I came across a local Christian publication site, known as The Christian Post and was reading with interest its various articles regarding Christian’s view on the AWARE saga. I read it objectively as I feel we should always look at an issue from the prospective of all the parties involved.
While I understand and have no problem with almost all of their articles, there is just this one article “The Offence of the Offense” that is extremely disturbing.
Take the world religions for instance. They all present different worldviews. Hence, if a nation
calls itself a secular one, then it has to by definition be hostile to all the other worldviews and
religions. And Singapore, for that matter, is a secular state without doubt. This is clearly stated in
the constitution.There is a popular, socially-constructed myth that it is important to debunk: namely, that a state
can be both secular and yet value religious diversity.
This argument was used by the old guard, who stated most ignorantly in their shadow website
that by teaching children the view that there was no absolute morality anywhere in the world, that
everything is shaped byMuch as anyone would like to believe that secularism is the ideal state of affairs in a multi-religious context, it is not. Christianity among all world religions demands that God and only God be worshipped and obeyed. A secular state that has displaced the God of Christianity cannot help but be essentially hostile to the Christian faith.
This is why it is impossible for the believers of Christ to live out their witness without being persecuted. A state that runs on the basis of preventing offense from being caused to individuals and groups cannot help but persecute Christ and His followers, since not everyone will take too kindly to His message.
This is vaguely related to my older post where I talked about the increasing trend of disrespect on one’s beliefs and religion in Singapore, where how certain religion in Singapore attempts to spread their believes and values in a secular space with disregard and without respect of whatever individual believes or religion that the audience may have.
The above article in The Christian Post brings this issue to a whole new level.
The article portrays Christians who attempts to spread their believes as one who is a victim of a “hostile” secular society. This is a selfish, biased view as the writer is unable exhibit any sign of respect for the believes of others, while trying to arouse the feeling of Christian readers that they were “victimize” by this “hostile” society, that while aiming to be secular, is infact hostile to religions such as Christianity.
Christianity is not the only religion in Singapore. Generally however, most other religions do not active seek or try to convert people to their religion. They have the “you want to believe in us, then believe lor” attitude, which is key to having a peaceful multi-society. They instinctly understand the unique nature of diverse society, and respect those from other religion. They do not actively try to preach or convert people, or hijack secular organizations. They tolerate the sharing of a nation with those with other religions. As a result of this respect that these religion gives to others, they are similiarly respected.
Writing such an article on The Christian Post, it is almost as if the writer has the agenda of trying to split our nation into 2 camps, the fundamentalist Christian camp and the “Secular” camp consisting of the rest of the nation. I think this kind of thinking should be best kept to the writer alone, as civil unrest could really happen due to such sentiments. That article could just be the trigger for something big and nasty and bad.
I mean, for Christians (or those belonging to any other religion) with such attitudes, what else should they expect in return for showing disrespect to the society other than disrespect and disregard? Why else would they think a secular society is “hostile”?
A secular society is only hostile to people who choosed to be hostile towards it.
So fark to that and stop ranting about your own wrongdoings while promoting social unrest
Important Note: As with the issue of AWARE, it is IMPORTANT not to confuse the few promblematic individuals of Christian faith with the entire religion of Christianity. These people do not represent the religion as a whole, and are what I consider as blacksheeps in the religion. People with this kind of attitude does not just exist among Christians, and can be found in our religions as well. Recently however, actions of Christians with this kind of thinking is put under spotlight and I think we will be hearing more from them.
Update: Looks like my entry has a good reach and is very effective. The Christian Post took the article down within a day. The very fact that this article was taken down so quickly, would either because they know they are wrong or they are cowards. Lets hope it is the former and that writer get some form of disciplinary action, this type of article really shouldn’t be appearing.
Update 2: Thanks to the caching power of opera, I was able to produce a PDF copy of the original article. Download here (PDF)
Update 3: In another article, it was also mentioned that:
According to the ?We Are Aware? website launched by the old guard in opposition to the new exco having taken over the organisation, an objective of the CSE programme is to inculcate children in a liberal worldview where all views are shaped by one?s religion, culture and other social dimensions, demolishing the idea of an absolute morality and running counter to what is taught in Christianity and other religions.
The Christian Post: The Offence of the Offense (PDF Download)
This would be a good read representing views of other Christians.
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the website link no longer works, they have erased the article.
if you have a pdf of the article, do send it to me, I will like to file a police report on the seditious nature of the article.
the offense was commited, even if it was removed.
I don’t have a capture of the article, as I didn’t think they would take down the article so fast.
Ok, I’ve put up a pdf version of the article for download.
this article was also removed from sg.christianpost.com
QUOTE: “out came wrongful words from one who is standing in a thoroughly authoritative position to speak on behalf of Singapore’s Protestants, and the bishop, who is supposed to be the defender of the faith from the first until the last …. called his members to account for a wrong they didn’t even commit…
“Regrettably, Pastor Hong agreed with him and decided to step back down with a needless apology” UNQUOTE
It also says that Christians should strive to impose a theocracy:
QUOTE: “The concept that religion should be separated from other aspects of social life is known as secularism. A theocracy is opposed to this. The Bible supports the latter and not the former.” UNQUOTE
Home > Editorial > Eyes of christianpost
Ashamed of the Gospel
The ‘Aware Saga’ has become the Christian debacle
Sunday, May. 3, 2009 Posted: 12:20:56AM HKT
It may have been a kind of victory for evangelical Christians in their fight against the homosexual agenda, yet it was also the greatest debacle for the cause of Christ as the Lord’s supposed representatives spoke up when they should have remained silent, kept silent when they should have spoken, and backed down when they should have stood firmly upright.
