Local Animals Worried Fanatics Will Take Over SPCA

(source)

This is so funny it’s not even cute when you think about the foundation it is built on, because there may just come a day this comes to pass, ala the AWARE saga.

Fanaticism and the self-righteous drive to make everybody convert or perish is not something new to me. I have passing awareness of the NARasitic plague inflicting the US. But I would never have thought it would be happening on any level worth worrying in staid old Singapore. How wrong I am.

Read this to the end, including the comments (which have very informative links, circulated correspondences, plus thoughts by proponents on both sides): The AWARE steeplejackers and their deep connections to Joel’s Army and American dominionists

A partial steeplejacked church checklist, which apparently started in the 1940s:

• Features overtly anti-gay.homphobic stance/doctrine
• Promotes publications by NAR authors/leaders
• Forbids ancestral worship, traditions – collectively “generational curses”
• Intercessory prayers
• Promotes and encourages takeover of societal pinions like Government, Arts, Culture
• Association or links in any way with Focus on the Family

Nobody’s safe from the insanity. Since I became aware of FotF (thanks to Josie Lau), I am highly disturbed that the TODAY tabloid has been featuring a column by Focus on the Family in its Voices section for ever. Even worse, FotF is actually a registered non-profit organisation in Singapore, apparently claiming itself non-religious. How did this ever come to pass?

For additional supporting references:

• Something that may be making the rounds
• Observations of a lapsed citizen
• Okay-Calming Down
• Already Plotting Next Move
• Why Tell Teens Homosexuality is ‘Neutral’?
• Mr Wang’s Straight Talk on Sex Education – Part 1
• Sex, Suicide and Poetry
• The 8th Germinal of Thio Su Mien
• Defending the right of Christians to discuss

Note: I know, I know, I said the trilogy was the end of the affair but I just had to get this off my chest. So while I may come back to revise and update this, with this post the minionly focus on human affairs is closed. But while we attend to some real-life issues and try to juggle them with the kitty services, please bear with our slackerly rate of REAL updates.

AWARE Saga: Post-mortem

What’s a post with a sequel but lacking a sequel’s sequel?

There’s a ton of information and blogs in cyberspace touching on it, so instead of saying what’s already carried all over the net, I’m going to link to choice sites/posts. But before that, let me jot down a few IMOs, which points are all supported by the linkages to come (in themselves just a sampling of the content online). Thereafter, we’ll get back to the pertinent issues – kitties, kitty pics and thoughts and concerns for the non-squabbling denizens of this earth.

