Archive for ‘Society’

Pastor Rony Tan: what if he were Richard Dawkins?

By blogpastor, 21 February, 2010, 35 Comments

What if Richard Dawkins, in a public lecture in Singapore, had said exactly what Pastor Rony Tan had said about reincarnation, karma, and Buddhism? What if it made its rounds in cyberspace and YouTube? Would the Internal Security Department have given him a phone call? Would he have transgressed the The Maintenance of Religious Harmony Act (1992)?

Restraining orders against officials or members of religious group or institution

8. —(1) The Minister may make a restraining order against any priest, monk, pastor, imam, elder, office-bearer or any other person who is in a position of authority in any religious group or institution or any member thereof for the purposes specified in subsection (2) where the Minister is satisfied that that person has committed or is attempting to commit any of the following acts:

(a) causing feelings of enmity, hatred, ill-will or hostility between different religious groups;

(b) carrying out activities to promote a political cause, or a cause of any political party while, or under the guise of, propagating or practising any religious belief;

(c) carrying out subversive activities under the guise of propagating or practising any religious belief; or

(d) exciting disaffection against the President or the Government while, or under the guise of, propagating or practising any religious belief.

The answer would be in the negative because he is not “in a position of authority in any religious group or institution or any member thereof” unless Atheism has become a new religion of the masses. Would he be liable by law to any other charge from the Singapore law code?

And what if he had said something incendiary about Christianity like what he wrote in his book:

“”The God of the Old Testament is arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction: jealous and proud of it; a petty, unjust, unforgiving control-freak; a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser; a misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully.”

Will he draw angry knee jerk reactions from red-faced Christians? I am sure there are those who will give him an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. The majority will just shrug it aside. Some would invite him to a debate. Which was what happened and you can watch it in Richard Dawkins-John Lennox Debate. It is wonderful when intelligent civil discussions can take place in a meaningful way over controversial, volatile issues.

Hopefully one day the issues raised by the Pastor Rony Tan’s webcast on Buddhism and homosexuality can be intellectually dissected and discussed and everybody, Christians and Buddhists and gays, can get enlightened in the process, or at least have their say.

Chinese New Year: riding the Tiger

By blogpastor, 13 February, 2010, 2 Comments

Never liked it

I never liked Chinese New Year after they banned firecrackers. Visiting relatives aroused anxieties, like riding a tiger. Even as a child and teenager, I found it such a drag. I would rehearse the proper Hokkien designations so I can properly greet the elders and relatives. I would sit, snack, look often at the time and fidget while the older ones talked.

Consolation is red in colour

The only redeeming factor was the red packets of gift money. They were the consolation prize for all the awkwardness. I waited anxiously for the day to end so I could tally the return on investment.

Respect ritual

Now as an adult I find it perfunctory, a ritual to satisfy family and custom. I do it out of duty. My mum used to say the relatives were very old and may go off anytime soon. Have to pay respects. Now she has gone and the relatives are still around. So it means the show must go on. If given a choice, I would rather not go anywhere at all and just hide out at home or in another country or climb Kinabalu or the Hill in the company of singing cicadas. I am an introvert after all.

The important red packets and even more important wife

Every year I see my wife hunched over new crisp dollar notes of different denominations (yea, Presbyterian, Methodists, Anglicans, even Pentecostals, haha), and lots of different red packets of different banks ( OCBC, DBS, POSB, NTUC, Keppel Corp, haha) spread all over the queen sized bed. With the seriousness, alertness and focus of a bank teller she puts in the appropriate amounts into the different envelopes. She does it every year without fail, while I watch TV or surf or read. She also distributes the red stuff with precision and knowledge and swiftness. I would be at a complete loss without her! All I need to know is the total that goes out, in fact not even that. I do not have to feel bad if too much is given or too little. That burden is hers exclusively. That is her “karma”….a word used quite often the last few days.

Spring cleaning

Spring cleaning fervour has waned with the years. It’s tiring nowadays just to think about what I used to do. Doing the minimum critical tasks, like re-arranging furniture, dusting, cleaning glass tops, etc., to lubricate family harmony and to present a neat, clean home will have to suffice.

The great escape that never happened

Every year I harbour alluring mirages of going off to some place emerald green or blue to escape all the red and hassle. The mirage evaporates each and every time the full moon smirks. It’s all about obligations, respect, expectations, unique circumstances like CNY being also the study week before exams, or conscience playing tricks.

Spare the singles lah

Singles who are over 30 really have it blue and black during CNY. They don’t need the ang pows and patronizing, teasing comments. I used to have fun with that but I have repented. Some words can rub the wrong way and break the bones, and the clinics are closed. Some of the fractures inflicted on them are by well intentioned uncles and aunties, frustrated mums and dads, and kindly grandparents. We should be gracious to singles and bless them with God’s shalom.

BLOGPASTOR WISHES EVERYONE GONG XI FA CAI

Pastor Rony Tan: towards a loving and respectful witness

By blogpastor, 9 February, 2010, 52 Comments

The Ministry of Home Affairs issued the following statement to the press:

“The Internal Security Department (ISD) has called up Pastor Rony Tan of Lighthouse Evangelism (LE) today in connection with his comments and insinuations about Buddhism and Taoism at LE sessions. These sessions were video-recorded and made available on LE’s website; video clips of these sessions subsequently became available on YouTube and other websites.

