Emboldened by the recent promotion of Archbishop John Chew of Singapore to head the Anglican Global South Movement, the Christian Post SG continued to spin their movement as what it claims “Majority Anglican Bloc Unites Against Western 'Innovations'”, and what it calls “two Western Churches for ‘celebrating’ homosexuality” in its posting on 26 Apr 2010. It calls the newly appointed Bishop in Episcopal Church as an “unrepentant homosexual person”. Clearly, the only unrepentant person is the Catholic Church still smarting under the daily revelations of child sexual abuses, yet little is heard from the Anglican Global South on this issue. We are reminded the Anglican faith in Singapore was once considered as a “Western Innovation” or an “Ang Moh” religion. Ironically this is the same retort now used by the Anglicans against those calling for equality for the gay community as something Western and foreign to Asia.

We have forgotten that the West “gave” us “Christianity”. The Anglican Faith, arose out of England, as part of the British colonial legacy. The Archbishop of Canterbury has a historic and traditional role of first amongst equal peers. It was the British colonials who brought us the Anglican Faith. By using the “Western innovation” argument, we undermined our own pasts and devalued the sacrifices made by dear missionaries who brought us the Christian Faith. We exposed ourselves to the argument that the Anglican Faith itself is neither Asian nor African but a Western creation.

The Anglican South support for the anti-gay laws has its origins as a “Western creation”, one of the first few laws passed by Henry VIII after he killed his wives. There were no such anti-gay sentiments in the native/traditional Asian Communities, no laws in ancient China, Japan or Taiwan which practices a live and let live attitude which the Singapore Government is now trying to instill. It was the “Western” colonials who brought us 377A, which criminalize the gay community. They themselves have long discarded such unfair and ridiculous laws. They have seen the light and the error of their ways in a maturing Christian faith, repealed these laws in their own countries and gave us independence, our right to govern ourselves and to determine our own future. However, we have not grown much it seems, and after 50 years, we may be no different than our colonial masters keeping their former laws. In an absurd irony, we are now championing these colonial western anti-gay laws and hypocritically calling those who opposed us as Western sympathizers.

Perhaps, the anti-gay movement originates from Africa to hide their human rights abuses, the countries liberated no better than under colonial rule. The crusade against gays reflects how we see ourselves as being spiritually and morally superior than the unrepentant Western Nations. We need a scapegoat to exalt ourselves, to prove our religious credentials. Instead, we see deep darkness in Africa, the southern part of Africa now strongly Christianized, yet filled with incredible corruption, lawless violence, human right abuses, religious wars, crime, deep poverty, hunger, death and diseases. It is no garden of Eden, but a land of lost hope, so rich in resources and potential, but filled with human misery. There is so much sin, hatred, and harm done to one and all, that if God had not promised Noah not to flood the nations again, we may have had another flood! They now put all the blame on Gays for their bloodied hands, with little shame nor conscience.

In Singapore, whilst bus loads of foreigners come to our shores to gamble at our new casinos, we too are gambling with our Christian morality and righteousness before God and man by associating ourselves with the African mob. Our ministry is at stake as the Antioch of Asia lest we are dragged down to the abyss by our anti-gay tryst. The nation of Nigeria is infamous for its quick rich schemes targeting rich western Christians, using religious talk and sympathies. Likewise, the handover of the leadership of the Anglican Global South to John Chew means that Singapore will be the scapegoat to fight the war with Western nations, whilst in the background they hold the power by virtue of their numbers ie 100,000 in the SEA versus 20 million supporters in Nigeria.

The Nigerian scam will also have a financial impact where we are now obliged to help out “poorer” African Nations who has been sucking for decades from Western Nations whom they now criticized. With this source of revenue reduced, another scam is needed under the guise of Christianity. They are now looking East. We are going to be much the poorer to be the lead for the Anglican Global South.

As Singapore crosses the line to be take lead in the anti-gay crusade, God may judge us and one day the rights which we have taken for granted, may be denied us. Whatever harm we sow, we may reap in the future. Perhaps in the guise of “protecting religion”, others will restrict our religious rights just as we so ingeniously call for gays to be criminalized in the guise of protecting the family. We may also trigger social unrest as Christians embolden by their success against gays starts to target others. It would be pertinent that the Government of Singapore keep a lid on the rising religious fundamentalism in Singapore for social harmony and prosperity. We should not follow the slippery slope of Nigeria. It’s a trap for Singapore, which will bring us into the poverty, and religious and social conflicts so often characterizes the fundamentalist Christian nations in Africa.

As a Christian, I believe that calling homosexuality as a sin is one of the worst sins because it misrepresents the bible to a very large grouping of peoples, and shows extreme bias and prejudice taking way the cultural, and historical context of the bible and the Jewish faith reflected within. We don’t treat heterosexuality of the 95% majority in the same manner even though it results in adultery, divorce and abortions. The Jews (whose OT scriptures we often based our condemnation) and whom the first Christians (who wrote the NT) were from, knew that perhaps persecuting gays was wrong. Since 1963, Israel had an official policy not to persecute gays. The ban on consensual same-sex sexual acts was formally repealed in 1988.

On January 29, 2007, following the Supreme Court ruling ordering them to do so, Jerusalem registered its first gay couple, Avi and Binyamin Rose. Even the Jews, so conservative and religious, were vary of harming the innocent because they remembered at Auschwitz, the Gay community suffered and died together with them. They knew God hears the innocent and justice will not be denied. The voice and cries of the innocent blood can never be denied, for the Law, the call for justice and recompense shall never pass away. Our condemnation and harm against the innocent will come back to haunt us many times over. Talk is cheap and harming the weak is easy, but Jesus Christ may hold us accountable.

At the end, there is little fear of God in many Singaporean Christians, that we are presenting our homophobia, discrimination, and hypocrisy rather than the charity, grace, and love of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Will others see the Christ of the bible in us, or the fundamentalist religious Pharisees putting gays to the Cross to satisfy our own religious self righteousness? The Gay community will certainly suffer in the onslaught of the Anglican South, but out of death comes resurrection and revival and equality that will go throughout the nations as a demonstration of God’s love, grace and faithfulness to the last tribe on earth.