In recent months Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte has been at loggerheads with the catholic religion in his country over priests and the mass rape of children and fathering of kids that plagues the Philippines as much as any other country. Dutere said he stopped being a catholic because of the abuses.

This past year, three Philippine priests have been murdered for unrelated things (one was crusading against mining companies when he was shot, one murder may have been politically motivated, and some sources infer the third murder was an argument over religious dogma). Another survived an attempted shooting.

In his arguments with the religion, he has crossed a line that most wouldn’t go near in such a heavily catholic country.  Duterte referred to the three murders with an insinuation that he “can’t kill priests”.  One of the priests inferred something negative about Duterte’s health, to which he responded, “You should all die from venereal disease.”

I have always been staunchly anti-catholic as much as I am atheist, disgusted by the cumulative actions of the cult, and I’m also against Duterte for his brutality (even if he did ban smoking everywhere).  Duterte and the cult’s war of words is shocking, and I suspect this could put political survival in doubt.  I doubt he will last another year, or he may be willing to turn “strongman” and attempt a dictatorship.  Given the brutality of his “drug war”, he’s capable of it.