![\"Rodrigo_Duterte\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/409\/2018\/07\/Rodrigo_Duterte.jpg\")
Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte seems to be playing a bizarre game of chicken with God: How long can Duterte mock God before he needs to worry about an old fashioned smiting? The answer is unclear how far Duterte can go before he needs to start trying to dodge lightning bolts, but Philippine Christians are getting fed up with the president\u2019s constant disparaging remarks. Unfortunately, Duterte\u2019s latest comments have only continued to mock Christianity.<\/p>\n
When he spoke at the anniversary of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources in Quezon City, Duterte lashed out at faith-based objections to his current family planning policies. The administration has emphasized its commitment to reproductive health and holds that giving people artificial means to limit or space out births will create or sustain economic growth. To that end, Duterte signed an executive order in January 2017 that directed agencies to fund and enforce access to free birth control as part of the Responsible Parenthood and Reproductive Health Act of 2012.<\/p>\n
The Catholic Church has opposed Duterte\u2019s laws, much to the president\u2019s displeasure. During his speech at the Department of Environment and Natural Resources\u2019 anniversary, Duterte lashed out at the Roman Catholic Church. His remarks did not name the Catholic Church specifically, but his words were clearly directed at them when he bemoaned the \u201ccreeping influence of faith\u201d that was working to undermine his government.<\/p>\n
\u201cI do not like [this] creeping influence of faith,\u201d Duterte said. \u201c[It] sometimes run[s] counter to what [the] government believes to be good for the people, at least in this temporal life.\u201d<\/p>\n
Duterte self-identifies as a Catholic himself, despite disagreeing with the doctrine of original sin and having called God \u201cstupid\u201d just over two weeks before he spoke at the Department of Environment and Natural Resources\u2019 anniversary. Ironically, his speech was given just days before he was set to speak with the Catholic Bishops\u2019 Conference of the Philippines president Davao Archbishop Romulo Valles in an effort to mend ties with Catholics and other Christians who have been offended by Duterte\u2019s recent remarks. No doubt Duterte\u2019s comments only made that dialogue more unpleasant.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte seems to be playing a bizarre game of chicken with God: How long can Duterte mock God before he needs to worry about an old fashioned smiting? The answer is unclear how far Duterte can go before he needs to start trying to dodge lightning bolts, but Philippine Christians are getting…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":616,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[137,93],"tags":[31,148,147],"class_list":["post-207","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christian-persecution","category-political","tag-anti-christian","tag-asia","tag-philippines"],"yoast_head":"\n