“Excuse me sir, do you want to hear what God wants to say to you?”
The scenario above did actually happen to me several years ago. Over the years, the intrusions have repeatedly taken place amid different circumstances and locations.
I’m sure by now we’re all too familiar with the exact same opening line. At fast food restaurants, train stations and even cinema lobbies - there is no way of hiding from them these days. In fact the problem of religious preachers has become so rampant that a reader wrote in to the local paper not too long ago asking for legislation against all form of unsolicited religious preaching in Singapore.
I think it’s great that we live in a democracy where all religions are free to practice and say what they need to say. After all, who wouldn’t think that their religion’s great? But there is a difference between preaching the message of your God and insulting another person’s faith.
Last Tuesday Singaporean couple Ong Kian Cheong, 49, and Dorothy Chan Hien Leng, 44 was charged in court for distributing seditious publications. They are alleged to have distributed The Little Bride, a comic meant to tell children that Islam is a very bad religion and that they should get out of it.
An excerpt from the comic:
The website hosting the online edition of the comic has been blocked by the Singapore authorities for obvious reasons. Imagine if the kids they were targeting actually read the material distributed. I reproduce just part of the publication above to give you a brief idea on how vile and dangerous the publication in question is.
We cannot afford such forms of religious mud-slinging in Singapore. We are after all but just a tiny nation whose prosperity depends on her religiously diverse people working together. History has taught us that we would face disastrous consequences if we forget this dire reality.
Despite all the efforts that we have taken, more will be required to be done now and for a long time to come. Religious dissonance would continue to be a potential flashpoint that hovers on the neck of this nation for as long as it exists.
We have done well with the various initiatives such as the state-sponsored Inter-Religious Confidence Circles. But more needs to be done with regards to respecting each other’s privacy when it comes to religious matters. This is especially so when distributing literature such as the above, meant for little children who cannot yet decipher the hate and propaganda behind a seemingly harmless comic book.
The Little Bride
The Little Bride is a comic strip that paints Islam as a vile and wayward religion where little girls are married of at a very young and tender age. This is made in reference to the much-touted allegation of Muhammad marrying a 9-year-old girl, Aishah.
For the record, there is inconclusive evidence that Aishah was 9-years old when she became a bride. Several scholars have pointed out impossibilities that would have rendered this allegation untrue. This included mathematical calculations and traditions of the prophet Muhammad. The enemies of Islam have happily capitalized on this disputed allegation.
I have written about this dispute on Aisha’s age. Do check this out and compare yourself with allegations given in The Little Bride.
Was Muhammad a Pedophile? - JustJihad.com
In the meantime, let’s keep religion a private affair. Besides, not many people are keen to take a call from God on a nice Sunday afternoon.
Posts
good post!
ReplyDeletein this matter, fighting fire with fire is the last way to go.
By reproducing part of the tract you are committing sedition too HURR HURR
ReplyDeleteIn any case, all the claims made in the tract but one are sourced from Islamic sources. If you want to analyse the sources themselves, that's great. We should apply the same critical eye to everything else.
as a non-muslim i feel offended too. im glad the govt has taken stern action against the couple.
ReplyDeleteTo agagooga,
ReplyDeleteReligious texts should not be quoted literally and in isolation. As described in the writer's previous post (have u read it?), religious text must be taken in context.
Besides, the hadith is a collection of stories by hearsay. some are strong while some are not.
Would you take all religious texts in context?
ReplyDeleteI'm a Christian and I say well done to Singapore for clamping down on the couple. As a Christian we do not condone such activities.
ReplyDeleteIt must be the work of these new-age charismatics. Just to let you know, not all Christians condone these new-age churches.
Agagooga are you the same one on tomorrow.sg?
ReplyDeleteWell hello! :) nice to see you here. how come tomorrow.sg didn't pick up on this post?
Or are the majority of you guys there Chrisitans? ;)
(no offence, just tongue in cheek)
Yeah I am. Who else would choose such a !@#$ nickname?
