Religion
is the belief in and worship of a god or gods, or any such system of
belief and worship, usually involving devotional and ritual observances,
and often containing a moral code governing the conduct of human
affairs.
Freedom of religion is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or community, in public or private, to manifest religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship, and observance; the concept is generally recognized also to include the freedom to change religion or not to follow any religion. Freedom of religion is considered by many people and nations to be a fundamental human right. Thomas Jefferson said (1807) "among the inestimable of our blessings, also, is that ...of liberty to worship our Creator in the way we think most agreeable to His will; ..."
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It is said that the Philippines was colonized by Spain through the
use of the sword and the cross. Thus, religion was as instrument in
subjugating Filipinos. Not surprisingly, therefore, when the Philippines
was still under Spain, Roman Catholicism was the state religion. The
union of the Church and the State generated a lot of abuses and
resentment. And so, when the Katipuneros established their
own government after their ill-fated revolution against Spain, Article 5
of the Malolos Constitution provided for freedom and equality of
religious worship as well as the separation of church and state. But, as
it turned out, the Philippines was not yet to be free. The United
States of America snatched the Filipinos’ freedom away from them, and
the Philippines, once again, became the colony of a foreign power.
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Fortunately, America espoused more libertarian ideas than Spain. The
modern legal concept of religious freedom as the union of freedom of
belief and freedom of worship with the absence of any state-sponsored
religion, originated in the United States of America. Religious Liberty
has been interpreted to include freedom to worship according to
conscience and to bring up children in the faith of their parents;
freedom for the individual to change his religion; freedom to preach,
educate, publish and carry on missionary activities; and freedom to
organize with others, and to acquire and hold property, for these
purposes.
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The change of sovereignty from Spain to the United States of America
and the enactment of the fourteenth paragraph of section 5 of the
Philippine Bill caused the complete separation of church and state, and
the abolishment of all special privileges and of restrictions
theretofore conferred or imposed upon any particular religious sect. All
became equal in the eyes of the law, and those articles of the Penal
Code defining special crimes against that denomination, which, under the
former sovereign, was the state religion, as well as legal provisions
defining crime against all others than that religion, have necessarily
become inoperative.
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President William McKinley's Instructions to the Second Philippine
Commission directed "that no law shall be made respecting an
establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof and
that the free exercise and enjoyment of religious profession and worship
without discrimination or preference shall forever or allowed." The
same statement of the eternal nature of the freedom is found in the
Philippine Bill in 1902 and in the Philippine Autonomy Act of 1916, more
popularly known as the Jones Law.
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At present, Section 5, Article III of the Constitution (Bill of
Rights) provides: "No law shall be made respecting an establishment of
religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof. The free exercise
and enjoyment of religious profession and worship, without
discrimination or preference, shall forever be allowed. No religious
test shall be required for the exercise of civil or political rights."
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The constitutional inhibition on legislation on the subject of
religion has a double aspect. On the one hand, it forestalls compulsion
by law of the acceptance of any creed or the practice of any form of
worship. Freedom of conscience and freedom to adhere to such religious
organization or form of worship as the individual may choose cannot be
restricted by law. On the other hand, it safeguards the free exercise of
the chosen form of religion. Thus religious freedom embraces two
concepts — freedom to believe and freedom to act. The first is absolute
as long as the belief is confined within the realm of thought. The
second is subject to regulation where the belief is translated into
external acts that affect the public welfare.
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The individual is free to believe (or disbelieve) as he pleases
concerning the hereafter. He may indulge his own theories about life and
death; worship any god he chooses, or none at all; embrace or reject
any religion; acknowledge the divinity of God or of any being that
appeals to his reverence; recognize or deny the immortality of his soul —
in fact, cherish any religious conviction as he and he alone sees fit.
However absurd his beliefs may be to others, even if they be hostile and
heretical to the majority, he has full freedom to believe as he
pleases. He may not be required to prove his beliefs. He may not be
punished for his inability to do so. Religion, after all, is a matter of
faith. "Men may believe what they cannot prove." Every one has a right
to his beliefs and he may not be called to account because he cannot
prove what he believes.
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But where the individual externalizes his beliefs in acts or
omissions that affect the public, his freedom to do so becomes subject
to the authority of the State. As great as this liberty may be,
religious freedom, like all the other rights guaranteed in the
Constitution, can be enjoyed only with a proper regard for the rights of
others. It is error to think that the mere invocation of religious
freedom will stalemate the State and render it impotent in protecting
the general welfare. The inherent police power can be exercised to
prevent religious practices inimical to society. And this is true even
if such practices are pursued out of sincere religious conviction and
not merely for the purpose of evading the reasonable requirements or
prohibitions of the law.
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Accordingly, while one has full freedom to believe in Satan, he may
not offer the object of his piety a human sacrifice, as this would be
murder. Those who literally interpret the Biblical command to "go forth
and multiply" are nevertheless not allowed to go around and have sex
with anybody he pleases in violation of the laws against chastity. A
person cannot refuse to pay taxes on the ground that it would be against
his religious tenets to recognize any authority except that of God
alone. An atheist cannot express his disbelief in acts of derision that
wound the feelings of the faithful. The police power can be validly
asserted against the Indian practice of the suttee born of deep religious conviction, that calls on the widow to immolate herself at the funeral pyre of her husband.
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