Academia & Ecclesia

A secularized law is a law that is devoid of any inherent influences, grounds, or justifications from any religion. It has a neutral position in matters of religious convictions. In a religiously pluralistic society, like the U.S., any of its laws must have secularized bases or foundations. Religiously grounded values cannot be universally, objectively, or conclusively validated. Such values can only be validated relative to the religious framework that one uses. For example, as Christians, we value marriage as a sacred union between a man and a woman. We justify its sacredness within our religious framework, namely a framework that is informed by the Bible. However, it is obviously the case that there are many non-Christian Americans, who do not use the same framework in justifying their beliefs. The imposition of such a view of marriage on non-Christians infringes on the rights and liberties of non-Christian Americans to choose their own religious or philosophical stances on the stat...

I am annoyed by the recent town hall meetings with some U.S. senators and representatives. With angry citizens who are clearly misinformed by the conservative media and conservative politicians, rational discourses regarding Obama’s health care reform bill seem impossible. How can one have a rational discourse with anyone who is overwhelmed by his or her irrational impulses, in addition to deeply held false beliefs? They are misinformed considering that their claims are drawn from fallacious inferences (e.g. slippery slope, red herring, straw man, ad hominem, etc.). They are moved by their fears, prejudices, paranoia, insecurities, false assumptions, etc. Of course, conservative media (like Fox News) and conservative politicians (like Sarah Palin) are responsible for fanning the flame with fallacious, sensationalist, exaggerated, and caricatured claims about the proposed health care reform bill. Loud mouths with messages lacking in substance usually work in inspiring the masses. Substa...

The rights that the law protects are the ones that can be imposed on the citizens who are within the jurisdictions of such law. The determinations of what rights citizens must possess must not be guided by some religious or metaphysical principles, since such principles are usually difficult to conclusively, universally or objectively justify. Rights must be determined as byproducts of social contracts that are eventually established in a community that promotes the sustainability of individual lives, fairly distributed individual liberties, and the common happiness of the general population. Generally, a citizen must have the right to do whatever he wants to do as long as he or she does not cause direct physical harm on another citizen or direct damages to privately or publicly owned properties. Considering that fetuses are not technically citizens (unless we arbitrarily include them), the mother’s right to have an abortion must qualify within the scope of the legally protectable righ...

Human sinfulness inhibits our abilities to enjoy the things that are designed to make deeply relational creatures, like us, genuinely happy. The genuine happiness that I have in mind involves a feeling of deep satisfaction that evokes awe in response to the beauty of a relationship that is inspired by love. For example, our tendency to be greedy inhibits our ability to enjoy the act of giving that is motivated by love. Extramarital affairs inhibit a person’s ability to enjoy the depth of a loving relationship with his or her spouse. Pride inhibits our ability to enjoy a loving relationship with other people. The act of lying inhibits our ability to enjoy the beauty of a relationship that is based on honesty. Worldly pleasures inhibit our ability to enjoy the beauty of a life that is lived in peace and tranquility. The loving God designed humans for genuine happiness. However, human sinfulness inhibits our progress to genuine happiness. So, a loving God ought to be deeply bothered by hu...

I’m not really a political junky, although I like watching shows and reading news articles on politics. With the current budget crisis in the U.S., in particular California (where I live and work), and the corruption problems with the main leaders of the Philippines (where I was born and raised), I have a pessimistic outlook on the capacities of the citizenry to immediately cause significant changes in a nation. We have conflicting expert opinions about extremely important matters that can supposedly be addressed objectively. We have politicians with selfish personal agendas. Most voters are pretty much ill-informed about what’s really up with the political world. We have business-minded popular media. We have speculations and suspicions about people in power, which are entertaining enough to be manipulated by the popular media for monetary gains. All forms of government somehow encountered failures. Political theories often have significant limitations. Look at the results of the so-c...

I am concerned with personal knowledge of God. It is a kind of knowledge that is based on acquaintance. In a sense, acquaintance knowledge generally has perceptual element. However, God, as invisible, is not perceptually accessible. So, if the invisible God, who exists, tries to reveal himself, either we do not understand what he tries to reveal or there is a way to somehow understand what he tries to reveal. Of course, it is possible that there is a God who tries to reveal himself and we do not understand what he tries to reveal. If such possibility is in actuality the case, then reflections on God are pretty much useless. It means that this God is unaware of the fact that he is doomed to fail in his attempts to reveal. Christianity is a religion that assumes that the invisible God tries to reveal himself and there is a way to somehow understand what he tries to reveal. Although God is invisible, God’s revelatory acts in human history are visible. So, his revelatory acts in human hist...

Since Valentine’s Day is right around the corner, let me briefly reflect about love. What is the nature of God’s love for humanity? What is the nature of that love that has God as its object or the kind of love (directed to God) that the Bible demands from humans? God’s love and the love that is demanded from us are both intense and radical. God’s love for humanity is both intense and radical. Based on the theological narrative that developed through the spiritual insights of the early followers of Jesus (like Peter, John, and Paul), Jesus is the ultimate expression of God’s love for humanity. What does it mean? According to their theological narrative, Jesus is the only begotten Son of God. God sent his only begotten Son to serve as the sacrifice for the sins of the world. The religious frameworks of the ancient world, of course, shaped the formation of this narrative. In the ancient world, human actions that offend the deities require sacrifices that sufficiently appease the offended...