Confused About Their Number?

Once again, in view of the mid-term elections, the Iglesia ni Cristo (INC) has unleashed its much-vaunted bloc voting powers.

From the front page of the Philippine Daily Inquirer
May 7, 2013

According to the Philippine Daily Inquirer, “As in past elections, the INC is endorsing senatorial candidates who have a statistical chance of making it to the Magic 12, or those within striking distance.” (Source: “INC picks 7 bets from PNoy, 5 from UNA”) It seems to imply that the INC only picks “winnable” candidates.

Quoting an unidentified senator, the Inquirer explains the apparent scramble for the so-called “command votes,” “The INC vote is crucial not only because it is a plus for those who were picked. It is also a big minus for those who were snubbed. …the INC had historically delivered a minimum of 3 million votes for the candidates that it supported.” (Ibid. Emphasis added.)

But, curiously, as the Inquirer has pointed out in the very next line, “Census data show that INC has less than 2 million voting-age members.” (Ibid)

How can the INC “historically” deliver “a minimum of 3 million votes” when according to the latest census by the National Statistics Office, there’s “a total of 2.25 million Filipinos [who] were members of [INC] in 2010, up from 1.76 million in 2000” (Source: “In the Know: Vote 2013”) Computing based on the fact that “61 percent of the country’s population was 18 and above,” the Inquirer concluded, “The number of voting-age INC members at the time was estimated at 1.37 million”. (Ibid) 

Now, to be fair, it was not the INC which claimed that their church “had historically delivered a minimum of 3 million votes for the candidates that it supported.”  It was after all a senator “who requested anonymity”. 

Yet, instead of clarifying, when “asked about the INC’s voting age population, the Iglesia’s department of evangelism under Bro. Bien Santiago said that as a matter of church policy, the figure was confidential.” (Ibid)

But, one may ask, “Why the confidentiality? Why allow such public perceptions of bloated figures to carry on?” 

As Mark Twain quipped, “There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.” Not correcting these puffed up numbers when it is in your powers to do so appears to be the same as approving it.

Historically, was the INC truthful as far as its numbers are concerned?

In its 50^th anniversary edition, the editorial headline of the INC’s official magazine, Pasugo, boldly declared, “From One to Millions.” 

Pasugo July 1964
Originally posted in Examine Iglesia ni Cristo website
Accessed February 23, 2001
(Website appears to under reconstruction)

But in his “An Appraisal of the Iglesia ni Cristo,” Albert J. Sanders wrote, “Although Eraño Manalo declared in 1963 that the membership of the Iglesia was 3,500,000, many informed observers dispute this claim and regard this figure as grossly inflated. The 1960 census registered 270,104 members of the Iglesia. The members are concentrated in the greater Manila area, especially in the Rizal province.” (Source: “Studies in Philippine Church History,” Gerald H. Anderson, Editor, 1969, as quoted in the Examine Iglesia ni Cristo website in 2001. Emphasis added.) 

Surprisingly, in its June 1970 issue, the Pasugo declared, “Beginning with Brother Manalo, this church NOW counts with thousands of members throughout the country” (emphasis mine).

Pasugo, June 1970
Originally posted in the Examine Iglesia ni Cristo website

Obviously, that “now” refers to 1970. Some might try to excuse that the 1964 “millions” was just a rounding off of the “thousands of members throughout the country”. But it’s a stretch to say so for when we say “millions,” it is at least more than one million. That’s not the way we round off numbers. Was it merely “a retraction of the INC, due to observers’ criticisms?” as the Examine Iglesia ni Cristo website asked.

It appears that the INC only breached the one million mark in the 1980s, not in the 1960s. “The 1990 Census of Population and Housing places the number of Iglesia members at 1.4 million, three times more than its membership in 1970.” (Source: “Iglesiani Cristo: A Most Powerful Union”)

So, why doesn’t the INC correct these news items about their actual membership?

Proverbs 20:23 warn us, “Unequal weights are an abomination to the Lord, and false scales are not good.” (ESV)

So, if false scales are disgusting to the Lord, what about exaggerated statistics?