• Congratulations are in order for the new old-guard exco, but it also has its work cut out for it – engagement, progression, change.
• The statements by religious leaders did do their bit in reigning in the potential “army of God” siege that could have kept the Josie Lau exco in place. (I saw a reference to an online letter to ST from a woman claiming to have decided to skip the EOGM after discussion with her cell group post Dr John Chew’s statement, but can’t find it now. If you see that, please paste the link in the comments section of this post, thanks!)
• The media reports portrayed the old-guard supporters as rowdy, loud and rude. However, they left out how the eogm seemed to be organised to disadvantage them.
• I am still having difficulties wrapping my head around the fact that such a takeover bid succeeded at all. This surely shows up inherent problems with AWARE, at least with regards to its structure? And I say this without any rancour, with the utmost respect for its achievements.
• I am not a Christian nor am I considered religious by any definition, but neither do I feel all secular activities including the mundaneness called working for a living, can be totally devoid of an individual’s faith/belief system. There is no denying what every individual does or say is informed by that, it’s inherent in the human mind/psyche. My beef with the AWARE takeover was how religion seemed to be the motivation and core of it, even unto the way the volunteers were organised on the EOGM preparation earlier in the day and how the “red-shirts” seem to up and leave after the casting of the no-confidence vote.
• The sudden flurry of protests by concerned parents to MOE about the AWARE CSE programme content reflects unfavourably on the protesters. Yes, no protest does not mean no problem. But the sudden outpouring of “outrage” manifest a herd mentality hinting at taking someone’s word at face-value rather than herd members learning (AND understanding) the truth for themselves.
• The AWARE saga is not, and should not be, construed as a Christians vs the rest tussle. But it is hard not to view it as such given the facts of the case. Members on all sides of the divide can deduce any number of things, but it would boil down to:
  • Conservative/fundie Christians believing they are being discrinimated against for having to tolerate alternative views and not being able to force their agenda on others.
  • Non-christians of other religions beleiving they are are being marginalised for having to tolerate an aggressive Christian agenda/voice and for its imposition of its agenda on everyone else (section 377A anyone?)
  • Moderates of all persuasions who have been sandwiched and feel the impetus (for whatever reason) to keep silent rather than raise their concerns about the pro-active aggression characterising small segments of their belief systems.
  • Civil society must be free from politicking of all ilk or “agendas” to function objectively and healthily.
  • The world is really not just made up of “normal” people (aka religious people who are decree-abiding heterosexuals) vs”abnormal” people (aka irreligious people who are decree-breaking homosexuals), and there are OTHER stuff that commands the world’s human population’s attention. (There was a reference somewhere to women being more concerned with the economy and bread-and-butter issues than homosexuality. If you see that, please paste the link in the comments section of this post, thanks!). Leting a particular segment of the population string up another due to misunderstanding, fear, bias, discrimination is the first step down the road to ruin. Strictly speaking, it’s not like this is really the first step in this agenda, but does Singapore want to be dragged along?
  • The enthusiastic response to the K.F. Khoo petition demonstrate the power of faith. If only a portion of this enthusiasm could be harnessed for pressing issues of the day.
  • Secularism is not and cannot be the exclusive domain of atheists – it may be tempting and all too convenient but the “Godless” are not to blame for all the failings of the world but unless you’re that frog in the well, even that’s too narrow and myopic a view.
  • slightly off-topic but consider this: unless there is only ONE religion which also happens to condemn all unbelievers to hell, and exactly ONE belief system in the whole wide world complementing said religion, the only thing every human being can be sure of is the guarantee of feeling the heat at the end. Crispy or well-done? Come on, why so serious?

The EOGM REPORTS

• mrsbudak: Show respect for elders okay?!, Margaret Thomas asks Josie Lau & co to resign, AWARE – “pro-gay”?, AWARE EGM tidbits, Where were we? We were there!!
• the little stray cat: 020509 in with the old, out with the new, 020509 calm before the storm, 020509 stand up & be heard…
• Straits Times: LIVE: Aware showdown at Suntec
• Wayang Party: LIVE from Suntec: AWARE EGM, 2 May 2009

COMMENTS and THOUGHTS

Media

Straits Times:

• Pertinent lessons from a fiasco
• Pluralism’s narrow escape is a wake-up call
• Process, pluralism, protection

Today

• Debate still raging in cyberspace (pdf version)

TNP

• ‘Whatever you can think of, they did’ (pdf version)

Blogs

mrsbudak

• Thank God for Thio Su Mien
• Sex-obsessed
• Being “inclusive” means must reject because not all accept

Youth.sg

• AWARE: a case study in respect

taikiew.net

• The Christian Post find offense in secular nature of our Society

akikonomu

• Inquiring minds want to know: Caine Teo and Ape Communications
• An issue of statements I
• Aware’s new events management company
• Civil society in a secular society

Mr Wang Says So

• Steeplejacking: The Internal Crisis of Christianity?
• Thank God the Christians Were Defeated

To Fix A Mocking Peasant

• I love presumptuous people

Writing-Yoga-Living

• Was COOS Hijacked Too?
• Excerpt From Letter to MOE
• Messrs Rajah & Tann, Why? Why? Why?
• Alan Chin Plays Dirty With Daughter’s Friends
• MOE steps in!
• Josie’s Lau’s Insidious Insertion
• More Names For Defamation Suit?
• Why Thio Su Mien’s Stand Is Good News
• Click this for more

Siew Kum Hong

• What I took away from 2 May

Yawning Bread

• Lessons for the PAP from the Aware EOGM
• John Dorhauer on the steeplejacking of AWARE
• Feminism is important for men too
• Identity mobilisation – a threat to society