ReplyDeleteEach post needs two editors' approval, so. The reaction on the blogosphere hasn't been *that* big. Maybe after the courts review the case on Apr 29.
I think the rest of us who are non new-age charismatic church members, Buddhists, Catholics, Christians, Hindus, Muslims, Taoists stand with you Rizwan.
ReplyDeleteThese are stupid actions in a plural society.
Just a quick check as my muslim friend mentioned this.
Is there a phrase in the Quoran that says "Let there be freedom in Religion"? Was discussion religion with my friends when my muslim friend brought this up. This shows that Islam is not that kind of closed up religion as protrayed by those goons.
My question is, doesn't the "compulsory" conversion for non muslim spouses go against this quote from the Quoran (if there is such a quote, dun mean to offend).
Thank you Rizwan.
How about apostasy?
ReplyDeleteTo the anonymous above Agaooga,
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately a lot of state laws do not allow the marriage of different religions for the sake of family - even if Islam allows it. This include the constitution of Saudi, Pakistan a lot of the middle east states and suprise-supriese Singapore!
From what I understand, Singapore does not allow these kind unions unless its under civil marriage - an option most muslims are not comfortable with.
There is no conpulsion in Islam.
Ridzwan has wrote about it before.
Penalty for Leaving Islam?
http://www.justjihad.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=31
Thank you for your support with regards to this comic strip.
I know we Singaporeans will never condone such activities. Let's live united as one nation
In Muslim countries such as Malaysia and Indonesia, Muslims are free to leave the religion as they please
ReplyDeleteThis does not seem to be played out in recent events, or in Malaysian law.
If only all 5 major schools of Islamic jurisprudence agreed with you.
nothing is perfect says:
ReplyDeleteIt's indeed bad to insult other people. Sometimes, the thing insulted doesnt even nid to be insulted in the 1st place, as it's already an insult to itself.
We can ALL learn fr this. I've been approached by 'preachers' who actually askd me to tag along wth them to their places of worship; supposedly 'no obligation'. So i told them i can go only if they promise after that they'll follow ME to MY place of worship. It kinda freakd them out.
It takes two hands to clap in these kind of matters. The unfortunate thing is that some muslims themselves gave out well-camouflaged insults towards ppl of other religions or towards other religions.The only difference is, perhaps, they dont print comics.
ReplyDeleteI've read some parts of that comic strip on the Internet. Ironically, the scene in the comic isnt too unfamiliar.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure some muslims who have brought their non-muslims home have been told by their elderly to bring them home more often so that "who knows, someday maybe pintu hati diorang terbukak untuk masuk islam".
I'm sure ramai antara korang semua pernah dengar mak bapak korang say negative things abt agama lain selain daripada islam. So i guess u get wat u deserve. Insult others, others will insult u back.
To the anonymous above, perhpas you can refrain from using Malay. Lots of non-Malay speakers here. Not very thoughtful to them.
ReplyDeleteTo those who understand the Malay phrase he typed above, he is saying that some Malay families try to convert others into Islam by bringing them to their houses.
I don't know about you but I myself has never encountered that in my family of any family I know.
The issue of this article is about evangalists. Somehow, some parties here have successfully criminalised Muslims instead. Well done to those who have successfully distracted the audience here for whatever reason.
Evangalism and their dirty tricks need no introduction.
When I was a little kid me and my primary school friends were aggresively invited over to this church to watch some "free movies". Mind you we were only 10 at that time. The movie was of course telling us how wonderful their religion is. No need to say much. These people are so desperate that they want to convert little kids.
Shouldn't both Muslim and Christian evangelism be examined?
ReplyDeleteShouldn't all religions be examined?
ReplyDeleteThat might be considered seditious in Singapore.
ReplyDeleteVery sad indeed, but yes they have resorted to dirty tricks to try and convert even little kids into their religion.
ReplyDeletePls protect your children.
Protecting your children is an interesting term.
