MANILA – An ally of President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday defended the Chief Executive, saying the latter never said that God is stupid. 

"He didn’t call God stupid. What he said was the theory of creation as expounded by the writers of the Bible is a stupid proposition," Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Salvador Panelo explained in a statement on Monday.

Panelo insisted that Duterte believes in the existence of a sovereign God.

He said that instead of blaspheming God, Duterte's remark was "an act of meaningful introspection and search for truth in religious tenets."

"The President is not blaspheming God. How can an act of meaningful introspection and search for truth in religious tenets be characterized as an act of irreverence or sacrilege?" he added. 

He added that the President is actually following one of the biblical commands of Jesus. 

"As stated in the Bible, greater love has no one than this: to lay down one's life for one's friends. True to those words, our President has time and time again laid his life in sacrifice for the safety and protection of our country and our fellow citizens. That is the height of spirituality," he said.

The President has come under fire after he questioned how God could allow Adam and Eve to ruin his "perfect" creation by eating the forbidden fruit.

In the book of Genesis, the first humans, Adam and Eve, committed the "original sin" of eating the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden after they were tempted by Satan, who took the form of a serpent.

"Who is this stupid God? Estupido talaga itong p***** i** kung ganun. You created something perfect and then you think of an event that would tempt and destroy the quality of your work. How can you rationalize a god…maniwala ka?" Duterte said in his speech. 

He also cast doubt on the concept of original sin, which meant that even "those in the womb already have sin." 

He also questioned why there are still statues of Jesus on the cross. "Hanggang ngayon nakapako pa rin, na imbes na kalimutan na natin ang sakripisyo niya every year ipaalala mo yung kastigo niya. Why do you have to remember a sad thing about the killing of our god?" he asked. 

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Duterte has long criticized the Roman Catholic Church leadership in the Philippines over alleged hypocrisy. He cited allegations some bishops were on the take from politicians.

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For his part, Pro-life Philippines chairman Raul Nidoy said it is blasphemy to call God "stupid."

"We have to correct [the President]. I'm sorry but it's blasphemy to call God stupid," he told ANC's Early Edition.

"Politically, it's a problem for him. Theologically and morally, I fear for his soul because he is our leader. But I also fear for the souls of the people he is leading," Nidoy said.

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