"Men die for a faith..."

Western ideas have acted not merely as explosives but as solvents. They have undermined the traditional beliefs and philosophies of Asia but have not succeeded in proposing any view of life or scale of values acceptable to the majority of Asians. In place of the old faiths, they have substituted merely doubts. This is not to be wondered at since the liberal West, because of its rejection of Christianity, is itself without a faith of its own. Indeed, it no longer has even a consistent rational basis for the rights and freedoms which it professes to defend and teach. With unconscious but suicidal contradiction, it calls upon Asia to accept the inviolability of the human person, the sovereignty inherent in the people, the sanctity of treaties, the rule of law, and at the same time casts doubts or heaps derision on the Christian faith and the rational philosophy without which these principles cease to be valid or even intelligible. That is why you cannot blame Asian liberals who have learned liberalism from a dechristianized and doubting Europe for refusing to die in defense of liberalism. Why should they, indeed? Men die for a faith ; they will not die for a doubt.

― Fr. Horacio Luis de la Costa y Villamayor, S.J. 

Riding the Whirlwind, Social Order II|6 
St. Louis, June 1952

The Progress of Medicine (3rd panel) by Carlos "Botong" V. Francisco
Oil on canvas. 1953. National Museum of the Philippines.