Wednesday, October 08, 2014

25th Fundamental Bible Conference (2nd Far East Regional Conference of International Partnership Ministries), Oct. 27-31

Oct. 27-28 at The Demiren Hotel, Tiano-Makahambus Sts., Cagayan de Oro City

Oct. 29-31 at The Integrated Bar of the Philippines, 15 Julia Vargas St. Ortigas Center, Pasig City

For inquiries, you may call 829-37-33; 801-67-89; 514-83-40; 636-55-35.

The one-time registration fee of P150.00 will enable delegates to avail of notes and pens, and to attend all the sessions. Visit and "Like" us at Facebook for updates and details of time schedules.

Lineup of seminar speakers:
  1. Dr. Kevin Callahan, President of IPM, Hanover, Pennsylvania
  2. Dr. Bill Bowen, IPM International Representative
  3. Rev. Matthew Barfield, IPM Vice-President of Field Ministries
  4. Pastor Jun Gonzales, Pastor of Las Pinas Baptist Church, Las Pinas
  5. Pastor Abet Tiangco, Pastor of Promised Land Baptist Church, Malabon
  6. Dr. Roberto-Jose Livioco, Foundation Baptist Church, Pasig City
Topics:
  1. "Ethical Concerns Regarding Electronic Pleasures" by Pastor Abet Tiangco
  2. "God's Design for the Christian Home" by Pastor Jun Gonzales
  3. "Discerning Errors of the Charismatic Movement" by Dr. Kevin Callahan
  4. "Decisions by Convenience, Covetousness, or Conviction" by Rev. Matthew Barfield
  5. "Biblical Separation Applied" by Dr. Roberto-Jose Livioco
  6. "The Role of Prayer in Global Missions" by Dr. Bill Bowen
Keynote speaker this year is Dr. Chuck Phelps, Senior Pastor of Colonial Hills Baptist Church, Indianapolis, USA. His messages will cover the following
  1. "Assurance When You Are Afflicted"
  2. "How to Bring Faith to Your Family
  3. "How to Have a Double Portion of God's Blessings
  4. "Bringing Great Joy to Your City"

Tuesday, June 10, 2014

Supreme Court decision on RH law a victory for freedom of religion

Plain Language summary:

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/592893/sc-ruling-on-rh-law-win-win

[1] Sections 7, 23 and 24 of the RH law obligate hospital or medical practitioners to immediately refer a person seeking health care and services to another accessible healthcare provider despite their conscientious objections based on religious or ethical beliefs.

[2] The obligation to refer imposed by the RH Law violates the religious belief and conviction of a conscientious objector.

“Generally, healthcare service providers cannot be forced to render reproductive health care procedures if doing it would contravene their religious beliefs.”

[3] Exception: in life-threatening cases, healthcare providers cannot invoke freedom of religion.

“But an exception must be made in life threatening cases that require the performance of emergency procedures. In these situations, the right to life of the mother should be given preference, considering that a referral by a medical practitioner would amount to a denial of service, resulting to unnecessarily placing the life of a mother in grave danger.”

[4] Freedom of religion preferred in Constitution; Benevolent neutrality doctrine

“In case of conflict between the State and Constitution’s free exercise of religion clause, the Court adheres to the doctrine of benevolent neutrality” which is “the spirit, intent and framework underlying the Philippine Constitution.”

[5] No compelling State interest to set aside benevolent neutrality


[6] Relevant US case: “Supreme Court Sides with Hobby Lobby

“In a 5 to 4 ruling, the Supreme Court ruled that the federal government cannot require faith-based companies to provide potentially abortifacient contraceptives to their employees in violation of their owners' religious beliefs.” (Read the complete decision.)
The Supreme Court, voting unanimously, upheld the Reproductive Health Law as Constitutional. But the Court, at the same time, struck down certain provisions of the RH law because they violate the Constitutional provisions on freedom of religion and freedom of speech. Among the provisions declared un-Constitutional are:

Section 7 and the corresponding provision in the RH-IRR insofar as they: a) require private health facilities and non-maternity specialty hospitals and hospitals owned and operated by a religious group to refer patients, not in an emergency or life-threatening case, as defined under Republic Act No. 8344, to another health facility which is conveniently accessible; xxx

Section 23(a)(l) and the corresponding provision in the RH-IRR, particularly Section 5 .24, insofar as they punish any healthcare service provider who fails and or refuses to disseminate information regarding programs and services on reproductive health regardless of his or her religious beliefs.

Section 23(b) and the corresponding provision in the RH-IRR, particularly Section 5 .24, insofar as they punish any public officer who refuses to support reproductive health programs or shall do any act that hinders the full implementation of a reproductive health program, regardless of his or her religious beliefs; xxx

Obligation to refer violates freedom of religion

 

“Sections 7, 23, and 24 of the RH law commonly mandate a hospital or a medical practitioner to immediately refer a person seeking health care and services under the law to another accessible healthcare provider despite their conscientious objections based on religious or ethical beliefs.” The Court ruled that the obligation to refer imposed by the RH Law violates the religious belief and conviction of a conscientious objector:
Once the medical practitioner, against his will, refers a patient seeking information on modem reproductive health products, services, procedures and methods, his conscience is immediately burdened as he has been compelled to perform an act against his beliefs. As Commissioner Joaquin A. Bernas has written, "at the basis of the free exercise clause is the respect for the inviolability of the human conscience."
The Court further explained:
Though it has been said that the act of referral is an opt-out clause, it is, however, a false compromise because it makes pro-life health providers complicit in the performance of an act that they find morally repugnant or offensive. They cannot, in conscience, do indirectly what they cannot do directly. One may not be the principal, but he is equally guilty if he abets the offensive act by indirect participation.

