I love telling stories on Philippine-Catholic norms to people of other culture.

One story I love telling is “I don’t want to get married because we don’t have divorce in the Philippines,” and the shocks on their faces are just pure entertainment. “Why?” they ask.

“Even if your spouse abuses you, cheats on you, or even simply if you fell out of love – you’re not allowed to be human, you’re expected to be a Catholic above being human, cause marriage is more sacred than your own sanity. You can file for separation though, which let’s be honest, not everyone can afford. So you’re just stuck with someone’s debt and problems for the rest of your life.”

Another story is “I had Religion and Theology subjects since 1st grade to university, and the only religion we ever truly talked about was Christianity and Catholicism. We didn’t even talk about Buddhism, Hinduism, etc. That’s why I was so fckin ignorant when it came to other religions.” Again they ask, “Why?”

“I don’t know, I just remember being tested on when the patron dates of saints were, and I hated it. I despised it. I hated being required and graded on who the patron saints of X, Y, Z were, and when they became a saint. Tf do I care? Why did my GPA depend on this?”

Then, as you talk to other people outside of your culture, you also hear awful stories about other countries with strict and weird practices revolved around religion, too.

I’m not trying to throw shade on any religion. It’s a realization, really— that as you allow yourself to learn how other cultures practice these norms, and how developed countries function with the principle of human rights over religion, the more insane some practices around religions sound.

Allow yourself to learn beyond your own religion, and allow yourself to consciously choose which beliefs and set of values to abide by, and you’ll unlock a part of yourself that has been yearning for the freedom your mind and spirit deserve.