Revisiting the Philippine Reproductive Health Politics via the Lens of Public Theology: The Role of Progressive Catholic and Protestant Sectors
Revisiting the Philippine Reproductive Health Politics via the Lens of Public Theology: The Role of Progressive Catholic and Protestant Sectors

Summary/Abstract: Being a traditionally religious country, the role of religion in Philippine politics is frequently neglected as scholars are used to frame religious actors based on either interest group politics or theological interpretations. This paper employs a new approach called public theology. Using the Reproductive Health Debate from 2010 – 2012 as a case to analyze, the public theology approach explores a marginalized religious sector which became influential in reshaping the religio-political discourse about the morality of a politician voting in favor of the Reproductive Health Bill. This marginalized sector, the progressive religious leaders both from Catholic and Protestant traditions, is influential for providing an alternative moral criteria which served as an opportunity for the President and Congress members to counter the moral and political threat posed by fundamentalist Christian groups which oppose the passage of the Reproductive Health Bill as lead by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines.

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