ReplyDeleteTo FAZLUR:
ReplyDeletePerhaps i've misphrased my comments. 1stly, my usage of Malay aint cos i dont care abt non-Malay readers. In fact, it's becos i'm thotful of them thats y i wrote it in Malay. And thats cos i felt certain things i cud express better in Malay, to direct it TOWARDS MALAY READERS, to make the Malays realise that often Malays/Muslims too have agitated nonMuslims thru 'evangelism' whether directly or indirectly.
To Fazlur again:
ReplyDeleteAlso i didnt mean that Muslims (in S'pore) purposely bring their nonMuslim pals home merely to try 'convert' them to Islam.
(I sort of wonder if ur misinterpretation of my comments ws an honest naivity or are u in denial)
Anyway, wat i mean is that sometimes our kids bring their frens home eg during Hari Raya, birthday parties, etc etc, and the next thing u can hear Muslim parents say things such as wat i wrote in my previous comments.
They didnt specifically say "Oh lets try get those kids to embrace Islam." It's more of like "Well of course theres nothing wrong wth bringing nonMuslim kids home. It's a gd chance to show them how we live, show them our (good qualities) as muslims, and who knows...maybe one day their hearts will be opened to embracing islam..?"
To fazlur,
ReplyDeleteFear not for the truth is distinct from error. The nation is waking up to irresponsible religious zealots, be it from whicehver religion they come from.
Remember the letter urging the govt to outlaw preachings? Well like i said, people are waking up and realising them.
I-am-stil-here says:
ReplyDeleteI dont see issues of 'criminalising muslims' becos wat ws brought up by some commentors are simply REALITY. Unfortunately some other parties seem to be in denial.
Anyway, hmm..the last line of Ridzwan's entry on this issue.."...keep religion a private affair?"
No la i tink dis statement wud not go down well wth certain people. Private affair tapi bila kena kawin dgn muslim nak kena convert, apakebenda yg 'keep it private' tu? Yeah i noe in some cty they allow muslims 2 marry nonmuslims w/o the latter converting to islam.
Unfortunately & intrestingly, in SINGAPORE,much of the muslim community frown upon marriage between muslim & unconverted nonmuslim.
WHY cant we all just get along? Why does religions matter so much? WHATS wth people tinkin THEIR religion is the best, the correct one, etc etc? If a person is good and doesnt do bad to others, and he contributes to society, is that not good enuf?
Anyway thx for reading my comments.
i actually came across an online video with regards to this topic.
ReplyDeletebut i've decided not to share it in good taste.
anonymous 11.10,
ReplyDeleteas Muslims we have dos and donts, hence there should be no interreligious marriage. We are not worshiping some happy-go-lucky god whose law can be revoked to our whims and fancy.
komentar,
ReplyDeleteSo our God is a serious god who is incapable of dealing with gray areas, like inter-religious marriage?
That might be your idea of god but i like to imagine Allah is more than that.
fellow Singaporean here,
ReplyDeleteI did a search to see what other people have commented on that book, it seems that some people are in the opinion that it is really just a caricature and too politically incorrect to be taken seriously (by enlightened individuals anyway). Personally, I actually detected a tinge of humour from the attempt to portray the content in a serious and matter-of-fact way, but in a usually not-so-serious medium.
But of course, given religious sensitivity in the local context, it is no surprise that the site is blocked. I would say that this incident at least has some positive effect in stimulating discourse, if not for that, I wouldn't have heard and read about the allegation on the prophet's pedophillia.
To the anonymous above me,
ReplyDeleteThank you for finding humour in the piece of cartoon above.
But i fail to see the humour when the material is given out by church members, as reported by the papers, to people including Muslim children.
I remember Christians being extremely angry when there was a comic of Jesus some time back being distributed. The government intervened and rightly so.
So tell me is it right then to distribute a comic that features our Prophet as a pedophile? you find that humourus?
brother-in-islam,
ReplyDeletewhat exactly do you mean by the word incapable? Allah and His Messenger encouraged marriage for Muslims, but, of course there must be some limitations. There are limits for everything. And one of the limits for marriage in Islam is that you CANNOT marry a non-Muslim.
