“The President renewed his challenge to those who could prove him wrong by attesting to the existence of the Supreme Being.”

“I’m no atheist,” President Duterte said a few days away from his scheduled one-on-one meeting with Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) and Davao Archbishop Romulo Valles.

“I believe in one supreme God. I never said I do not believe in God. I’m not a prognostic and I’m not an atheist. I just happen to be a human being believing in that there’s a universal mind somewhere which controls the universe,” he said.

In an apparent thinking out loud moment, the President recently issued statements questioning God’s fairness in creating the concept of original sin and Christian beliefs even amid flaks from critics and some of his political allies.

“So I do not believe in God? Yes of course, there’s God. There are billions and millions and billions and trillions of stars. If there is nobody that has really the technology in his mind, we will just be colliding with each other most of the time and nothing would be left for humans even to exist,” he said.

Existential question
“And that is my case because that is the issue of the day. So that you should know whereof your speaker comes from,” the President said.

“Why is there so many agony and pain and injustice and all? We’ll never really know until maybe God chooses the time for us to know the answer,” he added.

The President renewed his challenge to those who could prove him wrong by attesting to the existence of the Supreme Being.

“If there is anyone of you there, the noisy ones, who would say that you have been to heaven, talked to God, saw him personally, and that He exists, the God that is yours, and if He is true, I will step down from the presidency tonight,” he said.

“You do that today, one single witness that there is a guy, a human being, who’s able to talk and to see God. Of the so many billions na dumaan dito (who passed by here), I just need one. And if there is one, ladies and gentlemen, I will announce my resignation immediately. Then para magklaro na tayo (we can be clear about that),” he added.

Dialog set tomorrow
The President has since formed a committee to hold a dialog with the Catholic Church on Monday in Malacanang, in an apparent effort to mend ties with the religious institutions and other sectors following his controversial “God is stupid” remark.

In his speech in Lanang, Davao City last Friday, Duterte questioned the need for religious groups to ask for donation from its followers.

“Kung tumutulong kayo sa tao, bakit kami ang nagbibigay ng pera sa inyo (If you’re helping others, why do we have to give money to you?),” he said.

The President scoffed at the fees exacted by the Church in performing sacraments and in the apparent compulsion to put up lavish places of worship.