When angry homosexual activists, seeing that their ploy to promote and finally gain public acceptance for their lifestyle had been ruined by a few Christian women, threw accusation after accusation at the white walls of the Church and a drama-hungry media wove it all together in a brilliant cover story worthy of an Oscar if it were not so damaging and hurtful, those in the centre of the so-called ‘saga’ who carried the name of Christ should have glorified Him in the midst of the public.
Sadly, they didn’t.
On the contrary, one, the representative of Singapore’s official Protestant umbrella organisation, issued a statement to the press to the effect that a pastor, who had called for his church members to rally together in support of the four women, was wrong in getting his church involved in the dispute. And this important figure was praised by the government for doing just that – getting his member churches not to overstep the ‘boundary’ of Church and civil society.
What does it mean anyway that churches should not get involved in civil society? Is it that Christianity and the Church should not engage civil society? Why is it okay for an individual to engage civil society in a personal capacity and not for churches to do so? Is there an inherent bias against Christianity as an able contributor to civil society? What is this rooted in – the Bible or the secular worldview?
The concept that religion should be separated from other aspects of social life is known as secularism. A theocracy is opposed to this. The Bible supports the latter and not the former. Indeed, when Israel had suggested creating a political sphere independent of God’s rule when they asked Him for a king, He expressed that His people had rejected Him. It is clear that Christians are commissioned to restore God’s rule in every sector of society. While that doesn’t mean hijacking a non-Christian organisation and making it thoroughly Christian, it does mean that Christians are to play a very significant role in society. In this regard the four women and Pastor Derek Hong did very well.
Alas, when all was well, out came wrongful words from one who is standing in a thoroughly authoritative position to speak on behalf of Singapore’s Protestants, and the bishop, who is supposed to be the defender of the faith from the first until the last, informing every ignorant believer of his or her distinctive and proactive role as the salt of the earth and the light of the world to call the world to the obedience that comes from faith and shutting the mouths of some presumptuous nonbelievers who choose to speak about the motives of Christians before they even have the slightest inkling of morality and teaching them not to speak of what they don’t know, even if everybody else sits down and falls asleep, he called his members to account for a wrong they didn’t even commit, and publicly at that.
The idea he has most probably given to Christians out there? Don’t engage society. Attend your church on Sunday and keep quiet the rest of the week. Talk about a politically correct religious leader who would rather not engage society if the government or the majority of members of the public would object to it. Talk about being ashamed of the Gospel. During Jesus’ days, these feared the Roman authorities and wanted only to keep the status quo and their positions of prominence and authority. They ended up crucifying the Lord of truth.
Regrettably, Pastor Hong agreed with him and decided to step back down with a needless apology, leaving himself, the four courageous women and the Singapore Church in the most negative light possible.
Now everyone in Singapore will be able to insult and pour contempt on ‘those’ Christians for being such ‘fundamentalists’ and ‘extremists’, and they will have the authority of a bishop’s voice behind them.
Enjoyed reading your article.
I wonder how did NCCS released the public statement when there is so much opposition within their own camp, seeing that Christian Post editorial team is closely associated with the leadership of NCCS from the Anglican and Methodist wings of the church.
Was the article at christian post, a dissenting view.
Taikiew: Well, thanks if you discount all the typos and grammartical mistakes, I was typing out that entry hastily due to heavy workload.
Thanks for surfacing the editorial of Christian Post “The Offence of the Offense.” I have been monitoring regularly and missed that they have taken it down so swiftly.
This sounds seditious. Theocracy is certainly not the teaching of the Bible and not advocated by responsible Christians or Churches.
The Christian Post reflects the strategy of the Religious Right in the United States and implemented here which brought about the AWARE Saga.
In pluralistic Singapore and globalized world we cannot afford such acts of sedition which tear apart our social fabric.
I’ve managed to pull out the links from the yahoo cache. If you yahoo the titles with christian post, you’ll be able to see it in their cache. I’ve also taken screenshots which you can link to if needed.
http://www.arghworks.com/christianpost/ashamed-of-the-gospel.jpg
http://www.arghworks.com/christianpost/theoffenceoftheoffense.jpg
Thnx, richard. It is alarming that they move so fast when this is a relatively new blog with limited reach, and this article is only on trackback on tomorrow.sg.
They have got to be responsible for what they had said. If you believe in something and post about it, then stand by it. I still don’t understand why they would remove these articles. It kind of weaken their stand.
Secularism and religions can only be reconciled when the latter make concessions. In a modern day context, that means tolerance for other religions.
Most religions are by their nature, mutually exclusive of other religions. If each religion wants to have the final word on issues in society, and if at least two religions have different opinions one an issue, then at least one religion will not be able to have things its way. Religious teachings are in general (emphasize general) set in stone, while a democratic process can accommodate differing views.
Free will is the most important thing. No one should force anything upon anyone as long as the latter is not harming other people.
I don’t suppose the CP authors realise that they are not ABOVE the court of men…
And even if they propogate such divisive ideas privately among their own members, they are doing a disservice to the rest of Singapore – especially if they are sowing what could possibly be seeds of intolerance towards other faiths and beliefs.
So religions are getting too selfdefensively selfish, now.
Lots of love emanating from those fundamentalists. =/
Thank goodness you posted this article Taikiew. I’m truly impressed.
As the Reverend Yap pointed out, this is truly seditious. It’s dangerous that their view of other human beings are like cattle waiting to be converted into theocracy-supporting christians, and otherwise “cowards or homosexual activists”.
I would also like to file a police report and have archived the articles posted here for evidence.
What kind of a fundamentalist hateful lifestyle are they leading? Don’t these people have a choice not to be so dumb??
I have been a christian for many years, and I have never even heard of the Christian Post website until now.
If it reflects US type language, thinking and mindset, forget about what is written. It does not reflect the mainstream singaporean christianity.