Actually Muslim men can marry Jewish and Christian women, but Muslim women can only marry Muslim men.
ReplyDeletereply to Fazlur,
ReplyDeleteI should add that I'm neither a Muslim nor Christian. By humour I'm simply referring to the whole idea of serious-sounding religious propaganda in the form of comics, and not the content. You see, non-believers don't really care about whether Jesus really died for us, or if the Prophet was indeed a pedophile. What I don't find funny though, is that after all these years of pushing for religious tolerance, there are still people who lack good sense, and it is through these people, that an otherwise harmless comic book can incite hate and anger. Did they really believe that such a move is more likely to score them converts than to add further to the tension between Christians and Muslims, or are they just bent on 'spreading God's message' even at the expense of offending people unnecessarily? We won't really know, but at least there are laws (not ISA) now to take care of them.
Hi ark,
ReplyDeletethe comic above was distributed by them to little Muslim kids as young as seven years old.
you find humour in that?
Why should it be so different what the religion of the seven-year-old kid is?
ReplyDeleteHmm...how to say, maybe humour is not the most accurate word. But I can say that the idea is something like, it is trying to deliver a message in a certain way, but apparently not in a very convincing or credible way, and could be self-defeating even. Anyway, that comic has been around for a fairly long time, the incident only blew up because of some misguided folks.
ReplyDeleteBtw, the actual news article stated that they approached two adults and did not mention children specifically, so we should take that as an inference and not fact.
Some related links that have been around long before the incident (visitor-beware: containing pictorial extracts):
http://dweamgoil.blogspot.com/2006/11/reading-into-little-bride.html
http://nickdove.wordpress.com/2008/03/17/the-work-of-jack-chick-a-critical-overview-the-little-bride/
Peace be upon you....In islam, a husband is the pillar of the family thus the reason why a muslim woman can only marry a muslim man. however, the muslim woman is free to choose her religion and convert, if she choose to marry a non muslim man. i have a cousin who married a christian man and she herself became a christian. However, the sad thing is that she was the one who distant herself from the rest of the family after her marriage. Islam is a peaceful religion and we respected her decision. it was just sad to see that she feels the need to cut of ties with her family and relatives. To each their own, and i agree with ridzwan that religion is a private affair.
ReplyDeletethe muslim woman is free to choose her religion and convert
ReplyDeleteIsn't this considered apostasy?
MeAgain says:
ReplyDeleteReminds me of ex-newsreader Zahara Lateef...she ws muslim..then she married that Sean fella. HE didnt convert to Islam but SHE converted to Christianity..but of course not many esp in our muslim community knew that....
Salam mr ridzwan, we've read this article n we've decided to put it in our monthly magazine.We'll put ur blog address so that people can refer directly to ur blog.Hope u dont mind.thanks salam
ReplyDeleteI'm sure he wouldnt mind But what magazine is this? Will look out for it and buy a copy :)
ReplyDeleteI've been invited to church events three times and I'm Muslim. In one of those events, I was actually approached to come to church by a group of students(whom I did not know) in school. Even after I told them I was Muslim, they still tried to make me come. Ugh.
ReplyDeleteHi, I read about this case with interest when the 2 were charged in court.
ReplyDeleteObviously given the sensitive nature of the case, the offending articles were not made public, printed or broadcast.
This caused a greater desire to read what was written in the books/tracts. Fortunately, in this information age, such things can still be found online.
Well I am a Catholic and just like Muslims, we both share certain conclusive paths to salvation after death. Our Holy Books spell out the procedure in which salvation can be attained.
Obviously, such we both regard these instructions as God's Law, of which there can be no challenge from mortal man.
However, this certainly doesn't give any 1 of us, the right to persuade others to renounce their current religions and convert into our own religion, by using disparaging, insulting, uncorroborated and any other similar descriptions.
Religion can be preached in public and have its voice heard to as many people as possible, but in essence, religion is always a personal act between man and God.
We must always give people the choice to follow whatever religion they feel is right for them, irrespective of our views on the matter.