The Wayang Party

• LEAKED: Appeal to Prime Minister on values of marriage and family
• LEAKED: Supporters of old exco continue to lobby MOE to review Aware’s CSE
• Why the civil activism shown in the Aware saga will never be replicated in politics
• Thio Su Mien: SARS is God’s punishment for allowing abortion in Singapore
• Aftermath of Aware EGM: Time for some house-keeping
• Aftermath of Aware EGM: How Josie and team manage to play the media card the wrong way
• Reflections of the Aware EGM from a member
• If you think good won over evil in AWARE, you better sit down, take a stress pill and think it through again!
• New out, Old in – but it’s back to square one again!
• EXPOSED: ST ploy using the Aware saga to justify shameless PAP gerrymandering via the GRC

The Online Citizen

• The government’s strategic intervention in the Aware saga
• All about AWARE

For more: we-are-aware.sg

Aware Saga: COOS and the curious case of disingenuous-seeming platitudes

My bit of rambling on the AWARE saga seemed fated to get a sequel. By now, it should be well-known that Pastor Derek Hong of the Anglican Church Of Our Saviour (COOS), which seems to be the unifying demographic in the collective profile of the new AWARE exco and then some (pdf alt), has raised a rallying war-cry to the women in his flock to ‘be engaged’ and support fellow church member and Aware president Josie Lau and ‘her sisters’ at Aware, claiming ‘it is not a crusade against the people but there’s a line that God has drawn for us, and we don’t want our nation crossing that line.’

What could be defined by the term “our nation” in the pastor’s mind, when Singapore is a secular sovereign state? Who makes up “our nation” he is commanding to not cross the “line that God has drawn” when Christians comprises 14.5% of Singapore’s population? The implications are nothing short of intriguing. (Pastor Hong is not the only COOS shepherd to urge his flock to support the new AWARE exco in the name of church and country).

If you have access to a copy, read what the good pastor said in today’s Straits Times. 2 and 2 apparently do not have to add up. Heck, compare it and the “outing” of the Group of 9 + 1 to his church’s “clarification” statement, and it gets even more confuzzling. Even COOS staff are getting in on the act. You can’t throw out the bath water without dashing the baby to the ground. So which is it, yea or nay?

Incidentally, it is very interesting that almost as soon as MOE issued a statement on the bone of contention by the Group of 9’s + 1, aka “Feminist Mentor”, and said it had not received complaints neither from her or the shocked parents she chewed the bone with, and the FM seemed certain of hanging by her own rope, it began poking the bone, and a newly launched petition by a Madam K.F. Khoo to request MOE to do the poking has garnered 1,200 signatures (scroll to post titled “Check Again”. Edit: This is a much better reference, with the originating email appeal in tow apparently).

EDIT: I am highly interested in the outcome of the MOE probe of course – will someone get a tap on the wrist? (Incidentally, the comments to the post are very interesting reads, involving self-styled concerned parents to boot.) And for balance, straight from the horse’s mouth: Notes from an AWARE CSE trainer

Additional references and choice reads:

• Churches: Don’t get involved
• Christians Against AWARE Takeover!
• Civil society in a secular society
• An open letter to Ms Josie Lau
• A friendly academic challenge to COOS on reparative therapy
• Concerns addressed
• Don’t pretend that Christian activism doesn’t exist here (pdf alt)
• From de-conversion.com
  • The Illusion of Moral Absolutes
  • Some problems with calling the Bible God’s Word
  • SuperChristians: More Pious than Jesus
  • The Myth of Bible-based “Family Values”
  • The Persecution Complex

A bit of rambling on the AWARE saga

Strictly human affairs aren’t featured on tec for the simple reason of it being a minionly blog. But there are hiss spats, and then there are hiss spats. This is one of those that demands a bit of attention. It also requires more thought but I am pressed for time since the AWARE EGM is on 2 May so please bear with the rambling.

