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Philippines RELIGIOUS LIFE
Religion holds a central place in the life of most Filipinos,
including Catholics, Muslims, Buddhists, Protestants, and
animists. It is central not as an abstract belief system, but
rather as a host of experiences, rituals, ceremonies, and
adjurations that provide continuity in life, cohesion in the
community, and moral purpose for existence. Religious
associations are part of the system of kinship ties, patronclient bonds, and other linkages outside the nuclear family.
Christianity and Islam have been superimposed on ancient
traditions and acculturated. The unique religious blends that
have resulted, when combined with the strong personal faith of
Filipinos, have given rise to numerous and diverse revivalist
movements. Generally characterized by millenarian goals,
antimodern bias, supernaturalism, and authoritarianism in the
person of a charismatic messiah figure, these movements have
attracted thousands of Filipinos, especially in areas like
Mindanao, which have been subjected to extreme pressure of change
over a short period of time. Many have been swept up in these
movements, out of a renewed sense of fraternity and community.
Like the highly visible examples of flagellation and reenacted
crucifixion in the Philippines, these movements may seem to have
little in common with organized Christianity or Islam. But in the
intensely personalistic Philippine religious context, they have
not been aberrations so much as extreme examples of how religion
retains its central role in society.
The religious composition of the Philippines remained
predominantly Catholic in the late 1980s. In 1989 approximately
82 percent of the population was Roman Catholic; Muslims
accounted for only 5 percent. The remaining population was mostly
affiliated with other Christian churches, although there were
also a small number of Buddhists, Daoists (or Taoists), and
tribal animists. Christians were to be found throughout the
archipelago. Muslims remained largely in the south and were less
integrated than other religious minorities into the mainstream of
Philippine culture. Although most Chinese were members of
Christian churches, a minority of Chinese worshipped in Daoist or
in Buddhist temples, the most spectacular of which was an
elaborate Daoist temple on the outskirts of Cebu.
Data as of June 1991
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