Monstrous act
Life is precious. And taking another life in a most monstrous way is beyond imagination. Thinking of various motivations leading to such act is also beyond one’s comprehension, thinking only that it is a thing of the past when barbarism was the norm. And that now, it is no longer within the human capacity to do so.
The way the 16-year-old girl in Lapu-Lapu City was killed, 30 stab wounds, her face skinned to the bone, the right ear cut and the tongue and esophagus taken out, is a classic example of a monstrous act that is unfathomable. This fuels the suspicion that way of the killing was done is in fulfilment of a certain belief, or cult. But we condemn such a way of killing. And that is the reason the reward from various sources is mounting, just to ensure the perpetrators will be captured soon.
Although such belief or practice of killing other human beings exists in other cultures, like in the case of medicine murder. This means the killing of a human being in order to excise body parts for use as medicine or for magical purposes in witchcraft. It is not viewed as a form of human sacrifice in a religious sense, because the motivation is not the death of a human or the effecting of magical changes through the death of a human being, but the obtaining of an item or items from their corpse to be used in traditional medicine.
The belief proposed by the Death with Dignity laws allows a terminally ill patient to hasten an inevitable and unavoidable death. While many faith traditions adhere to ancient traditions and understandings of physical life’s final journey, modern medical technology has opened the door for faith leaders to actively reconsider some beliefs.
However the official position of the Roman Catholic Church is strict: the killing of a human being, even by an act of omission to eliminate suffering, violates divine law and offends the dignity of the human person. However, many Catholics --particularly in the United States-- cite various quotations by Pope Benedict XVI as a source for continued disagreement and controversy regarding these controversial issues. To compound confusion, physician-assisted dying is frequently and erroneously considered euthanasia.
Unwittingly, religion frequently cultivates or, in any event, underpins violence. However, in a pluralistic culture where religious resistance is protected, it is hard to mediate popular sentiment that guarantees a religious base.
Spirituality is essential to any society. Perforce spirituality is an essential public concern, and it is an authentic topic for the human sciences. On the shared view of otherworldliness, religious, political, and scientific collaboration could create a common ethos that underpins social union and restricts violence from whatever source.
An ostensible lesson for the society that the recent killing has brought is that more than ever it is an interminable call for parents and the society to be extra cautious of the external forces that would compromise the very safety of our loved ones.
We may think and believe that there are friends, well-meaning individuals, and institutions anyway that provide protection and safety but all these remain insufficient, and at times futile. There is a high risk outside, and almost always beyond our own human control. Times have changed but our responses should be resolute and relentless.
- Latest
