the catholic church cracks the whip in the Philippines

[ensho]

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Southeast_Asia/LI28Ae02.html

Divorced from reality in the Philippines


Karilyn, a 30-year-old Filipina, had been married for less than two years when her marriage turned sour. But like many Filipinos in her position, there is slim chance for escape due to Catholic religion influenced laws aimed at preserving the sanctity of family that make formal divorce illegal in the Philippines.

-snip-

For over three decades, Philippine legislators have debated and ultimately failed to introduce divorce laws. The debate has been repeatedly quashed due to strong opposition from the influential Catholic Church and a lack of strong advocates in the male-dominated congress. The Philippines is one of only two global countries, the other being Malta, which bars legal divorce.

-snip-

At the same time, the church has been roundly criticized for its support of outdated policies on reproductive issues. Its promotion of large family sizes is often blamed for the unrestrained population growth that has contributed to chronic poverty and high unemployment in the country. The lack of effective birth control policies has made the Philippines the 12th most populous country in the world with over 90 million people. At current population growth rates, the number of Filipinos is expected to balloon to 140 million by 2040.

-snip-

Recent polls show that women favor legalizing divorce more than men. Records posted in March by the National Statistical Coordination Board showed that a survey done by the University of the Philippines' Population Institute found that 40% of women would support a bill to legalize divorce in the country while only 8% of men would.

One explanation for male opposition is the double standard implicit in a culture that views the number of mistresses a man keeps as a reflection of his social status and power. In her best-selling book, Etiquette for Mistresses and what Wives can learn from them, newspaper columnist Julie Yap Daza wrote, "It appears that mistresses have gained a degree of acceptability," and that wives are expected to remain "demure and faithful", and endure abuses for the sake of family.

-long snip-
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there is even a book advising wives to make friends with their husband's mistress.

[Chipper Chat]

1. Shouldn't that read:

"the catholic church whips the cracks in the Philippines"

[pnorman]

2. The ONLY divorce that the Catholic church allows is from reality!

That superficial thought popped into my head when I first skimmed through your posting. My apologies. it's a worthwhile posting, and I didn't mean to trivialize it

[donquijoterocket]

3. not allowed

required for membership.No real difference from any other religion although the Catholics may have a more effective bureaucracy and disciplinary system,at least for lay members. For priests and other officials it's a different story,but even that's no different than most other religious bodies.

[cloudbase]

4. The church makes a tidy

sum selling annulments over there.

[ensho]

6. ahh - money, money, money

nt

[me b zola]

5. Anybody remember the epic thread, 'Its always about the women'?

It seems that whenever a religion wants to control a society, the first thing they do is limit the rights of women.