I found the article (The Little Bride,) to be of very poor taste, biased, offensive, insensitive and unjustified.
I did not know anything about the Prophet's wives' ages until now. But even if there was proof of the young bridal age, no one can or should, sit in judgement and force present day values, opinions, trends or mindset, on events that took place 1500years ago.
It was not uncommon in the previous ages, for young women to be engaged or married off. Even in the long history of the British Monarchy, there have been several instances of marriages of very young Royal children with much older Royals, especially those from foreign kingdoms.
These marriages was used to make Allies among nations and ensure a lineage.
Lets not forget that even today, young girls continue to be married off in some countries, notably in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and in Africa.
However, it does not give us the right to voice our objections or force our religious views on these marriages. These customs/marriages have survived centuries and enjoys the support of a vast majority of their societies.
Freedom of religion and freedom to observe customs and traditions, is a basic right.
Therefore we must condemn and express our deep displeasure with any person(s), who mocks and passes uncalled for judgements on other religions.
Interestingly, as mentioned, I am Catholic, but I also have an adopted son(aged 20) who lives me, who is a Muslim, and remains a Muslim.
He respects my right to follow my religion and vice-versa. Moreover, I still play my fatherly role by encouraging him to follow and adhere to the teachings of Allah, his Prophet and the Koran.
I encouraged him to fast during Ramadan, made efforts to buy food for him in the early morning before the commencement of fasting, and waking him up for prayers. I even advised to go to the mosque on Fridays and to pray daily as required.
The simple rule is, you do not need to do anything extraordinary to promote your religion, unless you are called into doing so by your religious elders. The best way to promote your religion to try and follow its' teachings as much as possible.
By respecting your religion and observing its' rules, you are the example for others to do likewise and these acts, will cause people to respect you and in turn, your religion, because it encourages you to do goad.
Cheers.
Sorry for the lengthy article.
Someone who has thoroughly understood Islam only can explain Islam.
ReplyDeleteRead the Al Quran.
To be a bad person, it's easy.
To be a good person, it's not easy.
The person who created this comic obviously hasn't met the good Islams.
There are those who practise Islam wrongly but makes others sound as bad as them.
Same for other religion, there are people who are good and bad.
Whoever your God is, just respect one another. Don't have to talk bad about Islam like as if you understand it.
True. But the christian couple randomly sent out tracks. They did not on purpose sent to the 3 MUSLIMS.
ReplyDeleteThe fact that you pointed out that Mary was pregnant with Jesus at age 12 is so wrong and its blasphemy. You are insulting Christianity too! She was a virgin when she was pregnant with Jesus. However, i do not wish to argue this fact with you.
U have insulted other religion too.
Also note that Muslims have flouted the law on so many occasions. How many Malay students have been painting the walls at void decks? How many times they create such a din at their weddings which can last till past 10PM? Do we complain? Its just a tract. If they think its absurd, just throw it away. What for complain? If everyone were to complain for every small matter, the police will be very busy.
And are you sure the 3 Muslims who reported this matter to the police have not commited any crime before? I highly doubt so. I am not against Muslims. What i mean is Singapore is a country which favor Racial harmony. By convicting the christian couple, they have created alot of bad feelings.
Think of this, we know that Muslims like to hold weddings at void decks and create lots of noise.(There was once below my block 10 motorbikes were deliberately creating such a din). This is against the law. But its a Muslim tradition, so i just let it be. Since its a happy occasion.
Think. Do consider other peoples feeling. Do the christian couple deserved to be jailed?
Hey Moron
ReplyDeleteChinese hold noisy funerals under void decks too just like Malays hold weddings. Do not be a moron. Your words show how shallow you are.
But this is a religious matter, insulting other people's religion with false accusations.
Malay Wedding ceremonies are customs (Its roots can be traced back to when most malays are of the hindu/mahayana buddhism faith in the malayan peninsula during the 8th century) and should never be tied to the Islamic Faith. While 'motorcycle revving' during that occasion, that is inconsiderate and a public nuisance, derives from motorcycle gang culture, which is also unIslamic in my opinion.
