Churches worried about Govt's stand on homosexuality send e-mail to Shanmugam
By Tessa Wong, The Straits Times, 19 Jan 2013
LAW and Foreign Affairs Minister K. Shanmugam said yesterday he will meet representatives of a group of churches concerned about the Government's stance on homosexuality.
The group, called LoveSingapore and made up of 100 churches, sent Mr Shanmugam an e-mail this week after the minister revealed early this month that he had met members of the lesbian group Sayoni.
The LoveSingapore e-mail was signed off by Mr Lawrence Khong, the pastor of Faith Community Baptist Church (FCBC).
In it, he said Mr Shanmugam's November meeting with Sayoni had garnered publicity for it.
"This could be read as high-level endorsement of their agenda. We are deeply concerned," Mr Khong wrote.
Mr Khong said the churches respect the Government for its "track record of being pro-family", and referred to previous remarks made by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong on the topic.
He said that an ongoing constitutional challenge of Section 377A of the Penal Code presented "a looming threat to this basic building block of our conservative society".
LoveSingapore is an informal network of churches. Its website lists the following pastors in its leadership team: Mr Khong and Eugene Seow of FCBC; Derek Hong and Daniel Wee of Church of Our Saviour; Rick Seaward and Chua Hock Lin of Victory Family Centre; Benny Ho of Faith Community Church in Perth; Chern Hock Chye of Renewal Christian Church; Daniel Foo of Bethesda (Bedok-Tampines) Church; Danny Han of Joy Church; Guna Raman of Agape Baptist Church; Lawrence Chua of Living Sanctuary Brethren Church; Terry Kee of Queenstown Lutheran Church; Soh Wui Liang of Agape Christian Centre and Yang Tuck Yoong of Cornerstone Community Church.
In a Facebook post last night, Mr Shanmugam said he would meet the LoveSingapore group and others who have e-mailed him, "just like I met with the activists from Sayoni".
Apart from LoveSingapore, he did not identify the e-mail writers, saying only that they "take a different position from that of the LGBT activists".
LGBT stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transsexual.
The Straits Times understands that Mr Khong's e-mail to Mr Shanmugam was sent a day after he read out a statement expressing concern about homosexuality to Emeritus Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong, when the latter made an unplanned stop at the FCBC Touch Auditorium on Sunday during a walkabout in Marine Parade.
Last night, an FCBC spokesman told The Straits Times that when Mr Goh went on his walkabout, the church leaders saw "an opportunity not only to greet him, but to also share our views and concerns - just like any other Marine Parade resident would have done".
The spokesman added: "When we learnt that he might be stopping by, we prepared the statement which has been FCBC's position and concern all this while. Our intention was to give it to him if he was just passing through, but since he was happy to come into our worship service, we decided to read the statement to him."
Shortly after Mr Goh's visit, FCBC posted on its website that Mr Goh "responded to Reverend Khong with a strong word of encouragement. 'You stand by your belief, and you'll be fine!'"
But Mr Goh's office clarified on Thursday that he had merely made a "general remark that people are free to stand by their beliefs".
The church website has since amended its original posting, dropping the phrase "strong word of encouragement".
ESM Goh clarifies remark made to pastor
By Grace Chua, The Straits Times, 18 Jan 2013
FORMER prime minister Goh Chok Tong's office has clarified comments that he made to a pastor who called homosexuality a "looming threat" to the family unit.
It said that in his impromptu comments to churchgoers while on a walkabout, the Emeritus Senior Minister had been making a "general remark that people are free to stand by their beliefs".
Mr Goh was responding to a prepared statement by Pastor Lawrence Khong, who called the family unit "the basic building block of society".
Mr Khong added: "We see a looming threat to this basic building block by homosexual activists seeking to repeal Section 377A of the Penal Code."
He had been welcoming Mr Goh to the Faith Community Baptist Church's (FCBC's) Touch Centre auditorium. Mr Goh was on a walkabout in his Marine Parade constituency on Sunday when he made a 10-minute unscheduled stop at the church after being invited in by churchgoers.
He greeted the congregation, and according to the FCBC's account of the event on its website, he "responded to Reverend Khong with a strong word of encouragement. 'You stand by your belief, and you'll be fine!'"
Mr Khong had been referring to a lawsuit, to be heard in court next month, by a couple seeking to prove that Section 377A, which outlaws homosexual acts, is unconstitutional.
The repeal of similar laws around the world has "led to negative social changes, especially the breakdown of the family as a basic building block and foundation of the society", Mr Khong said.
He added that it takes away parents' rights over what children are taught, attacks religious freedom and denies free speech to those who disagree with homosexual activists.
As of last night, Mr Khong's prepared statement had garnered 625 "likes" on Facebook and over 430 comments, including support and criticism.
It even drew a rebuttal in a Facebook note from a fellow pastor - Reverend Miak Siew of the Free Community Church, which accepts same-sex and transgender relationships.
Mr Siew said: "Strong families are not defined by their composition. The repeal of 377A poses no threat to families bound together by love.
"It is the continued stigmatisation of LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) people that you are perpetuating that is a threat to families - because you have placed obstacles in how parents understand their children who are different, and created huge rifts in these families."
Sociologist Terence Chong, a senior fellow at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, told The Straits Times: "One needs to look at recent events in order to understand where this pushback from Pastor Khong is coming from.
"Pink Dot events are becoming more celebratory and open, while a homosexual couple has decided to challenge 377A in the high court.
"Christians like Pastor Khong see this as a threat and conflate it with the undermining of the traditional family unit. It's a reaction to what they perceive as immoral trends."