Pastor Tan’s comments were highly inappropriate and unacceptable as they trivialised and insulted the beliefs of Buddhists and Taoists. They can also give rise to tension and conflict between the Buddhist/Taoist and Christian communities. The ISD told Pastor Tan that in preaching or proselytising his faith, he must not run down other religions, and must be mindful of the sensitivities of other religions.”

Rony Tan responded with a public contrite apology to all Buddhists for his insensitivity:

“I have received a number of emails from people who have been saddened and hurt by the testimonies of an ex-monk and an ex-nun. I realized that my presentation and comments were wrong and offensive. So I sincerely apologize for my insensitivity towards the Buddhists and Taoists, and solemnly promise that it will never happen again. When we have received those emails, we immediately removed the video clips from our website. I urge those who have posted those clips on the YouTube to remove them as well. After reading the frank views from those emails, I was also prompted to tell my members not only to continue to love souls, but also to respect other belief and not to ridicule them in any way, shape or fashion. Let’s put our goal to build a harmonious Singapore a top priority.“

Preachers of the past

Elijah mocked the Baal of the prophets in the payroll of Jezebel. The Old Testament prophets made derogatory remarks about idols and other gods. And even Paul spoke of “worthless” idols. What are we to do? Are we living in a different environment? Would these prophets have said in Singapore church pulpits, the same things they had said in their historical cultural context?

Church generally guilty

Perhaps the whole church need to also issue a blanket apology for all the insensitive remarks that Christians in Singapore have generally been guilty of. I have watched the video and I think some of the making light of beliefs (presumed to be Buddhist,) is not uncommon in the thinking of many Christians, if not in their speech. I plead guilty too. We do need to be more respectful of people whose religious beliefs we disagree with, however mistaken in our eyes they may seem to be. We should respect them as though they are a future mother in law with strong religious belief different from ours.

Pruning for greater fruitfulness

When one member of the Body of Christ suffers, let us suffer, identify with him, and learn the way of the meek and gentle Christ. This is deeply humbling and we should not make light of this incident, but use the opportunity to learn afresh the grace and wisdom of Christ’s witness.

Rony Tan has done the right thing, the brave thing. Perhaps he had no choice. But his actions prove to me he is sincere. He has gone the second mile and it is not just perfuntory minimum requirement. He will move on from this episode a more able evangelist with an even greater wisdom, love and anointing and reach.

And so can the Church at large as well.

NUS or NTU business school: which is better?

By blogpastor, 30 January, 2010, 1 Comment

I asked an on-line friend, Darryl Chen, his opinion on which business school is better: the National University of Singapore or the Nanyang Technological University? This is his comprehensive and well written reply. If you have any opinions to add, feel free to add your 2 cents worth…

“Hi Pastor Kenny,

Anyhow, yes I did go to NUS Business School. Here’s my personal & unbiased(as much as possible) opinion about both schools….My feel about NTU is that it offers a more technical(because they start specialising in the 2nd year) grounded type of approach toward business education, whilst NUS tends to offer a more generic strategic(because they only start specialising in the 3rd year) type of approach. The good thing about NTU is that it offers direct honours to those who qualify, i.e. they don’t have to spend an extra year just to get their honours, whilst NUS has its students(those that qualify) spend one year on academic research to come out with a thesis to be awarded honours. Qualification is based on attainment of a certain GPA(grade point average, maximum 4) or CAP(cumulative average points, maximum 5). NTU uses the former whilst NUS uses the latter. However, I’m not sure if there has been changes in the systems in either schools since I have left NUS for about 4 years coming already. (Whoa! I didn’t know it was THAT long ago!)

I do not think that employers in Singapore today favour NUS over NTU, or vice versa. I verified this with a couple of my HR colleagues as well. From personal experience, when I was hiring 2 graduate interns in my job 2 years ago, I did meet with some NUS and NTU business graduates. My opinion from the employer side of the table, based on those interviews, was that the NUS students were more able to handle themselves in a professional manner and their responses to my questions tended to be slanted more “big-picture”. The NTU students, on the other hand, tended to be more reserved and did not leave as strong an impression as the NUS students. I’d like to think that this is an unbiased opinion, because my manager agreed with my assessment as well, and she’s from NTU. (Hahaha….)

But having said that, I don’t think either school is stronger than the other….they just offer different approaches to business studies. Your son should go with his heart and he’ll be fine. But just out of curiosity, did your son also consider SMU? I understand they offer a very good business program as well and based on the few SMU graduates I know, I’ve been quite impressed and I also heard good feedback about the program being offered there, although they do tend to be slightly pricier than NUS/NTU.

As for becoming CFA, I don’t think going to either school would aid or hinder him from getting that qualification. It shouldn’t, since CFA is a professional qualification and it is strictly based on a seperate set of coursework to be done, and I believe either NUS or NTU would give him the appropriate grounding. I always think that its most important to enjoy yourself while studying because that’s when you won’t drag your feet to school and you’d avail yourself to be receive whatever your professor has to impart. So, go with the heart….that’s what I say….

Thanks for writing. Hear from you again and see you around soon…

Cheers,
Darryl

p.s. your son should do well in Uni….i have very high esteem for people who go from the poly into university because they’re very hardworking people yet humble and capable. I always enjoy working with them in my uni days.”

(Re-posted from old blogpastor file dated 9th May 2007 for the benefit of those applying for university entry next month)