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What the 'Aware Saga' really is (and what it is not)
Friday, May. 1, 2009 Posted: 7:24:01PM HKT
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| A group of girls stand in line Aug. 20 during their lunch break as they wait their turn in a skipping rope exercise at their school in Singapore. More than a decade ago, this tiny but modern city-state's leaders decided that the best way to fight the war on expanding waistlines, and ballooning health care costs, was to begin with the youngest generation. (Photo: AP / Wong Maye-e) |
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And yet it is impossible to resolve such a conflict without mutual understanding. It is likely that homosexual activists will not appreciate the distinction between discrimination and discernment until there is admission that an absolute morality exists. The timeless clash between the liberal or anti-moral and conservative camps cannot be resolved unless one viewpoint is utterly conquered. Until that day comes, every sincere action of Christians to engage society in regard to homosexuality and any other controversial moral issue will always be regarded with scorn and contempt and understood as an attempt to oppress and dictate.
What we can do
After recognising that the Aware conflict is not one that is easily resolved because it involves two mutually-opposing worldviews, certain parties such as the official press need to avoid getting into the ‘fray’ as it were in an unhelpful way.
The newspapers, especially the Straits Times, should not take sides in the debate. It is possible for a press to be completely informational and objective, to report fact without interpretation. In this regard it is not constructive of the papers to favour one side by using its terms like ‘saga’ to describe the unfolding of events and getting figures in authority to speak on it as if that point of view was a universally accepted one.
The real issue at hand is not whether or not churches should be involved in the NGO – the crisis is that society cannot understand Christians and what it doesn’t understand it is apt to misunderstand and fear. To the multitudes of non-Christians of an anti-moral persuasion, churches should not get involved simply because Christians are ‘aggressive’ people with a ‘dangerous’ agenda to ‘impose’ their values and beliefs on the rest of the world. If it had been a non-Christian leader representing a different religion, such fears would perhaps not have surfaced.
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The Christian Post (Singapore)
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