Every nation eventually discovers that its greatest ambassadors are not always those who occupy the highest offices of government.
Sometimes they are young women carrying...
Global oil markets have largely calmed.
Shipping through the Strait of Hormuz has recovered after fears that the Iran-Israel conflict and subsequent U.S. military involvement...
In 1991 and 2015, the INC successfully mobilized its members against the incumbent administrations, making a powerful statement: when civil authorities overstep their authority...
"Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's; and unto God the things that are God's." (Matthew 22:21)
Few biblical passages have shaped Christian political thought as profoundly as Jesus Christ's answer to the Pharisees. When asked whether Jews should pay taxes to the Roman Empire, Jesus neither endorsed political rebellion nor surrendered religious authority to the State. Instead, He drew a distinction that has echoed through centuries of constitutional thought: civil government has legitimate authority over temporal affairs, while God alone exercises authority over matters of faith.
Every Christian denomination has interpreted that boundary differently. Some churches avoid politics almost entirely. Others openly campaign for public policies. Still others reserve political action for moments when they believe the State has encroached on religious territory.
The Iglesia Ni Cristo (INC) belongs largely to this third tradition.
Its recent mass mobilizations have revived an old question: Is the INC becoming increasingly political, or has political engagement always been part of its understanding of church-state relations?
Why are we still broken as a nation? A foreign friend once told me that in his country, if events involving large-scale plunder of public funds occurred, the culprits would either commit hara-kiri or face life imprisonment. But here, we lost two trillion pesos after fifteen or more contractor companies, an unknown number of legislators, and a large, organized syndicate of DPWH officials conspired to amass a staggering amount of public money.
Political scientists have long argued that protests alone rarely transform political systems. Charles Tilly, Sidney Tarrow, and Doug McAdam observed that demonstrations become effective only when they are part of broader political opportunities, sustained organization, and institutional pressure. More recently, Erica Chenoweth's extensive research on civil resistance found that successful movements require persistent participation, strategic organization, and the ability to shift the loyalties of institutions—not merely symbolic marches.