ReplyDeleteYa.. sent those MALAYS to jail then? They are a nuisance.. hanging around void decks.. kissing... all these just show how well these people are brought up. Bike gangs? Vega bonds i say.
ReplyDeleteThose comics are not false accusations. Historians have a reason for coming out with those facts. Unless you tell me u r better than those historians.
I do not wish to touch on the topic of ISLAMIC FAITH. But u shld know how many of these ISLAMIC People shld be killed and slaughtered for the atrocious crimes they committed in the name of JIHAD.
Basically the moral of the story is that we should all be nicer, more tolerant people and not make police reports or call each other morons at the drop of a hat.
ReplyDeleteAnd that we should debate religion openly instead of being afraid that we will go to jail if we say something wrong.
Ahhh....now its abt the MALAY RACE then. You are treading a dangerous line by playing the racial cards here my fellow singaporean. I just dont want you to be on the papers next. Well maybe where you are residing, there is a high concentration of young lovebirds hanging around void decks which happen to be of a certain race group.I myself do not like their immoral behaviour but i am TOLERANT towards them, just like i am TOLERANT towards AH BENGS and AH HUAYS.
ReplyDeleteBut you must understand this..tying a religion to a certain race or culture is bias and stereotypical mindset. Its just as easy for me to label ALL MUSLIMS are TERRORIST and ALL CHRISTIANS are IDEOLOGICAL SUPREMACIST RACIST in tune to the understanding of the KKK's christianity...BUT i will not allow that! I will correct whoever says that toward my CHRISTIAN FRIENDS and the MUSLIMS..BECAUSE ITS NOT TRUE. Just like christianity in all its denominations throughout the entire world, its followers are of different races and cultures.
And lastly,please let us not go into the facts of history in which you may not be able to defend, regarding what MEN HAS DONE in THE NAME OF GOD.
May peace and blessings be upon you.
Lets be honest with ourselves here. The publication is degoratory and is slander directed toward muslims. Reason being, why would christians sent them out to fellow christians? To protect themselves from accidentally converting to Islam? I doubt so, cos there is no active Islamic missionaries here in singapore and futher more, Islam do not practice missionary work and in most cases,individual themselves are drawn toward Islam and not the other way around.
ReplyDeleteOr maybe their intention is to breed discontent and hate amongst fellow HUMANBEINGs of a different faith..All believer of any faith know that if you are of strong faith in what you believe in then ye shall not fear any missionary that comes to you..Only a person who is in doubt would always seek for an answer. And that is where conversion of faith occur..simple.
They should know better then to distribute such misleading publication. Are they trying to justify their reason to believe..or are they in doubt themselves.....
Why put so much energy on hate, which i am very certain Jesus/Yeshua/Isa was not of such character. Instead, focus all that energy on making oneself a better person,abstaining oneself from the seven cardinal sin, or helping others regardless of their faith, race or creed. Surely that is far more better in the eyes of God, then distributing comics that does not reflect the True Good teachings of Christianity.
Peace and Blessings be upon you.
see this article
ReplyDeletehttp://www.answering-christianity.com/aisha.htm
Perhaps im abit too harsh with my words.Agagooga has said exactly what i want to say. Thats the thing. Dont anything also call police. Restricts freedom of speech. Its very childish
ReplyDeleteChildish?
ReplyDeleteChildish is when you distribute pampleths with false accusations that have been answered time and time again.
Childish is when you have to resort to using comics books to spread your faith that everyone else is sick of listening to.
Childish is when you preach and preach and preach till everyone gets really sick of it.
If a religion is true in the first place, there is no need for preaching. Google up the "world's fastest growing religion". Enough said. The Truth will stand out from error.
I support the zero-tolerance policy. From now onwards I urge all readers, Muslims, Hindus, Taoists, Buddhists alike - TO MAKE A POLICE REPORT as provided for in THE SEDITION ACT whenever these people preach and try to convert you over, especially when they use company time and class time to do it.
So many frivolous police reports.
ReplyDeleteNo wonder our police are overworked...
