Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 22:34:00 11/26/2010
Filed Under: Churches (organisations), Family planning
LAST NOV. 20, a group of about 20 people calling itself Filipino Freethinkers went to the Manila Cathedral where a “Prayer Service for Discernment with Holy Mass—Point of Discernment: RH Bill” was being held. They went there, they said, to express support for the bill. The church bulletin board said, “Everyone is cordially invited.”
The prayer service had been organized by Pro-Life Philippines, led by its president, Eric Manalang, one of the RH bill’s most outspoken opponents.
The Filipino Freethinkers group acceded to the request by Marita Wasan, executive director of Pro-Life Philippines, not to enter the church. They stayed on the courtyard, where, after the service, Manalang and his group approached them and heatedly chided them for their presence. In the video that has been posted online, Manalang can be seen losing his cool and yelling at the group: “Satan, get away from us! You should have asked your mother to abort you!”
The Freethinkers group has also reported in its blog that “They [Pro-Life Philippines] distributed pamphlets claiming, among other things, that even mere condoms—which they wrongly consider abortifacients—could give cancer, heart attacks, stroke and disabilities to the user and their offspring. They claimed that there was universal evidence that condom use increased the spread of AIDS. There is absolutely no evidence that supports any of these claims—and plenty of evidence that contradicts them.”
For more on the article, click HERE.
