It is unfortunate what is happening to the family behind the millions-strong Iglesia ni Cristo.
In a strange and sudden twist of events, we heard one morning that the head of the religious sect had expelled his own mother and his own brother from the congregation.
Eduardo Manalo did this supposedly because the two had earlier posted a video on YouTube claiming they were being held against their will and that their lives were in danger.
As in a striptease, Iglesia members and the rest of the nation discovered bits and pieces here and there of what truly ails the religious denomination previously thought solid and unshakable. There were allegations of a power struggle, massive corruption, and an internal family conflict as well as harassment and threats to senior members of the church who dared expose what was going on.
It is unthinkable that such divisions would wrack the Iglesia, a group so cohesive that it often elected its politicians as a herd.
That this should happen at this critical point when elections are just around the corner increases the stakes.
We will probably never get to the bottom of what is happening right now, much more so why they are happening. Whatever it is, it has only succeeded in alarming and confusing millions of church members who take their religion religiously, even though they are well outside the circles of power that determine the course of their organization—a significant aspect of their personal and family lives.
What this reminds us of is that even the most stable organizations can find themselves threatened by what happens within, and especially at the top. This is, after all, not entirely foreign even to other religions. Catholics for instance have long contended with the fallibility and weaknesses of their leaders, supposedly the holiest of men.
It thus becomes imperative that the faithful distinguish between their own spirituality and relationship with their god and the humanity of those who lead their organization. The faithful are really faithful when no amount of scandal or challenge could shake their faith and oneness with the community.
If they are not able to tell the two apart, their religious leaders may be doing an inadequate job of shepherding the flock and guiding them as they make sense of their life experiences.