating the drugs itself and concentrate more towards healing and rehabilitation rather than killing. In fact, eliminating the drug lords, drug pushers, without eliminating the essential which is the drug itself, gives rise to more drug leaders, more corrupt policemen, more violence.
Congressmen want to pass a law that lowers the age of criminal liability of Filipino children from 15 to nine years of age. But how can children under the age of 15, with little education and living a rough life, be made responsible for adult acts that are adult crimes?
The Association of Major Religious Superiors in the Philippines issued a statement expressing their opposition to a bill that will re-impose capital punishment. Human life is sacred, “must never be taken away, even in the case of someone who has done great evil.”
The “just war” theory was developed to offer criteria, like protecting civilians from attack, that had to be met before war could be morally justified and continued. Most unfortunately, this led to the Catholic Church’s abandonment of total Christ-like nonviolence.
The Church leadership and the People of God in the Philippines are facing the stark moral realities of the government’s violent war on drugs. They are called upon to take a stand and speak out. They are also called to reach out to those drug dependents who are in danger of being shot dead and in need of healing and help.
Working for over twenty years helping drug dependents recover from abuse and addiction in a rehabilitation sanctuary for young people using chemical substances, I learned that they are not criminals but in need of medical help and intervention.
Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez and Capiz Rep. Fredenil Castro want to bring back the death penalty in the Philippines as a deterrent to crime. It can be said that the death penalty is already effectively and practically in force daily. As many as ten suspects are killed every day in the war on illegal drugs.
