Religion and the Public Space: Valuable lessons from the Singapore model

By Roland Chia

(This article was originally published in the Straits Times, 10 June 2011, in association with Global Experts, a project of the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations, and reproduced at Trinity Theological College website.)

SINGAPORE more often makes the headlines for its economic performance than for its model of multiculturalism. Nevertheless, Singapore was a true example of a cosmopolitan city before many other regions started to experience diversity. Can the lessons learnt in this part of the world be of use to Europe today?

In February, British Prime Minister David Cameron presented a robust critique of state multiculturalism as it is practised in the West, and particularly in the United Kingdom.

Re-imagining World Christianity for the Church Universal: Andrew Walls and his Legacy

By Michael Nai Chiu Poon
(This article was originally a lecture given at Princeton Theological Seminary, 21 March 2011, and reproduced at Fulcrum website, a network of evangelical Anglicans.)

My aim in this lecture is to discuss the work of Andrew Walls with especial reference to his contribution towards world Christianity. I shall first set his work in context of transitions in the twentieth century, and then discuss Walls’ threefold work: in creating an international community of mission historians, in promoting documentation, and in developing solid study programmes in mission studies. I shall end by exploring the fundamental issues Walls poses for present-day churches.

Can Christians Belong to More than One Religious Tradition?

By Tan Kang San

(This article originally published in The Whole Gospel, The Whole Church, The Whole World: A three year project of The Lausanne Theology Working Group, volume 3 [UK: Paternoster in collaboration with The World Evangelical Alliance Theological Commission, 2010], and reproduced at Lausanne website.)

I. Perspectives on Non-Christian Religions

This paper seeks to explore the notion of multi-religious belonging and evaluate whether it is theologically possible for a Christian to follow Christ while retaining some form of identification with one’s previous religion such as Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism or Chinese religions. Instead of a total rejection of past faiths, is it possible for a Christian, without falling into syncretism, to belong to more than one religious tradition?

Different but Equal: Male-female relationship in the Bible

By Roland Chia

(This article originally published in Eagles VantagePoint magazine, issue July-August 2010, and reproduced at VantagePoint website.)

In an article in the 1991 issue of Christianity Today entitled, “Let’s Stop Making Women Presbyters,” evangelical theologian and leader J. I. Packer wrote: “Presbyters are set apart for a role of authoritative pastoral leadership. But this role is for manly men rather than womanly women, according to the creation pattern that redemption restores.” This view, which subordinates the woman to the man, is underscored by the Reformed evangelical preacher John Piper in a book he edited with theologian Wayne Grudem entitled, Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood: A Response to Evangelical Feminism. Piper writes: “At the heart of matured masculinity is a sense of benevolent responsibility to lead, provide for and protect women in ways appropriate to man’s differing relationship.” The converse is also true: “at the heart of mature femininity is a freeing disposition to affirm, receive and nurture strength and leadership from worthy men in ways appropriate to a woman’s differing relationships.”

Being Real in a Contrarian and Acquisitive World

By Daniel Koh Kah Soon

(This article is originally a talk given at the Graduates’ Christian Fellowship Intersect Conference 2010 'Real World, Real Christian' on 19 March 2010 at the Singapore Bible College, reprinted in Graduates' Christian Fellowship Bulletins, issue July 2010, and reproduced at Graduates' Christian Fellowship website.)


This world which God has given us as a home has gone through a few “tsunamic upheavals” in recent years. I am not talking about the natural disasters, which have afflicted our region and brought about destructions to properties and deaths to thousands of people. The convulsions such as the 1997 Asian financial crisis, and the more recent worldwide economic melt-down, were implosions waiting to happen, due to frantic attempts by some unscrupulous CEOs and their finance officers at creative accounting. Before the world’s financial institutions were pulled down by some once-a-upon-a-time “darlings” of Wall Street, there were already hints of impending wider corporate disasters when one-time business giants like Enron, Arthur Anderson and Global Crossings, were brought to their knees because of market manipulations and high levels of corporate greed and scandals.

Sowing Subversion in the Field of Relativism

By Mark L. Y. Chan

(This article originally published in the Christianity Today, issue February 2010, as part of Lausanne Movement's Global Conversation, and reproduced at Christianity Today website.)


Globalization and migration have brought religious pluralism—something that Asians have lived with for millennia—to the West. In this month's installment of the Global Conversation, Singaporean theologian Mark Chan mines his experience as an Asian believer to help Christians everywhere evangelize those who have been blinded by the fallacies of relativism.

Caring For Creation

By Daniel Koh Kah Soon

(This article originally published in Wesley Methodist Church quarterly magazine Tidings, issue 2008 the third quarter.)

An Inconvenient Truth?

