Ironically, it is England,which has an established church that once legally barred clerics from sitting in the elected Commons. Clerics may influence State policy, the electorate once believed. While in the Lords, the bishops of the Established Church have a right to sit, they get their rights  from ancient practice. However the bishops by convention never vote on matters of State or law.

Thus some separation of Church and State is even maintained in what seems to be an archaic institution as Britain’s parliament.

But in 2001, Parliament passed an act allowing clergy to stand for election in the Commons. The British public have become comfortable with clerics being MPs provided that they resign their Holy Orders.

Thus the separation of the State from the Church is still in practice maintained.  All these in a Kingdom where the Church and State are theoretically one, the Queen is Supreme Governor of the Church and that all subjects should be Church of England communicants.

The British electorate are therefore no longer confused with their MPs political and religious sentiments, thus the removal of clergy disqualification. As a result the Devil is given a little laud while great praise is given to God! (For those unfamiliar with this witticism, this is a paraphrase of  what Charles I’s fool said when asked to comment on the Puritan influence in the English state). The Devil in English literary tradition refers to the the King (Recall the famous line in Bolt’s “A Man for all Seasons”?  . “I give the Devil the benefit of law for my own safety’s sake!)

This leads me to consider whether Filipinos are ready to have clerics elected as their representatives in government. The Inquirer’s Vox Populi has this to say and reader’s comments on Ed Panlilio’s travails as Governor of Pampanga.  Based on what I read, we Filipinos are not ready to have clerics elected as our representative. We confound God and the Devil and in the process get terribly confused. Perhaps the Spanish friars failed to complete their tasks. We are syncretists. God and the Devil are one!

And in Panlilio God and the Devil are. I fault him for not doing the honourable thing. He should have resigned his Holy Orders prior to standing for election. Mere “leave” from the Catholic priesthood smacks of dishonesty.  Also his bishop is not free from sin. Under Canon Law he has the authority to boot out Panlilio from the priesthood. There is wisdom why Catholic Canon Law bans clerics from standing for election.

Thus when bribe money is flashed on the TV news with Panlilio holding the “supot”, people can’t figure out if he was the Devil himself or God!

But I disagree with many of the commenters on Vox Populi. Panlilo wasn’t confused. He knew that his priesthood was a good campaign stunt. Unfortunately his electorate is confused and is the loser as the result.

And the Devil may have the last laugh!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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