President says God must be stupid for creating man and then claiming Adam was bad after eating apple

PHILIPPINE president Rodrigo Duterte of Philippines has sparked a fresh controversy in the predominantly Catholic country by calling God stupid in a speech in which he questioned the logic of the Biblical creation story about Adam and Eve.

Highly controversial for his aggressive economic and social policies aimed at lifting The Philippines out of poverty, President Duterte has never shied away from a fight. Speaking on Friday evening in his southern home city of Davao, the president questioned God’s logic in the Biblical creation story of Adam and Eve.

President Duterte said “Adam ate the fruit of knowledge, then malice was born. Who is this stupid God?

“That son of a bitch is stupid if that’s the case. You created something perfect and then you think of an event that would tempt and destroy the quality of your work.”

In addition, Duterte also questioned the rationale of original sin. He added: “That was your mother and father’s deed, you weren’t born yet but now you have original sin. What kind of religion is that? I can’t accept it.”

Amid criticisms over his statements, presidential spokesman Harry Roque urged the public to accept that President Duterte tends to use strong language when he expresses his beliefs. In the past, President Duterte has lambasted the Catholic Church in the Philippines, where more than 80% of the population practices the religion, calling priests out for allegations of corruption and sexual abuse.

Mr Roque added: “That is the personal belief of the president. We are free to believe in religion and we are also free not to believe in religion.

“The president has his personal spiritual beliefs. We cannot fault the president if he has no sense of hypocrisy and we should accept that because even when he was just a candidate, he never hid that from us."