The world is facing an environmental crisis. Unless we are completely out of touch with what is happening around the world, we cannot read newspapers, surf the net and watch television and not be aware of it. It is true that some people may dispute the cause and the gravity of the crisis. For example, there are those who have scorned at Al Gore’s controversial An Inconvenient Truth and some of them have seen it as alarmist. Yet in spite of that and the refusal of the United States to endorse the Kyoto Protocol which seeks to manage our vulnerable environment, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, an independent scientific body set up by the World Meteorological Organization and by the United Nations Environment Programme in its Fourth Assessment Report (2007) has sounded the latest wake-up call for the leaders of the world to address the growing environmental crisis or face the consequences which such a crisis may have on the well-being of our common home, the planet earth which we inhabit.

Organ Trading: A Christian Perspective

By Roland Chia

(This article is originally a talk given at the Graduates' Christian Fellowship’s forum on Human Organ Trading held on 12 November 2008 at the GCF-FES Centre, reprinted in Graduates' Christian Fellowship Bulletins, issue December 2008, and reproduced at Graduates' Christian Fellowship website.)

The recent case of two Indonesian men, who were prosecuted for selling their kidneys, has sparked a robust debate on the question of whether Singapore should legalise the sale of human organs. In an article in The Straits Times (21 July 2008), Health Minister Khaw Boon Wan was quoted as saying: "Let’s push within the current regime … but at the same time, let’s not write off an idea just because it sounds radical or controversial … We may be able to find a compromise which is workable and yet does not offend people’s sensibilities."

Time for Singapore to relook abortion law

By Tan Seow Hon

(This article is originally published in the Strait Times, 24 July 2008, and reproduced at Asiaone News website.)


It has recently been argued that if Singapore wants more babies, one approach that deserves more attention is to render access to abortion harder. This would necessitate that the law, which allows abortion up to 24 weeks of pregnancy without restriction as to reason, be amended.

The current law, the Termination of Pregnancy Act, is a consolidation of abortion laws that have remained substantially the same since 1974. The 1974 Abortion Act had liberalised the 1969 Abortion Act, which was passed contentiously with 32 ayes, 10 nays and one abstention.

A Christian Social Vision For Nation Building

By Ng Kam Weng

(This article originally published in the Kairos Magazine, issue September 2007, and at Ng Kam Weng's website Krisis & Praxis, 10 October 2007.)

A Christian Philosophy for the Common Good

“The Church must exercise prophetic witness towards wider society and to government,” exclaimed the young man as he urged his friends to join a candlelight vigil in front of the High Court to express their concerns over a recent High Court judgment that was seen to be in conflict with fundamental liberties.

Asian Human Rights: A Critique

By Ng Kam Weng

(This article originally published at Ng Kam Weng's website Krisis & Praxis, 25 June 2007.)

Asian critics offer more sophisticated arguments than expediency in their resistance against demands for greater implementation of human rights policies. Of the various arguments voiced by Asian governments I shall focus on four: 1) that human rights are culture specific; 2) that community takes precedence over individuals; 3) that social-economic rights have priority over civil political rights, and 4) that the implementation of human rights should be respected as a matter of national sovereignty.

Rendering to Caesar: A Theology of Church-State Relations.

By Roland Chia [1]

(This article is originally published by the Centre for the Development of Christian Ministry of Trinity Theological College, Singapore, in periodical Church and Society, issue 7.2 [2004], p.41-46, and reproduced at Church and Society in Asia Today website.)

In a White Paper entitled Maintenance of Religious Harmony[2], published in 1989 and accepted as a Bill by parliament in 1990, the Singapore Government adumbrates its position concerning religion and politics. Emphasizing that for Singapore, ‘the safeguards for political rights and democratic values must be secular, not religious, institutions’ (21), the White Paper postulates the separation of religion from politics. By this it refers to the prohibition of the promotion of any political party or cause by religious groups or leaders and under the cloak of religion (20). Recognizing the fact that the division between religion and politics is really a matter of ‘convention’ (24), and that any such division in reality is not entirely possible, the White Paper nevertheless insists that such an approach is the most appropriate one, especially in the case of multireligious Singapore. The White Paper also acknowledges the fact that ‘some religions explicitly deny the possibility of this separation, because to their followers the faith encompasses all aspects of life’(25). It concludes, however, that it is precisely because some faiths proffer a holistic view ‘that they must collide if they all attempt to carry out to the full their respective visions of an ideal society’ (25). The document makes clear that ‘the purpose of attempting to separate religion from politics is therefore not to determine the validity of various religious or ethical beliefs which have political or social implications. It is to establish working rules by which many faiths can accept fundamental differences between them, and coexist peacefully in Singapore’ (27).

Discerning the Spirit in the Church Today

By Simon Chan

(This article is originally published by the Centre for the Development of Christian Ministry of Trinity Theological College, Singapore, in periodical Church and Society, issue 7.3 [2004], p.105-113, and reproduced at Church and Society in Asia Today website.)

Christians throughout history have always recognized the need to evaluate the sources of their spiritual experience if they are to make spiritual progress. Not all experiences come from the Holy Spirit. There are two other possible sources: the devil and ourselves. Confusing these sources could have disastrous consequences. In more recent times, the charismatic renewal has brought the matter of spiritual operations to the forefront of the church's life and consciousness. All kinds of conflicting claims are made in the name of the Holy Spirit. We need to discern these spiritual operations.

