Ryan Clarence J.

Pangalangan

11570490 1025 Words

KASPIL2

Quiz#3

Spanish Legacy on Religion

The Spanish Reign on our country was surely one of the most life changing thing that

happened to us. The Spaniard’s settlement in our country started during the 1500s and lasted for

over 300 years so they have surely left us a lot of changes and legacies. The most enduring

legacy of the Spaniards for our country was religion. They have left us one of the greatest things

in life and makes our country one of the two predominantly Roman Catholic countries in Asia.

About 86 percent of the population of the Philippines is Catholic. That’s how influential the

Spaniards were to us. The strong influence of the Spanish conquest can be seen in almost

everywhere in our country. For me, when you think about a Filipino, the first thing that comes

into my mind is that they are usually Catholics. The rest are them being hospitable, caring, and

loving. Because of the practices and teachings of the Catholic church, these paved a way to the

development of the great virtues and traits of our people. Almost all of the Filipinos act in

accordance to the teachings of Bible and almost all of the time they try to avoid sins. These are

only some of the results of the Spanish legacy on religion. As a result of their influence on

religion, these is kind of co-related to their influence on architecture. The Spaniards have built

amazing and various types of churches. The beauty it shows really catches the eyes of many

people. Having built these kinds of chapels really helps motivate our fellow Filipino people to
show their own kind of creativity. Catholicism rapidly spread in our country even just the early

years of their colonization. It has become the heart of nationalism and other movements.

Everything really became centered on Catholicism. It became the priority of everyone. Religion

was truly a great treasure for our country thanks to Spain. Prior to the Spanish settlement in the

Philippines, the Filipinos pay homage to their ancestors by way of religious offerings and

believed in spirits. They believed in different kinds of Gods and other spiritual beings. All these

have changed with the arrival of the Spaniards who systematically have destroyed the beliefs of

the indigenous Filipino people. Today, we only believe in one God and one teaching and that

teaching is His teaching. The Filipinos today celebrate all the Roman Catholic holidays and are

observed as national holidays in our Country. We practice holy week and pretty much every

religious Catholic thing we could think of. A lot of Filipinos are just Catholics now and not the

traditional Roman Catholic who are super die hard Catholic followers. We have a more modern

following on the teachings of the church especially in our generation today. During the past,

there was a union between the church and state and the church being more powerful than the

church. The government was basically controlled by the friars. Now, the church and the

government are separated. Since there is a great number of positive things that the Spanish

legacy on religion has, there are also negative things that resulted of this.

The Spanish colonizers forced the induction of Christianity in our homeland. Those who

opposed the church were killed or tortured leading to thousands of deaths. This is what I didn’t

like about the way the Spaniards have left their legacy for our country. Sure it was a really great

thing but the way they enforced their legacy was really mind blowing and goes against the

teachings of the Catholic church. It is in the ten commandments that we the people should not

kill. Them killing just to enforce their legacy and show their power is just really shows
hypocrisy. Their practices of enforcing religion to our country was really successful as it shows

that almost 90% of our population is now affiliated with the Catholic Church. For me today, ever

since pre-school till high school I studied in a Catholic school. We used to have prayers during

the start and end of every class that I had. Everything that we have studied about the Spanish

influence on religion can be seen and practiced everyday in our school. We used to have masses

every week and that’s aside from the first Friday mass of the month. After graduating and going

into college, I don’t really see the importance anymore in going to Church and hearing mass

every Sunday. For me it became a compliance and a hindrance rather than being something

sacred and something I was looking forward in doing to do. I was only complying due to my

mom forcing me to go every Sunday. In a way I remembered how the Spaniards are forcing

Catholicism in to the Filipinos. Going back to my personal experience, for me, I don’t even

usually listen to the gospels and what the priests talks about during the mass, I’m just physically

there but mentally absent so I think that it is better if I do not go at all because it is much more

disrespecting if I’m there but I’m not even listening or just sleeping. In my perspective, I am a

good person, I know my morals and I am kind to other people and I still believe in God. I think

that is enough to be a good catholic. We do not need to keep on practicing old traditions and

other stuff but I do still see the importance of it. It is tradition and we should keep it that way. It

is truly amazing to see how far the Spanish influence on religion has gone. It has almost been

nearly 500 years since the Spaniards first set foot in our homeland and enforced religion and up

till now, we still practice and live it by heart. Well maybe everyone else but me, but that doesn’t

matter. We should all be thankful for the Spaniards for giving us a really great legacy. A legacy

that I am sure of will last a lifetime.

References:

http://maybukaspa-bing.blogspot.com/2009/08/spains-legacy-to-philippines.html

https://minds.wisconsin.edu/bitstream/handle/1793/66613/Fitzpatrick_Thesis.pdf?sequence=1

http://lifey.org/spanish-influence-on-the-philippines/

https://www.cntraveler.com/gallery/spain-in-the-philippines

http://www.philippines-travel-guide.com/philippines-religion.html

https://www.philstar.com/cebu-lifestyle/2010/08/17/603226/our-spanish-legacy