"The Christianity of history is not Protestantism. If ever there were a safe truth it is this, and Protestantism has ever felt it so; to be deep in history is to cease to be a Protestant." (-John Henry Newman, An Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine).

"Where the bishop is, there let the people gather; just as where ever Jesus Christ is, there is the Catholic Church". -St. Ignatius of Antioch (ca 110 AD)a martyr later thrown to the lions, wrote to a church in Asia Minor. Antioch was also where the term "Christian" was first used.

“But if I should be delayed, you should know how to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of truth.” 1 Timothy 3:15

"This is the sole Church of Christ, which in the Creed we profess to be one, holy, catholic and apostolic." -CCC 811

Thursday, April 21, 2011

Survey says 3% Iglesia ni Cristo Respondents are in Favor of Christmas


More Filipinos -- particularly Roman Catholics, the poor and the youth -- consider Christmas more important than Easter Sunday, according to a Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey made exclusive to BusinessWorld.

The SWS survey, fielded on March 4-7, found that 57% of adult Filipinos chose Christmas compared to the 36% that favored Easter Sunday when asked "In your opinion, which between the two is the more important day for you? (Christmas or Easter Sunday)"

Meanwhile, 4% chose neither one, and 2% elected not to answer.

The result, according to a member of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), is not surprising.

Oscar V Cruz, Archbishop of Lingayen-Dagupan and director of the legal office of the Catholic Biushops Conference of the Philippines, said that the survey results are understandable given the culture of Filipinos that Christmas is much more celebrated than Easter Sunday.

"This is definitely very much a real perception of Filipino Christianity because Philippine culture has two very profound elements: the love of children and familiarity with suffereing. That is why we celebrate Christmas for three months, the longest in the world, and Good Friday with a lot of people and a lot of activities including crucifixion, but Easter Sunday churches are practically empty," said Mr. Cruz.

"To rise from the dead is difficult to understand, but as far as the Church is concerned it is the summit of all mystery. But just the same, we will not offend the culture of the people," said Mr. Cruz.

Christmas trumps Easter for majorities of 65% in the Visayas, 60% in Mindanao, 55% in Balance Luzon, and 52% in Metro Manila that cast their vote for the season of joy versus the season of penitence and renewal.

Preference for Christmas over Easter Sunday tends to be high in general, albeit higher among the lower classes -- 61% in class E and 57% in class D or the masa, compared to 51% in classes ABC.

The magic of Christmas tends to dull as the respondents get older, with majorities of 67% among 18-24, 64% among 25-34, 57% among 45-54, and 51% among 35-44 choosing Christmas over Easter Sunday; to the point where opinion is split among those 55 years and above where 50% chose Christmas and 46% chose Easter Sunday.

Christmas tends to be marginally more popular among women than men, with majorities of 58% among women and 57% among men choosing Christmas over Easter Sunday.

Religion has very little influence on the popularity for Christmas among Filipinos, although the survey had a decided bias for the followers of Christ.

The survey sample had 94% Christians (consisting of 82% Roman Catholic, 3% Iglesia ni Cristo, 1% Protestant, 0.4% Aglipayan, and 8% other Christian religions) and 5% non-Christians (consisting of 5% Islam and 0.4% other non-Christian religions).

Among Christian religions, 61% of Roman Catholics, 61% of Aglipayans, and 57% of other Christians chose Christmas as a more important day than Easter Sunday.

Opinion was mixed among Iglesia ni Cristo members where 37% chose Easter Sunday, 34% chose neither of the two, and 24% chose Christmas.

Not surprisingly, a majority of 60% of Muslims did not choose either Christmas or Easter; however a minority of 19% chose Christmas, whereas the remaining 5% chose Easter Sunday.

Christmas has its appeal for the other non-Christians, however, as a majority of 79% chose Christmas and the remaining 21% chose Easter Sunday.

These results are also not surprising to Mr. Cruz. "Any human person of any religion will also find joy in a child born, to rejoice is irrrespective of religion, but for Christians especially it is very important."

The March 2011 Social Weather Survey was conducted from March 4-7, 2011 using face-to-face interviews of 1,200 adults in Metro Manila, the Balance of Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao (sampling error margins of ±3% for national percentages, ±6% for area percentages).

7 comments:

  1. i'm sure there's no "none" choice in the questionaire.

    ReplyDelete
  2. The proof is that you hypocrites celebrate Christmas whether you like it or not. U simply want to ignore the deafening Christmas atmosphere everywhere in the Philippines, unless you are literally blind and mute!

    I just want to laugh out loud.

    ReplyDelete
  3. hello.we do celebrate the birth of Christ and we never did forbid to recognize its birth but not the pagan origined-turned christian-tradition-25th December holiday Christmas of yours.. Get your facts straight please, so you won't look silly. have a great day!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Pintor, what a fool you are.

      You celebrate the birthday of Felix Manalo every 10th of May each year. And Erano Manalo every 2nd of January each year and Eduardo Manalo every 31st of October each year.

      And you celebrate every 27th day of July each year of your FOUNDING ANNIVERSARY

      Yet you CANNOT DEDICATE a SPECIFIC date for CHRIST'S BIRTH just because it's not recorded the exact date in the Bible?

      Fools! BIG FOOLS! AND HYPOCRITES

      You celebrate your feasts FOLLOWING THE CATHOLIC CALENDAR while you question DECEMBER 25th as a CELEBRATION of CHRIST'S BIRTH?

      You are all HYPOCRITES!

      Iglesia ni Manalo is full of hypocrites!!!!

      Delete
  4. So when exactly do you celebrate Christmas? What month? Day?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Wala sila nun. Gumagawa pa sila ng sarili nilang kalendaryo.. sa ngayon CATHOLIC CALENDAR ang ginagamit ng mga IPOKRITONG yan!

      Delete
    2. Thank you, Cath Def. I keep our Faith Defenders in my daily prayers. Keep up the good work. God bless

      Delete

Comments are moderated by the blog owner.

Thank you and God bless you.

My Blog List

My Calendar