Title: Pastor Ronny Tan Speaks
Website:http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_490426.html
http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_488719.html
Pastor Ronny Tan, the leader of Lighthouse Evangelism-----an independent church with 12,000 members, made his apology to the leaders of the Singapore Buddhist Federation and Taoist Federation with his promise that he will not disparage other religions on 10 Feb, 2010.
Causes of this incident are some videos of Pastor Tan showing his contempt of Buddhism and Taoism which provoked some discussion and rebukes from public. Even the Deputy Prime Minister Wong Kan Seng and the Internal Security Department were involved to appease those angry believers. The church was told off to eliminate any offensive documents and materials. Pastor Tan apologized to the leaders of local Buddhism and Taoism in person. Besides, his family, the National Council of churches of Singapore, the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Deputy Prime Minister all made statements to show their approval to Pastor Tan’s apology and religion equality.
Seeing all these reactions of this incident, some people may think that they just made a big fuss over a minor issue. However, I think this is just a perfect example of how Singapore government and society maintain harmony with such many diverse religions. As we all know, religion conflicts have always been a main factor of wars. And Singapore itself has also suffered from the conflicts among different races and religions. Thus today the government pays a lot of attention on religion issues. From those many departments in charge of religion issues to various public holidays, we can see the government’s hard works. As a result, when wars in middle-east are going on, when neighbor countries are dealing with domestic religion conflicts, Singapore can still enjoy its steady development with a harmony society. Thus I think the government really did a good job. In addition, some non-government organizations also play important roles in this issue.
By: Kyle (Chen Youchen)
I think you have analysed this issue quite detailed. I always hold the opinoin that the religion issue is one of the hottest issues in Singapore that the givernment, all the citizens and even foreign residents should pay close attention to. this issue is directly related to the stability of Singapore, the development of the whole society, and the daily lives of people. compared to many other places where the religion conflicts exist, i think the issue here become minite mainly due to the effort put by givernment, oganization and the concerted people.Even so, this also can not be neglected. once someone provoke the conflict, the religion issue may become a hot potato. So we should keep concerneb anout this issue and follow the government's policies in order to livw in peace!
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