THE government has been fighting communism in the country for decades.

The continuing battle between state forces and communist rebels caused thousands of deaths and impeded national progress.

Despite this, communism is still around in the Philippines, showing no sign of vanishing in the near future.

Interestingly, a bishop has come forward to endorse religious faith as a tool to weaken communism.

Bishop Romel Maraya of International Media Association for Peace (IMAP) Philippines said religious faith is the most feared and hated by communists particularly in China.

Citing a pronouncement by former US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo, Maraya said the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is afraid of and dislikes religious faith.

The bishop saud faith is greater than the most repressive government. It can’t be destroyed by tyranny or communist persecution, he added.

He agreed with Pompeo, also the former chief of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), that any government denying religious freedom is destined to fall.

Maraya concludes that the CCP will never have ultimate authority over the faithful in China.

In Japan, religious faith is so strong it drew the ire of the Japanese Communist Party (JCP). Thus, the party threw accusations of corruption and other dirty claims against the church, Maraya said.

The church being referred to is the Unification Church. It’s also known as the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification (FFWPU), a religious movement derived from Christianity.

Its members are called Unificationists or informally Moonies. They are called Moonies because the movement was founded by Korean Sun Myung Moon.

Moon founded the Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity (HSA-UWC), the Unification Church’s full name, on May 1, 1954 in Seoul.

The movement is present in approximately 100 countries around the world.

In discrediting the church, the JCP declared the movement as a threat to Japan’s national interest.

Sadly, former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was assassinated due to his ties with the Unification Church.

Considering the cases of China and Japan, Maraya opines that it’s quite clear that religious faith has the power dreaded by communism.

The bishop said if the democratic and God-affirming nations could only unite in faith against communism, then this oppressive ideology could be destroyed and be gone forever.

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