To set a bit of background: I am of the opinion that everyone has rights and freedom to choose, without fear of reprisals, persecution and discrimination, especially with regards to to personal basic stuff like sexual orientation, choice in abortion, gender equality, respect for others’ freedom to practise and express their opinions and beliefs. I cannot stand the imposition of one’s beliefs on another whether by force, stealth or other forms of coercion. This stems from my personal experience as a six year old who, along with with my younger sisters, was lured and “brainwashed” by a pair of  smiling young women Christian evangelists to “drive out” the false evil gods sitting in my home and accept the true god of Christianity or risk burning in hell. As children of practising Taoists, and having visited Haw Par Villa, the burning in hell bit did it. When they asked if we want to be saved, of course I said YES for all of us. We were told it was simple, that we only had to repeat what they said (which I know now to be prayers). Though a six year old who had barely started learning English, I grew more and more uncomfortable, not to mention scared and confused, at the things we seemed to be repeating, which seemed to include clauses for burning in hell for offending the Christian god in future. Thankfully, our mother swooped in before the deal was sealed and rescued us. I still remember the look of disappointment on the two women’s faces as our mother herded us away. Our mother was scared and angry of course, and tried to help us understand the enormity of what the two women had attempted when we got home. I felt sick then and prayed at the altar in our home for forgiveness and for assistance to drive out the evil god that I almost accepted. From then, I had bad dreams of being burnt in hell by the Christian god for the longest time. The incident happened while I and my sisters were out playing in the neighbourhood playground, just 20m away from our second storey 1-room flat, while waiting for my mother to return from errand running. It was a long time ago in an age when neighbourliness was such that every mother did the same. But after that incident, though she continued to allow us to run down to the playground ourselves, our mother made sure to keep an eye on us from the corridor – there goes the neighbourhood really. Now that I know, I feel nothing but pity and contempt for evangelists who prey on the naive, desperate and the weak in the name of their god or think the world must live by their creed. Talk about forced enlistment! How Religion Ruins Relationships so: why can’t people just accept people for what they are instead of trying to force-mould others to their truths?

With this tangling mess at AWARE, surely it shows the danger we are in from such fundamentalists.

Time to stop hiding and take a stand, like Angel did.

The first I knew of the AWARE sage was this TODAY article (pdf alt. Comment on this article: AWARE: a civil society primer). I had really thought it was a storm in a teacup. But unfolding events show it is not so simple, and where the ilk of Thio Su Mein are involved, alarm bells must ring. Then I read that the DBS tie-up with Focus on the Family (which had seemed mildly insipid if a little unfathomable) was under the aupices of Josie Lau, new AWARE president in her capacity as DBS’ head of credit cards marketing. Back when it broke, I had thought it was a simple fluke that a secular organisation picked such a strongly anti-anything non-christian group which is hardly heard of in Singapore for their Corporate Social Responsibility gig.

(Side-track: This weekend past was a flag day for Focus on the Family. Asking money from the public of Singapore to fund their “work”. The cheek! People, please do pay attention to what you are contributing to.)

I also find Dawn’s take on the whole shenanigans insightful. (And I am touched that amid their work and focus, the members of AWARE extended their empathies during the SARS fiasco in 2003)

One other thing I have to mention about AWARE – when the SARS crisis happened, some AWARE members came forward to offer us their moral support. They felt that active volunteers involved in civil society should help each other out. If you’d like find out what you can do, go to We Are Aware.

mrsbudak‘s thoughts are educational and eye-opening too. In fact, I got a few references off them Here are her posts in chronological order:

• AWARE “take over”
• Can AWARE be selective about human rights? Re: AWARE takeover
• AWARE and Joel’s Army
• Being “inclusive” means must reject because not all accept
• AWARE EOGM change location

Other important and interesting references:

• AWARE – And Why You Should Cancel Your DBS Credit Cards
• Pirates ahoy! Gay netizens and the AWARE hijacking (beware, this is from the blog of Mr Alex Au, the prominent gay rights activist whose biggest crime in the eyes of the new AWARE exco is being one of four panelists in the 2005 forum “Playing it Safe: Keeping HIV at Bay”, organised by AWARE in response to the threat that women faced from the rising incidence of HIV/Aids in Singapore. Can anyone say Myth in serious need of debunking?)
• Josie And The Pushy Cats on TV… (from the blog of playwright Ovidia YU, who wrote the most excellent Silence of the Kittens)
• A Steeplejacking of a Women’s NGO In Singapore: A rare glimpse at how Joel’s Army groups work in practice