Anonymous providing the website http://www.answering-christianity.com: Do you want to be arrested for sedition as well?
ReplyDeleteYou do realise that that site is seditious as it insults Christianity?
Agagooga,
ReplyDeleteWhat is it about the link that offends you? Answering Christianity is set up in response to the endless accusations by Answering Islam, a website set up by Christians whomake all kinds of false allegations against Islam.
Now that these alleagations are answered, you become offended?
What is it about the article that offends you? There is nothing to be offended about as all that is written there is true, if it is not kindly prove it with supplications and ample evidence.
Support the zero tolerance policy. Report all prostelyzations TO THE POLICE. the following appeared in New Paper not too long ago. This is what they are up to:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.tnp.sg/news/story/0,4136,203337-1243547940,00.html?
Quote:
THEY hang around outside secondary schools and approach students.
The New Paper, 15 Apr
These men then give Bibles to the students and talk to them about God.
The men, usually in their 30s, then ask the students for their handphone numbers and urge them to attend cell group meetings in their church.
This is what some students from Greenview Secondary in Pasir Ris have encountered over the past few years. This is not the only school that has seen religious groups right outside their school gates.
Last month, The New Paper reported that two men were distributing religious materials to students from Shuqun Secondary just outside the school in Jurong.
The principal of Shuqun Secondary, Mr Adolphus Tan, put a stop to it immediately and asked the men to go away.
But in this recent case concerning Greenview Secondary, it was a parent who decided to act.
Mr Patrick Tay, 58, stepped in to protect his son, 13, who was approached by two men from a church outside Greenview Secondary in January.
Mr Tay, who runs a trading company, added: 'My son had just started secondary school this year so he is a bit 'blur'. They then asked for his handphone number and my unsuspecting son gave it to them not knowing what to do.'
Shortly after that, he claimed his son kept getting repeated SMSes and calls from these people asking him to attend their cell group meetings at Cornerstone Community Church in Katong.
Said Mr Tay: ' I felt they are targeting younger kids like my son who are timid and don't know much.
'I am a Roman Catholic myself and I still am offended as they are not respecting our different religious beliefs.'
Mr Tay said he went to the church shortly after the incident to tell the members who had sent SMSes to his son not to bother him anymore.
Principal alerted
He also alerted the principal of Greenview Secondary about the matter.
Mr Tay didn't allow us to talk to his son.
The New Paper called the Cornerstone Community Church and e-mailed our questions about a month ago. But the youth leader did not get back to us.
We called the church again a week later, but still couldn't get a comment from them.
The New Paper spoke to five other Greenview Secondary school students who said that they, too, have been harassed on different occasions by men from various churches who were either distributing Bibles or asking for their handphone numbers.
L'Enfant:
ReplyDeleteSecond Minister for Home Affairs K Shanmugam has urged the public not to treat the Police as "as a free resource which can deal with any complaint just because it is convenient to call them at any time round the clock", and also noted that there is a shortage of police officers.
This is because people make too many frivolous police reports, and they follow up on them (more details: http://gssq.blogspot.com/2009/03/only-obligation-to-which-in-advance-we.html)
As for your allegations of doom and apocalypse if people who talk rubbish are not arrested, here is a good comment I read: "Their action did not cause hatred among Singaporeans. Hatred is only in the hearts of those who bear hatred".
It is profitable to bear in mind that in the case of the Danish cartoons, people only started protesting after some Muslims cynically manipulated the matter for political purposes (as well as inserted new drawings which they claimed were part of the original set). As someone commented, it's not easy to buy Danish flags in the Middle East (implication: someone bought them for others to burn - fanning the flames).
I've no idea what your little side rant about me being a girl is about.
For you and those who say that Answering Christianity is acceptable because of Answering Islam: firstly, I am not a Christian and I myself agree with a few of the claims on Answering Christianity.
More importantly, just because Answering Islam offends Islam does not mean Answering Christianity is justified in offending Christianity (especially if you hold that religious offence should be avoided in the first place).
