The AWARE Saga - A Buddhist View

Singapore is a pretty boring place. By 'boring' I mean no school massacres, no 'no-go areas', no corruption scandals, no gang warfare and not much crime. Even elections are low-key, unexciting and predictable affairs. But of late Singaporeans have been treated to a bit of real excitement. People are talking about it, it is getting wide coverage in the media and the internet is positively humming with opinions about it. And because all the excitement has a religious element to it I'm dealing with it on my blog today. I will return to the promised subject of the five and ten Precepts in two days.
For 26 years an organization called AWARE has promoted women's rights, birth control, lesbian self-respect, everything you would expect from a modern progressive women's advocacy group. Last month AWARE had their annual general meeting and to everyone's astonishment a large group of members who had only joined during the previous month, voted out all the old members and took over. Interesting in itself, but even more interesting is that six of the 11 new office-bearers all just happen to be members of the same religious organization. In its reporting of this matter the media has mentioned the new offices holders' have a particular 'religious affiliation', that they have a 'faith-based' outlook and that 'certain beliefs' are involved, seemingly unable to bring themselves to actually use the word – Christian; or more precisely, fundamentalist Christian; or to be exact the Church of Our Savior.
Now the Church of Our Savior is - how can I put this? - let's just say that a guy with a beard and turban hiding in a cave in Afghanistan is a moderate by comparison. On the side-bar of the church's web site, the fourth item after 'Home', 'Welcome' and 'About Our Church' is 'Position Statement on Homosexuality' so presumably what homosexuals do in the privacy of their own bedrooms is of particular interest to the COS. The church even run an operation called Choice Ministries which 'cures' homosexuals. Apparently COS also has close links with the controversial Hillsong Church in Perth, Australia, characterized by its many critics, including Christian critics, as having an abusive, cohesive, mind-control approach to religion (see http://dogemperor.livejournal.com/147779.html). I always refer to these types of setups as Taklakamakan churches - 'go in, can't get out'.
The new AWARE committee have publicly stated that they did not know each other previous to their election, that they haven’t yet decided whether there will be new policies on gender issues, and that they intend to keep their religious views in the background. Many people in Singapore of late have reported seeing pigs flying. After all this got in the papers, the new committee appointed the mother of a former MP as its 'feminist mentor'. Within days, alleged 'private and confidential' emails between this woman and some of the new committee appeared on the internet and these suggest very strongly that there had been a carefully planned, religiously motivated, conspiracy to take over AWARE because of its stance on matters relating to sexuality.
Religious fundamentalists of all persuasions are pretty much the same, aren't they? While claiming to promote the highest moral standards, they are quite willing to use underhand, dubious or even immoral means to promote those standards. Typically, they also want to impose those standards on everyone else.
Because of their excellent organizational abilities and fierce determination, fundamentalist Christians in Singapore have a profile and an influence far beyond their numbers. If your neighbor, fellow student, boss, work colleague, local shopkeeper or the driver of the taxi you just hired, is a fundamentalist, you'll know it because he or she will very soon tell you. They may even tell you so often that you start to feel as if you are being verbally harassed. And they are very determined to use each and every opportunity to promote their particular view of things. Some observers maintain that they are also prepared to do almost anything to stifle or suppress opposing or different views.
Whether the AWARE saga turns out to be an example of this, we should know within a few days. The ousted committee has called an extraordinary general meeting for the 2nd of May and both sides are urging sympathizers to quickly join AWARE, attend the extraordinary general meeting and give their support. For more on this, have a look at
http://www.we-are-aware.sg/