Urban Legends

Philippine Cultic Urban Legend

Hoy! Itago niyo ang mga tsinelas niyo tuwing gabi, kasi pag nakuha ng isang kulto ang isang tsinelas, papatayin ka nila.

I can't forget that warning when I was a child. Our neighbors that time often told me to not let even one of my flip-flops, sandals, shoes or any foot wear out of the door or else they'll get me and sacrifice me. That's the reason why I always bring them inside the house. My uncles told me that they are satanist, and they need life sacrifice everytime they're worshipping the devil. I don't know how they got that information.

Well actually, not all cults behave like that. Some of them, or should I say, all of them are not bad actually. The 'Ang Dating Daan' (or Members Church of God International) of Bro. Eli Soriano is considered a cult. The 'Iglesia Ni Kristo' (or I.N.C.) of Felix Y. Manalo, is considered a cult too. There are tens or more of them in the Philippines. Others just sprouted locally (like the first two named), while others were brought here by foreigners (one example is the 'Jehovah's Witness'. The 'Rizalista' is one example people considered a 100% cult.

CULT?

By the way, what is a cult in the first place?

According to a dictionary, a Cult is a system of religious or spiritual beliefs, especially an informal and transient belief system regarded by others as misguided, unorthodox, extremist , or false, and directed by a charismatic, authoritarian leader.

Originally, cults are used to refer to groups which worship a deity or deities. It is first used in 17th Century, but of course it evolved to what we use it for now.

One of the accepted traditional religious belief for Christian believers in the Philippines is Roman Catholic Church.

Thus, religious group not following the norm of Roman Catholic Church is a Christian Cult. But in my opinion, a group is considered a cult if the members of it are small in number compared to major religious group with hundreds or thousands of population. 'Born-again Christians' varies from one place to another, and they almost differ in belief though they have much similarities, and they have small number of group members making them just like a cult. They cannot be called born-again Christians if they're still in the line of Roman Catholic Church.

On the other hand, there are also other main religions in the world, namely Buddhism, Shintoism, Taoism, Confucianism, Hinduism, Judaism and Islam. Just like in Roman Catholic Church, if other religious groups are not in the same beliefs and traditions as that of the enumerated religion, they can be considered cults. Correct me if I'm wrong with that.

Anyway, don't compare sororities and fraternities with the cults. If a said fraternity or sorority is formed for the same reason as cults, then they're obviously cults indeed.

Rizalism

One of the most known considered cult in the Philippines is the Rizalism. Rizalista is the common name used to call for the believers of the said religion. I had introduced Dr. Jose Rizal in two of my articles here in the blog. (You can read about him in Jose Rizal - as Jack the Ripper.)

According to a website, Rizalista is any local cult believing in the divinity of Jose Rizal. They commonly believe that he is still alive and will return to deliver his followers from poverty and oppression. They considered him as the God, or the second him, or the Filipino Jesus Christ. Rizalist cults, such as the Ciudad Mistica de Dios, Adamista, Bathalismo, Watawat ng Lahi (Banner of the Race Church), Iglesia Sagrada Flilipina, and Espiritual Pilipino Catholic Church, synthesize Roman Catholic rituals. They are also registered groups.

Some of the Rizalistas believed that Rizal has an apparent parallelism to Jesus Christ in many ways. Other's belived that Rizal is the messiah of the Philippines just like Jesus Christ as messiah of Israel. There were also those who believed that Rizal was the re-incarnation of Christ. These beliefs of the groups were based on the similarities of the two. They said that both of them were morally upright and exemplary in their own rights, they possess extraordinary character and have the purest intention in pursuing their missions. Also, they were both pious and Asians, and both from a country under colonial rule during their time. Also, the two were advocates of solidarity, equality and peaceful coexistence in spite of differences in social status, ethnicity and creed. and many more, such as, they were both healers and great visionaries, they advocate of reform and peaceful means to carry out their missions, strongly denounced prejudice, apathy, immorality and cruelty. They were also victims of trial and mockery, their teachings influence people around the world and most importantly, they were executed by their enemy and died for a noble cause.