Christianity's role in the early years of Spanish colonization

There is no denying that Christianity is among the most influential forces in Philippine society—and I do not mean this in an aggressive way, but rather as a constant fixture.

- ROM MALLICK

That it had shaped and reshaped the country over a span of 500 years is proof of this. Surely, this is a milestone, but for a religion (and culture) that has existed for over 2,000 years, this really shouldn’t come as a surprise.

As the Philippines celebrates Christianity’s quincentennial, some see it as also a reminder of a colonial past, one that many are rather too quick to dismiss. To do so, however, would be a disservice to the country’s history. The fact remains, whether one likes it or not, that the Philippines has a colonial past. And that is not necessarily a bad thing.

This article, however, is not going to be about the merits of Philippine colonial history. That is for another discussion. Instead, it is interesting to revisit how Christianity came to be in the Philippines and how, because of it, the Spanish approach to colonizing these islands was different from the approach they took to subjugating their Latin American territories.