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RELIGION WITHIN THE SECULARIZED WORLD

                Religion is a vital component in society as it bears the collective expression of its morality, identity, and goals. However, it has faced challenges in an ever-growing secularized world wherein its authority and relevance are placed on the pedestal as it is continuously challenged to make sense i.e., religion must be rationalizable. [1] Christianity is one religion that needs to make its place in the modern world as Paul Ricoeur noted that it is experiencing hiding behind the liturgies and with its preoccupation with tradition. [2] Moreover, critiques are launched towards religion especially at the height of modernity when the likes of Nietzsche, Marx, and Feuerbach issued their aggressive denunciative critiques. [3] (Especially on the Christian tradition of which can be done the same with other religions as well.) Regardless of all the bombardments coming from secularization, Habermas does not rule out religion; rather, he sees it as reservoir of ideas that shaped

THE PHILIPPINE'S WAR ON DRUGS: A STATE IN CRISIS

  PHILIPPINES' WAR ON DRUGS Violent crackdown on drug-related crimes in the Philippines was one of the highlights of the previous administration headed by former president Rodrigo Duterte. He made known during his campaigns for the 2016 Philippine National Election his unwavering support to the killings of drug-related criminals often in a populist tone that arouses the emotional support from the people. Thus, his early pronouncements were already a problem given that he is running for a top position of the state. Pronouncements as such opened the doors for the public to anticipate a normalization of an uglier breed of violence i.e., murder. A state that uses violence (murder) for deterrence and not for penal purposes spells a crisis of the state in its exercise of power and its authority. An estimate of 12,000 Filipinos were killed in the drug war. And at least 2555 killings are attributed to the Philippine National Police. [1] These numbers tell us the horror of this war, an