The Church as a Multi-racial Community

By Robert Solomon
(This article is originally published by the Centre for the Development of Christian Ministry of Trinity Theological College, Singapore, in periodical Church and Society, issue 7.2 [2004]: 64-74, and reproduced at Church and Society in Asia Today website.)

I was at a combined service recently where I had the joy of giving the benediction in three languages - Mandarin, Tamil, and English. After the service, a member of one of our Peranakan services remarked that I had missed saying the benediction in Malay. Interestingly, the next day I was at a Peranakan service and had the opportunity to give the benediction in Malay. This experience reiterated for me the fact that the church is a multilingual and multi-racial community. This is not just a sociological phenomenon, for in order to understand it adequately, we must begin with a theological perspective.

A Theological Perspective
We begin with the creation account in Genesis where we are introduced to God the Creator who made the heavens, the earth, and all that dwell on earth, including human beings. A constant theme right through Scripture is that it is proper for this Creator God to be worshipped by all people. However, sin entered the human race when Adam and Eve sinned (Gen. 3) and since then, God has been redeeming mankind to Himself.

Prophecy And Discernment

By Simon Chan

(This article is originally published by the Centre for the Development of Christian Ministry of Trinity Theological College, Singapore, in periodical Church and Society, issue 6.3 [2003], p.41-46, and reproduced at Church and Society in Asia Today website.)

Introduction
The topic I have chosen might appear at first to be rather narrow in scope. Why only discernment of prophecy? Surely more things could be said about this important subject than just discernment? Indeed, more things could be said, but I have specifically chosen to focus on discerning prophecy for good reason.

Of all the gifts in the NT there is reason to believe that prophecy occupies a special place. The NT scholar James Dunn goes so far as to suggest that prophecy may be considered the central charisma in Paul.[1] It occurs in all the three lists of gifts mentioned by Paul (1 Cor 12:7-11; 12:27-31; Rom 12:3-8). It could also be seen as the basic means by which other gifts are expressed. Prophecy is first and foremost speech, and speech is the means by which a good many other gifts are exercised, e.g., word of wisdom, knowledge, encouragement, even preaching under special circumstances. There is evidence to suggest that in a special sense prophecy is not just one of the gifts of the Spirit, but the gift of the Spirit for the entire church. The Spirit, who is the gift of God for the “last days”, is seen, especially in Luke, as the “Spirit of prophecy”. To the extent that the church is viewed in Scripture as the community of the last days, the community oriented towards the future fulfillment of God’s purpose, the community in which the word is given, received and proclaimed in the power of the Spirit—to that extent, the church as a whole could be described as a prophetic community.[2]

Economic Crises and the Chief End of Man

By Lee Soo Ann

(This article is originally published by the Centre for the Development of Christian Ministry of Trinity Theological College, Singapore, in periodical Church and Society, issue 2.1 [1999], pp.1-11, and reproduced at Church and Society in Asia Today website.)

 

The New year mesdage of the Prime Minister of Singapore emphasised the need of social cohesion during these times of economic uncertainty. There are only the daring few who would predict when Singapore would resume a high economic growth again. The Deputy Prime Minister, Bg-Gen. Lee Hsien Loong, has advised Singaporeans to prepare for a long period of moderate or slow growth at best. It is as if Singaporeans are being exhorted to discover an inner core to themselves and rediscover inner values which would re-instate concern for each other and lead to proper concern for oneself.

Why does it take an economic crisis to shake us to the core? Cannot man be aware of God and his fellow man in times of material prosperity?

Conversion and Intrafamilial Conflict: Some New Testament Perspectives

By Tan Kim Huat

(This article is originally published by the Centre for the Development of Christian Ministry of Trinity Theological College, Singapore, in periodical Church and Society, issue 1.1 [1998], pp.7-11, and reproduced at Church and Society in Asia Today website.)

Christianity as an avowedly missionary religion seeks converts. To prevent Christianity from performing missionary work is tantamount to denaturing it. This may sound offensive to some but when it is borne in mind that such a characteristic is not unique to it, the offence is somewhat lessened. Many religions do have such an agenda, especially when they claim to have the Truth and the principles to bring about the greatest happiness to a human being. Hence, Christianity, like some other religions, understands itself as helping to bring about something eternally significant and blissful to someone when it invites him to be converted. However, when this happens, there often comes with it a potentially thorny problem: intrafamilial conflicts brought about precisely by conversion. Such conflicts are often most complex, exasperating and traumatic. A new convert, especially a young one, may find it rather difficult to cope with these. The questions he may need answering could well be those which are Biblical, theological or practical in nature. It is the purpose of this article to look at this problem from some perspectives provided by the New Testament (NT) and it is hoped that some strategies may be found for pastors to alleviate the pain brought about by such conflicts [1]. By so doing, it also hopes modestly to demonstrate the importance of drawing resources from theology (and Biblical studies) to address societal norms, trends and concerns.