Protest against the hypocritical words of the Bishop of the Anglican Church in Singapore
“Questionable takeover but crucial service” says the Bishop of the Anglican Church in Singapore “An alarm has been sounded on the promotion of revisionist sexuality norm”
( http://news.asiaone.com/News/the+Straits+Times/Story/A1Story20090515-141553.html )
Sounds like the Bishop is saying that questionable methods can be justified based on their ends. And that speaking up against prejudice & discrimination is a “promotion of revisionist sexuality norm”.
I’m glad my God — in the person of Jesus Christ — made a career out of speaking against the religious leaders of his day. He never flinched from being their public enemy No. 1, even until death.
I’m glad that JC preferred hanging out with the unfairly marginalised — those terminally ill with infectious diseases ( equivalent of the HIV affected), the Samaritans ( equivalent of the marginalised/discriminated ethnic groups), the prostitutes & thieves ( which incidentally is the group that the RIGHTEOUS people of society have put homosexuals in)
I’m glad that my God never made in a requirement for his faithful to agree with the religious leaders.
By the way, just some words that JC had for the religious leaders of his day (the Pharisees were the name of such a group):
They tie up heavy loads and put them on men’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them (Matt 23: 4)
Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the kingdom of heaven in men’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to.
Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as you are.
Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cummin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former. You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel.
Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean.
Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men’s bones and everything unclean. In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.
(Matt 23 : 13 – 15, 23 – 28)
7 Responses
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I am angry.
I am angry that the Bishop is claiming to represent the views of Protestant Christianity in Singapore.
I am angry that he is condoning the use of questionable methods to justify what he believes are crucial ends
I am angry that he is perpetuating injustice and prejudice
I am angry that he has not bothered to find out about our programme and get his facts right before slamming us based on untruths.
And yes, i’ll rather go to the Pinkdot event.
religious zealots seem to lose the plot when they are so involved in shoving their self-righteous agenda down everyone’s throats. the difference between them and the pharisees is slim, only difference being the latter mostly distanced themselves from the gentiles.
ironic that the gospel promotes acceptance, loving thy neighbour and grace. which part of this is being shown by these bible-thumpers? i guess most are taking what they read out of context, or selectively to suit their own principles.
This is not important… but I had a good laugh when I realised that the good bishop’s initials are also J.C.
“some Anglican women”
Sorry lor, they are Anglican in name only. Their church practices are far from being Anglican.
Is the Bishop of the Anglican Church in Singapore, Dr John Chew, also part of the team involved in the alleged steeplejack of COOS? If not, shouldn’t he be alerting the Anglican church’s higher authority about the alleged steeplejack of COOS?
To be fair it seems his comments stem from a lack of understanding of what Aware’s CSE programme was about. But then from a survey of the blogosphere many other people are guilty of the same.
I think it would be in Aware’s benefit to put forward a definitive explanation of the issues touched upon by the CSE, as well as the manner in which those issues are explored. However I realise it might be too late to do so now.
The plot thickens as more and more rumours and allegations against Siew Kum Hong are being published on the internet. To make things even more complicated, Singapore political party, SDP and its leader, Chee Soon Juan, has also be implicated. The allegations of being corrupted or ‘on-the-take’ are damaging as it could ruin a person’s political career forever. We could be seeing a defamation suit in the making if the allegations are found to be untrue. For the sake of justice, I would strongly urged the concerned parties to clarify their position on this so as to uphold their reputation and alsoto ensure that this would not be a concern issue for voters or a marring topic during the coming GE. 3 postings that I found to be damaging are made in these 2 websites.
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Another Concerned Citizen on FRIDAY, 15TH May 2009 9:44 pm (http://wayangparty.com/?p=9292)
Siew Kum Hong is just a Hired Gun
There is talk about Siew Kum Hong recently and let me add what I know about this NMP. Just recently, a Swedish politician, Johan Skarendal, was in town trying to finance certain political causes in Singapore. And yes, you guessed it! This Swede met up with Kum Hong, Stuart Koe, Leong Sze Hian, Peter Cuthbert Low and others, and promised to finance their gay and other rights projects in our little red dot.