This is the sort of thinking that has led to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict persisting over the years. Or to bring it closer to home, it's like killing someone's father after he kills yours; 2 wrongs do not make a right.
Moe: Taking the aisha link, in a Singaporean context one could construe "What about the X-Rated Pornography in the Bible?"
I also find it suspicious that the claim that one "R. Meir" said that "A girl three years old may be betrothed through an act of sexual intercourse" (i.e. Jews raped 3 year old girls) extremely dubious, since the quote *only* appears on Muslim websites.
An argument could also be made that claiming that the Bible encourages violence is religiously offensive. If someone quoted verses from the Koran about violence and claimed Islam was a violent religion, would you say he was offending Islam?
Remember: all this is with the assumption that the Little Bride was offensive. Just like Answering Christianity, the Little Bride was footnoted with reference to sources (Muslim ones, IIRC).
Aside: If all prostelyzation (sic) should be reported to the police, we're lucky the police didn't exist when Arab traders proselytised in the Indonesian archipelago a few centuries.
L'Enfant:
ReplyDeleteHere are some sources about Apostasy in Islam. I trust 7 are enough for you:
1)
"From the earliest time of Muslim law in the seventh century, Muslim jurists agreed that apostasy from Islam bears the death penalty...
[During the first Civil War (656-662] Muslims agreed on the death penalty for apostasy from Islaml this judgment is based on the authority of a report (hadith) of the Prophet that said, "whoever changes his religion has his head cut off.""
--- Medieval Islamic Civilization / Josef W. Meri, Jere L Bacharach
2)
"Among the few persons whose execution the Prophet ordered during the takeover of Mecca in 630 A.D. were three men described in some sources as apostates... a number of jurists have seen them as a prophetic precedent substantiating the legality of capital punishment for apostates...
The Quranic view according to which apostasy is punishable only in the hereafter began to change while the Prophet was still alive. The change was formalized in the hadith literature where we have an unequivocal ruling with regard to this issue... The new attitude, which effectively transfers the punishment for apostasy from the hereafter to this world, is reflected in several utterances repeatedly attributed to the Prophet in the earliest collections of tradition. The most frequently quoted of these reads: "Whoever changes his religion, kill him""
--- Tolerance and coercion in Islam / Yohanan Friedmann
3)
"In Islamic law, almost all early jurists took a hard line, believing that apostasy was to be punished by death...
In pre-modern Islamic law, there is general agreement among the jurists that the punishment for apostasy is death (qatl), and that the implementation of this penalty is obligatory on Muslims...
According to Hanafis, it is up to the apostate to consider their position, and rever to islam. If they refuse to do this, death should follow. For Malikis it is essential to demand repentance; only if apostates remain obdurate should they be put to death"
The text goes on to mention that some modern scholars do not think apostasy should be punished by death, but it is significant that they are from the 20th century."
--- Freedom of religion, apostasy and Islam / Hassan Saeed
4)
"Generally the jurists regarded apostasy to be a danger to the social order. Since the foundation of the state was religion, apostasy was regarded as a betrayal equal to high treason in a secular system. Jurists support the death penalty for apostates to the present day."
--- Encyclopedia of religious freedom / Catharine Cookson
5)
"The summa contains more unequivocal condemnations of apostasy than does the Qur'an... The four law schools agree that the penalty for apostasy is death"
--- Encyclopedia of Women & Islamic Cultures: Family, law, and politics / Suad Joseph, Afsaneh Najmabadi
6)
"The theory [was] evolved in the course of our religious history that an apostate must receive the capital sentence, immediately or after a short period of grace, on his very first defection"
--- Punishment of Apostasy in Islam / S A Rahman (a former Chief Justice of Pakistan)
7)
"According to premodern Islamic jurisprudence, apostasy is punishable by death in nearly all cases, assuming the apostate is an adult of sound mind who leaves Islam by choice and who does not repent of his or her decision...
The majority of contemporary Muslim scholars uphold the premodern view that apostasy merits death"
--- Islam / Kecia Ali, Oliver Leaman