To seek righteousness

THE Bible says in 2 Timothy 3:16, “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.” It is on this premise that House Minority Leader Bienvenido “Benny” Abante, Jr. filed House Bill 2069 or the “Mandatory Bible Reading Act of 2019” seeking to make Bible reading mandatory in all

public elementary and high schools throughout the country.

Abante is trying to tear down the wall that separates between the Church and State, his two masters; which is apparently hard to serve at the same time. Abante is the Senior Pastor of the Metropolitan Bible Baptist Ekklessia church affairs who sought to amalgamate with his political affairs.

According to asiasociety.org, Philippines is the only Christian nation in Asia; and ranked 5th largest Christian country on Earth in 2010 according to Wikipedia.

For a Christian country like Philippines, Bible reading is good but should not find a place in the halls of congress as mandatory. Because the fundamental law of the land, particularly Article 3 Section 5, prohibits persecution of a person for his religious belief; neither had it mandated to establish a single religion for this country. Let us be mindful that there are also

non-Christian or non-Bible-based religions, atheists and the agnostics. Although they represent a minute dot of the population, still they are entitled to these basic rights.

Granting arguendo that this will become a law, all English and Filipino teachers have to study the basic of theology or at least a certain hermeneutical principle for them to deliver correctly the critical exegesis of the Bible after reading. Sheer reading without understanding is not reading at all, that is basic.