This would not be a tale of guns for hire if Kum Hong and his posse had righteously rejected the thick wads of money stuffed in the saddlebags under their noses, cash that is so precious now when there is recession doom and gloom looming over our heads. Our NMP, champion of gay rights, defender of the marginalized, not only greedily accepted the offer, but asked for more as he said his rights projects in Singapore are legion.
Oh NMP, what have you done? Are you just a hired gun? Two posts in http://singaporedaily.net/2009/05/15/daily-sg-15-may-2009/#comments
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Harbinger Says: May 16th, 2009 at 12:30 pm
What’s new. The Swedes are pals with SDP for some time with the Sweden-Singapore Initiative for Democracy http://www.singaporedemocrat.org/whoweare.html. But they are reaching out to the gays this time. Smart. Different angle/hole, same objective. I wonder how much was put on the table to buy “shares” in these activist groups.
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One More Concerned Citizen Says: May 16th, 2009 at 2:41 pm This Swede guy apparently is linked to SDP as well? It is thus highly possible that SDP is funded by him well. This would explain how a bankrupted Dr. Chee can afford so many properties overseas.
I would like to denounce the comment
“Zenfino said, on May 17, 2009 at 11:08 am (Edit) ”
http://siewkumhong.blogspot.com/2009/05/line-has-been-crossed.html
Here is a reproduction of Siew Kum Hong’s defense from the above link:
Monday, 18 May 2009
The line has been crossed
The attacks have continued since my last posting on this blog. In particular, the latest attacks have alleged and/or insinuated that (a) I asked for and am receiving foreign funding from a Swedish politician, who allegedly funds the Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) as well, and (b) I am involved or associated with the SDP and may be their representative or “mole” in Parliament.
Both of these allegations are untrue and false. They are vile, vicious and malicious attacks on me, and nothing short of character assassination. I consider them extremely defamatory and criminal in nature.
I did not at any time ask for, and have not at any time been offered or accepted, any sort of funding from any local or foreign entity, including the Swedish politician named in the latest attack. The only sources of income (or funding) that I have, are my employer and the Government of Singapore (in the form of my monthly NMP allowance). Furthermore, I am not involved or affiliated or associated, whether directly, indirectly or in any other way, with the SDP, and am certainly not their representative or “mole” in Parliament.
While I have not previously taken any action in response to the attacks to me on the Internet, I feel that this latest attack crosses the line and goes beyond any attacks that I am willing to countenance as being fair game for a public figure. I do not think that it is appropriate or acceptable for any MP, including an NMP, to accept any funding, whether local or foreign.
Accordingly, I made a police report on this matter tonight. I have also requested those forums that I am aware are currently hosting these falsehoods, to take them down.
In the interests of full transparency, I did meet with certain Swedish gentlemen recently. Details of those meetings are set out in my statement to the police. I met them at their request, just as I have met other foreigners from time to time, including staff from the various High Commissions and embassies in Singapore (such as from Australia, the US, the UK and other EU countries) and visiting foreigners, such as academics doing research on aspects of Singapore. At these meetings, we discuss matters related Singapore, in particular current affairs and the political situation in Singapore. From my perspective, these meetings are to help the foreigners obtain a better understanding of Singapore. I do not think that there was anything wrong with those meetings, and I have nothing to hide.
While I continue to believe that it is, on the whole, beneficial for Singaporeans to speak up for what they believe in, and I certainly hope that this wish and desire will continue and extend beyond the current discussions around the NMP re-nomination process and homosexuality, I also do believe — and have always believed — that rights and freedoms have limits.
I have to date refrained from taking any legal action in response to the lies and falsehoods that have been levelled at me. But this latest attack goes beyond anything that a reasonable person could possibly perceive as being a valid or legitimate exercise of the right to free speech, and I certainly will not tolerate the latest rounds of character assassination from cowards hiding behind the perceived anonymity of the Internet.
Posted by Siew Kum Hong at 03:15
Labels: civil society, NMP, Singapore