{"id":12834,"date":"2018-06-26T14:36:51","date_gmt":"2018-06-26T18:36:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/?p=12834"},"modified":"2018-06-26T14:36:51","modified_gmt":"2018-06-26T18:36:51","slug":"philippines-president-sparks-new-outrage-calls-god-stupid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2018\/06\/philippines-president-sparks-new-outrage-calls-god-stupid","title":{"rendered":"Philippines President Sparks New Outrage, Calls God \u201cStupid\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, who has a reputation for rambling public statements, violently cracking down on the drug trade and cursing world leaders, recently took his vitriol to an unexpected place. The president of Asia\u2019s largest Catholic country called God a \u201cstupid son of a bitch.\u201d During a televised speech, Duterte lambasted the biblical account of creation found in Genesis. Duterte asked why God would create Adam and Eve only to allow them to succumb to temptation and so destroy their purity and curse their descendants.<\/p>\n

\u201cWho is this stupid God?\u201d asked Duterte. \u201cThis son of a bitch is really stupid\u2026You were not\u00a0 involved but now you\u2019re stained with an original sins\u2026What kind of religion is that? That\u2019s what I can\u2019t accept, very stupid proposition.\u201d<\/p>\n

Duterte went on to pose a rhetorical question to the Christian country and is undoubtedly unhappy with the answers he was given despite the question\u2019s rhetorical nature. \u201cHow can you rationalize a God? Do you believe?\u201d he asked. The response from the country was far from the one Duterte was no doubt hoping to receive. Instead of questioning their faith, many Catholics slammed Duterte.<\/p>\n

Senator Panfilo Lacson, a former police chief, has often backed Duterte\u2019s policies but felt that the president had gone much too far in his recent remarks. \u201cI pray every single day and with [God] I\u2019ve found solace and comfort in all my difficult times, I don\u2019t even have to think of my choice,\u201d said Lacson. \u201cMay my God forgive [Duterte] and make him atone for all his sins.\u201d<\/p>\n

Opposition Senator Antonio Trillanes IV said Duterte\u2019s remarks were \u201cvery much consistent with the deceitfulness, heartlessness and ruthlessness of his policies\u2026[He is] one evil man.\u201d<\/p>\n

Catholic Bishop Arturo Bastes similarly described Duterte as a \u201cmadman\u201d and urged Filipinos to pray for Duterte\u2019s \u201cblasphemous utterances and dictatorial tendencies\u201d to come to an end. \u201cDuterte\u2019s tirade against God and the Bible reveals again that he is a psychological freak, a psychopath, an abnormal mind who should not have been elected as president of our civilized and Christian nation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite the outrage, Duterte was not dissuaded from continuing to disparage God. In a second speech a few days later, Duterte asked why people wanted to \u201cbind [him] with something very stupid.\u201d<\/p>\n

Outrage among Filipino Catholics is not entirely new, especially after Duterte cursed Pope Francis for having triggered terrible traffic in Manila during his 2015 visit. This time, however, Catholics such as Ruperto Santos feel that Duterte has \u201ccrossed a line\u201d with his inflammatory remarks. How Catholics will continue to respond remains to be seen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, who has a reputation for rambling public statements, violently cracking down on the drug trade and cursing world leaders, recently took his vitriol to an unexpected place. The president of Asia\u2019s largest Catholic country called God a \u201cstupid son of a bitch.\u201d During a televised speech, Duterte lambasted the biblical account…<\/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":[32,5],"tags":[2366],"class_list":["post-12834","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christian","category-politics","tag-international"],"yoast_head":"\nPhilippines President Sparks New Outrage, Calls God \u201cStupid\u201d<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"President Rodrigo Duterte of the Philippines recently sparked outrage among his people when he called God \u201cstupid.\u201d\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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