Freedom of religion preferred in Constitution


The Court said:
Freedom of religion was accorded preferred status by the framers of our fundamental law. And this Court has consistently affirmed this preferred status, well aware that it is "designed to protect the broadest possible liberty of conscience, to allow each man to believe as his conscience directs, to profess his beliefs, and to live as he believes he ought to live, consistent with the liberty of others and with the common good."

Penalties by RH law on healthcare service providers who refuse to refer are un-Constitutional

The Court is not oblivious to the view that penalties provided by law endeavor to ensure compliance. Without set consequences for either an active violation or mere inaction, a law tends to be toothless and ineffectual.

Nonetheless, when what is bartered for an effective implementation of a law is a constitutionally-protected right the Court firmly chooses to stamp its disapproval. The punishment of a healthcare service provider, who fails and/or refuses to refer a patient to another, or who declines to perform reproductive health procedure on a patient because incompatible religious beliefs, is a clear inhibition of a constitutional guarantee which the Court cannot allow.

Exception: in life-threatening situations, healthcare providers cannot invoke freedom of religion

While generally healthcare service providers cannot be forced to render reproductive health care procedures if doing it would contravene their religious beliefs, an exception must be made in life threatening cases that require the performance of emergency procedures. In these situations, the right to life of the mother should be given preference, considering that a referral by a medical practitioner would amount to a denial of service, resulting to unnecessarily placing the life of a mother in grave danger.

Doctrine of benevolent neutrality


In striking down these provisions, the Supreme Court said that "in case of conflict between the State and Constitution's free exercise of religion clause, the Court adheres to the doctrine of benevolent neutrality" which is "the spirit, intent and framework underlying the Philippine Constitution."

The Court explained what benevolent neutrality is all about:
The benevolent neutrality theory believes that with respect to these governmental actions, accommodation of religion may be allowed, not to promote the government's favored form of religion, but to allow individuals and groups to exercise their religion without hindrance."

 

No compelling State interest to set aside benevolent neutrality 


The Court may set aside benevolent neutrality if there is a compelling state interest. In the case of the RH law, the Office of the Solicitor General said that the compelling State interest was "fifteen maternal deaths per day, hundreds of thousands of unintended pregnancies, lives changed." But the Court rejected this argument:
The undisputed fact, however, is that the World Health Organization reported that the Filipino maternal mortality rate dropped to 48 percent from 1990 to 2008, although there was still no RH Law at that time. Despite such revelation, the proponents still insist that such number of maternal deaths constitute a compelling state interest.

Friday, June 06, 2014

Supreme Court Justice Jose C. Mendoza: Life begins at fertilization, not during implantation



The Supreme Court has affirmed that the Reproductive Health law is Constitutional. But the Court has also said that several provisions of the RH law are un-Constitutional because they violate the freedom of speech and freedom of religion clauses of the Constitution. As to the moment when life begins, the Court said that it is a scientific and medical issue that should not be decided without proper hearing and evidence. But the Court allowed each Justice to express personal views on this issue.

Justice Jose C. Mendoza is the ponente (writer) of the Court’s decision on the RH law. He expressed his view that life begins at fertilization, not when the fertilized egg has been implanted on the uterine wall.

“In all, whether it be taken from a plain meaning, or understood under medical parlance, and more importantly, following the intention of the Framers of the Constitution, the undeniable conclusion is that a zygote is a human organism and that the life of a new human being commences at a scientifically well-defined moment of conception, that is, upon fertilization.”

“This theory of implantation as the beginning of life is devoid of any legal or scientific mooring. It does not pertain to the beginning of life but to the viability of the fetus. The fertilized ovum/zygote is not an inanimate object - it is a living human being complete with DNA and 46 chromosomes. Implantation has been conceptualized only for convenience by those who had population control in mind. To adopt it would constitute textual infidelity not only to the RH Law but also to the Constitution.”
(Note: Statements in Supreme Court decisions that do not affect rulings, like personal views, are called obiter dicta.)

Overview of Justice Mendoza’s views:


Plain and legal meaning Webster’s Third New International Dictionary describes conception as the act of becoming pregnant, formation of a viable zygote; the fertilization that results in a new entity capable of developing into a being like its parents.

Black’s Law Dictionary gives legal meaning to the term “conception”as the fecundation of the female ovum by the male spermatozoon resulting in human life capable of survival and maturation under normal conditions.

Continental Steel Manufacturing Corporation v. Hon. Accredited Voluntary Arbitrator Allan S. Montano

Gonzales v. Carhart
Medical parlance Mosby’s Medical, Nursing, and Allied Health Dictionary defines conception as “the beginning of pregnancy usually taken to be the instant a spermatozoon enters an ovum and forms a viable zygote.” It describes fertilization as “the union of male and female gametes to form a zygote from which the embryo develops.”

The Textbook of Obstetrics (Physiological & Pathological Obstetrics)
Intention of the Framers of the 1987 Constitution Records of the Constitutional Convention also shed light on the intention of the Framers regarding the term “conception”used in Section 12, Article II of the Constitution. From their deliberations, it clearly refers to the moment of “fertilization.” The records reflect the following:

Rev. Rigos: In Section 9, page 3, there is a sentence which reads:

“The State shall equally protect the life of the mother and the life of the unborn from the moment of conception.”

When is the moment of conception?
xxx

Mr. Villegas: As I explained in the sponsorship speech, it is when the ovum is fertilized by the sperm that there is human life.

Friday, March 21, 2014

Online Bible quizzes

These interactive exercises (matching type, multiple choice, cloze, and flashcards) are part of my Baptist Distinctives blog. For the timer and automatic scoring to work, you must enable Javascript in your browser.