The Catholic Church has gone through unprecedented political persecution as the president himself has called for the killing of its bishops for their criticisms although he later retracted. He’s called for their mugging because according to him, they are rich and have wives. He’s also called them names. He even credits his winning the presidency to his attacks.

“(M)aybe it’s good to bullshit the bishops. It might make you win…You’d notice that they’re no longer complaining even if I said bullshit ‘yang…they don’t respond anymore. That is how to win the war against the Catholic Church. All you have to say is ‘P*t*ng*n* ninyo’, panalo ka na…”

According to news reports, his tirades drew “laughter” and “an even louder cheer from his audience” made up of Baptist pastors celebrating their 120th anniversary. Yup. If reports are accurate, God’s ministers flashed their pearly whites at filthy language (Col. 3:8), unwholesome talk (Eph. 4:29), obscenity and coarse joking (Eph. 5:4).

“Hypocrites,” captioned a Catholic FB netizen.

“How unchristian these Christians are,” said another.

What level of credibility do our leaders have now when they preach on those verses next time? What level of credibility do we of the Baptist faith now have when we go “into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature?” From people who have been warned to expect persecution (2 Tim. 3:12), we have become an enabler against the persecuted. Accurate report or not, we owe the Catholic church an apology for our insensitivity and cowardice. We also owe our congregation an apology for this lapse of judgment and most especially, to our God.