The pastor of a Singapore megachurch is warning his followers that a repeal of the country’s colonial-era law banning homosexual sex would threaten religious freedom and the basic family unit.
Pastor Lawrence Khong of the Faith Community Baptist Church used former Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong’s January 13 visit as a platform to spread his message of intolerance: Khong warned his flock that LGBT activists working to repeal Section 377A of the Singapore Penal Code were a “looming threat” to the basic building blocks of society.
The LGBT site Fridae reports:
Using textbook anti-gay arguments popular among Christian right groups in the United States, he warned that repealing the law will “take away the rights of parents over what their children are taught in schools, especially sex education.”
“It attacks religious freedom and eventually denies free speech to those who, because of their moral convictions, uphold a different view from that championed by increasingly aggressive homosexual activists,” he told his congregation that appears to number at least in the hundreds although the church claims to have a membership of 10,000.
He then called on the government to “provide moral leadership in preserving this basic building block and foundation of our society” and to “robustly protect our constitutional rights to free speech and religious liberty.”
The Singapore High Court is scheduled to hear two cases challenging the legality of the gay-sex ban—one on January 25 and another on February 14.
Aidan8
The part of me that’s fed up with American right-wing culture tends to think the christo-fascist fundamentalist wing-nuttery is an American phenomenon. Not sure it’s comforting to know I’m wrong on that… and that the mega-church-evangelical-homophobes are elsewhere in abundance. The reality-based-communities better start standing up and getting loud in calling out the crazies.
2eo
@Aidan8: It isn’t comforting, the war on these genocidal maniacs is a worldwide front, and we are gathering momentum with every passing day. Every new Atheist and questioning person is a victory for humanity. Every person who loses their faith is a gain for the moral good.
Ogre Magi
No matter what the country, christians are always jerks
Connor
Government shouldn’t be concerned about what’s “acceptable to the majority,” but rather what is right for all.
KARUADAM
@Ogre Magi: No Orge Magi, as a Behavioral Psychology, I can tell you that Christianity, is a mental illness that need sever modification, Psychotropic Drugs.
Billysees
@Aidan8: 1
Check this out once in a while — http://www.rightwingwatch.org/
It’ll make you sick.
These “spreaders of nonsense” can’t say it fast enough.
Let their false messages be known to all.
Let’s do some research. Let’s interview people in each of these countries and see what has happened there since legalizing marriage equality —
The countries and the year they legalized same sex marriage —
1. Netherlands ’01
2. Belgium ’03
3. Spain ’05
4. Canada ’05
5. S. Africa ’06
6. Norway ’09
7. Sweden ’09
8. Portugal ’10
9. Iceland ’10
10. Argentina ’10
11. Denmark ’12
These are all historically and predominately Christian nations.
I’ve heard of no reports that any of these countries are self destructing or coming apart at the seams or are preparing for a revolution as some say the USA is going to experience if gay marriage is ever to be allowed by law.
Cheer…
Billysees
@2eo: 2
You’re last sentence is foolish.
Focus your displeasure on the correct target.
Billysees
@Ogre Magi: 3
Don’t judge the whole barrel on a few or even many bad apples.
Billysees
@Connor: 4
Perfectly said.
It’ll take much effort and suffering too I’m afraid before we get there.
“What is right for all” is such a noble aspiration.
Thanks for mentioning it.
I haven’t heard that phrase in a long time.