PHILIPPINES: Christian cult crucifies 3 members

The posting on flagellation in the Philippines said "This story comes from the southwest corner of Mindanao, chose to the island of Basilan, where rebel moros (Muslims) are fighting government forces. Is religious fanaticism stronger in the area close to the Muslims? In other words, what is the geographical distribution of these flagellations? Perhaps Jim Bowman can answer"

Jim Bowman answers: "The rite of the "Flagelantes" is a long-standing tradition throughout the Philippines. I suspect it goes back a hundred years or more.. When I was a boy in the late '40s and early '50s living in Manila with my missionary parents, my elders would go to photograph the rites and send the gruesome slides back home. At that time, the Flagelantes would confine themselves to beatings with glass-laden wooden paddles, usually lightly but steadily administered by a cooperating friend. The bloody backs made excellent photographs and shocked churches back home when they were shown by furloughing missionaries. Some Flagelantes would drag crosses around, and others would hang from crosses after the processions, but I think it wasn't until the sixties that actual nail-driven crucifixions began to occur as a kind of "can you top this" development. The answer to the basic question, however, is that the rite of the Flagelantes is widespread throughout the Philippines, and not especially confined to Moro regions.

Participants believe that such self-punishment will incur God's forgiveness for the sins for the flagellant, or perhaps for another. This follows the form of Roman Catholicism that encourages, or at least does not discourage, specific acts, works, or payments as sort as a method of earning God's favor. Most Protestants and enlightened Catholics categorize this kind of religion as syncretistic, in that it blends itself with the natural inclination of many people groups to participate in the appeasement of spirits (animism, or generally called Traditional Religion in missiological circles). In some categorizations it is called "Christo-pagan," one of the strangest of oxymorons".

My comment: Flagellation was once practiced in old Spain, and it probably went from there to the Philippines. Can Latin American Waisers tell us if it is or was practiced in Spanish America? I have not heard of it in Portugal or other European counries.

Ronald Hilton - 4/13/02