Psycho-religious practices and education in the Philippines' War on Drugs

Abstract The War on Drugs in the Philippines has thrown into question the links between civil and religious authority. New types of discourse and new psycho-religious practices have emerged to ensure both intramundane healing and extramundane salvation among drug users. The author draws on an ethnographic survey in education sciences in an evangelical fellowship of the Born Again denomination in the suburbs of Manila. Born Again lay people, missionaries, and pastors have developed psycho-religious techniques and discourse that enable them to intervene directly in situ, collaborating with local government units and police under the guise of counselling. These techniques suggest a non-judgemental approach and consider the unique experiences of drug users. They create inflections and tensions among the Born Again because they are based on a hybrid reading that combines Sola Scriptura with secular, Rogerian resources. Philosophically and educationally, this directs us to the problems of formulating truth and the education of the self, in Foucauldian terms. Using this framework, the author analyses the model of educational conversion promoted by the Born Again as part of the War on Drugs.