When Philippines president called God “stupid” and “a son of a b****”, he angered believers, Newsweek reports. Rodrigo Duterte also promised to step down if someone can prove God exists.
Since July 17, the bishops asked Filipino Catholics to join bishops in three more days of prayers with fasting and almsgiving without giving other details. After Friday’s words of Rodrigo Duterte, the Christian groups accused Rodrigo Duterte of insulting God. The 73-year-old national leader offered them to prove God’s existence and if someone will able to do that, Philippines President is ready to step down the presidency.
Amid the animosity, Duterte’s office invited archbishop Valles for a dialogue with the president. According to Valle, presidential aides later announced that the two met for 30 minutes at the presidential palace, with Duterte agreeing “to a moratorium on statements about the church.”
During his televised antireligious speech on Friday, Duterte lamented that Adam and Eve’s sin in Christian theology resulted in all the faithful falling from divine grace.
“Who is this stupid God? This son of a bitch is then really stupid,”
he said and angered thousands of Christians a the moment.
In response, the bishops cited Saint Paul’s teaching that “when we are persecuted, we bear it patiently; when slandered, we respond gently.” But they added that God’s “peace is never the peace of compromise or capitulation to evil.”
The bishops denied accusations that they were involved in moves to destabilize the government and said the church respects elected officials “as long as they do not contradict the basic spiritual and moral principles we hold dear, such as respect for the sacredness of life.”
Despite the great impact of the Catholic church leaders in the Philippines, an eccentric Duterte was able to keep his popularity based on surveys and has repeatedly vowed to step down if allegations of corruption against him and his family can be proven.
