Controversial Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte is facing hellfire this week — for calling God “stupid.”
The politician slammed the story of Adam and Eve being tempted by the “forbidden fruit” in a fiery and blasphemous televised speech last Friday, the BBC reported.
“Who is this stupid God? He’s really stupid. You created something perfect, and then you think of an event that would tempt and destroy the quality of your work,” Duterte said.
He also went after the Christian concept of original sin — according to which all humans are tainted by the sin of Adam and Eve.
“You weren’t born yet, but now you have original sin,” he said. “What kind of religion is that? I can’t accept it.”
The otherwise popular president was blasted for the comments, as 80 percent of the population of the Philippines is Catholic and 10 percent belong to other Christian denominations.
Philippines Sen. Sonny Trillanes IV called him “one evil man.”
“It is the height of arrogance of power not only to disrespect and spit on an individual’s faith but also to act as though he is a God,” he said in a statement.
The Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines called out Duterte for “attacking Christian beliefs” in a statement Monday, according to Bloomberg.
“My God is real and he is alive,” said Joel Villanueva, a senator and the son of a Christian evangelist. “We pray for the president’s enlightenment.”
The president’s spokesman Harry Roque said Monday that Duterte was just expressing his personal convictions.
He explained the outburst by referring to Duterte’s claim that he was sexually abused by a priest at a Catholic school when he was a child.
It’s not the first time he’s criticized the church. When he was a presidential candidate, Duterte cursed the pope for causing traffic jams when he visited the Philippines in 2015.
While he was raised Catholic, Duterte said in 2016 that he hadn’t attended Mass in a long time and that religion would conflict with his political duties. He then clarified to GMA News that he believed in God but not religion.
Later that year, he said in a speech about family planning that he was Christian — but also declared, “I believe in one God, Allah,” according to the Philippines Star.