ECUMENICAL NEWS
12/21/2010 14:48
TURKISH-ORTHODOX
Istanbul (AsiaNews) - On the eve of the holiday season, Bartholomew I delivered a major address before an highly qualified audience from the Orthodox world, defending the Ecumenical Patriarchate’s choice for inter-faith dialogue. "We will insist on dialogue, despite the criticism that we suffer," he said. "There is, unfortunately, a certain religious fundamentalism, a tragic phenomenon, which can be found among Orthodox and Catholics, among Muslims and Jews. These are people who think they alone have the right to exist on earth, almost as if they alone have the right to rule on this our planet according to the Old Testament. And they say there is no room for anyone else, and are therefore opposed to any dialogue. "
The Patriarch continued: "We are subject to criticism and attack because we maintain relations with the Pope (because we are strong supporters of the ecumenical dialogue between Orthodox and Catholics), with Islam and the Jewish world. But we will continue to move forward on our journey, according to the path laid by our predecessors, well aware of our actions, regardless of the criticisms of which we are object. These fringes, characterized by extreme positions, are everywhere. It is therefore natural that we suffer their criticisms, according to their ideological dictates, all of us who try to widen our horizons and have a theological view of things. Because we want the peaceful coexistence of all, based on the principles of charity and friendship. "
Bartholomew I added: "This is the credo of the Ecumenical Patriarchate and I want to remember that in 1920 the regent of the patriarchal see, along with the synod, had addressed to Catholics and Protestants an encyclical, called 'The community of churches', along the lines of the newly created 'society of nations'. That encyclical is considered today by the World Council of Churches as the 'Charter' of the ecumenical movement of our time. This is a well known fact to insiders, and it is good that it should be made as widely known to as many people as possible”.
Then Bartholomew I went on to highlight: "With regard to interreligious dialogue, it is our belief and our creed. Because we need to know each other better, to work together while respecting the religious beliefs of others, their cultural identity, without oppression. This is the only way to live in peace. For this reason, the Patriarchate, in addition to having a dialogue with other Churches and Christian denominations, has established over the past 25 years a dialogue with Islam and Judaism. We have had several successful meetings. With the Muslims and Jews, our brothers, we do not discuss purely theological issues as it would be difficult. But we talk about social issues, social issues that effect all people, all humanity, all over the world. "
Ecology has been one of the favorite themes of the Ecumenical Patriarchate since 1989. The Patriarch said: "Everything that we try to do, we do because we believe it is our duty, because the Church should be actively present in the contemporary world and be sensitive to people's problems, raise awareness and encourage them to love and protect nature like their own homes". He added: "The environment, nature, is God's creation and do not belong only to us who live today in 2010. They belong to all future generations. "
Bishop,Dositheos spokesman for the Patriarchate, commented on the Patriarch’s homily for AsiaNews, "a certain confusion prevails in some sectors of the Orthodox Christian world between the two terms, tradition and traditionalism. Tradition, to which those minorities often refer, is the ongoing search to interpret and understand the truth, while traditionalism which essentially belong to these minorities, is an intellectual sterility which often is identified with nationalism in the Orthodox world”
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
Season's Greetings
Dear Loved Ones Far and Near
Christmas tradition or myth tells us that Mary & Joseph were also displaced persons compelled to travel on a donkey back to their birthplace of Bethlehem for census-taking. The Holy Family journeyed further on to exile in Egypt before returning home to Nazareth.
Residents in that region in particular continue to be displaced by the pressure of political conflicts. Travelers are displaced by weather gyrations. Migrant workers are displaced in search of employment. Others are displaced in search of greener opportunities. We have become people on the move across this globalized situation.
Wherever you are as family members and friends, may we wish you a Meaningful Christmas and a Moving New Year of 2011. May you realize your dreams and fulfill your hopes in the days ahead.
Church Encounters
In April, I participated in the annual Methodist Pastors Retreat in Johore Bahru and Melaka in Malaysia.
Attended the General Assembly of the Christian Conference of Asia in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia as its former General Secretary. These are occasions of renewal of relationships with partners in the mission of the Church.
Family Movements
Richie's family in Dallas visited us in July together with Shirley from Orlando. We went to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. It was to discover the roots for Sandy who is originally from Saigon. Raymond from Orlando paid a filial visit to the old folks whose last visit to US was in 2008. Susan here is expected to settle in Australia in two year's time and we will be in an empty nest and wondering where to fly to.
Mission Moves in Sri Lanka
I just returned from my third tiring trip to Vavuniya, gateway to northern Sri Lanka, in connection with the establishment of the Chen Su Lan Education Centre. It is a service to the displaced persons since the cessation of the Civil War. Classes including computer use started for about 500 registered students. It is an interfaith centre for peace and reconciliation.
Took a two hour ride on a three-wheeler from Negombo to Colombo which weaved and threaded through the congested traffic to the rapidly developing modern city sense the smell and see the sights of development.
Rode on a rented SUV with relief supplies to Vavuniya which is six hours away to the Tamil majority area.
Driven by Brigadier General Napagoda in a four-wheel drive vehicle through the jungle trek 40 KM further to Bogaswewa village to displaced persons who returned to their ancestral homes three months ago. Tossing and tumbling on the road that divided the conflicting armies battling in conflict for 30 years. Some areas still display landmines warning signs.
Met with Government Agent Mrs Charles (Catholic Tamil) to seek approval for land for Turkish Muslims to build an International School in Vavuniya and providing quality education including human values and interfaith relations.
Paid farewell visit to Major General Kamal Gunaratne who led the final battle which ended the war and now headed for a course in UK before receiving a higher command in Colombo. He supported is personally in our mission moves.
Journeyed four hours to Trinconmalee to meet with the Inspector General of the Police to survey the land for possible educational development.
Along the way we joined the pilgrims walking through the jungle path and up the 308 uneven steps to the oldest and highest ancient Giribandhu Pagoda reputed to have been constructed 75 days after Buddha's enlightenment. Continuing the six hour travel in the night to cross the country to Colombo Airport and waited at the VIP departure lounge to catch the early morning flight home to Singapore.
Continuing Ministry
Supporting Free Community Church organized by LGBT and the only church that welcomes all as Pastoral Adviser. Theologically trained lesbian Pastor Su Lin was installed. Heartened by repeal of DADT signifying global moves of acceptance of LGBT. It is getting better all the time and moving to welcome LGBT home.
Engaging in interfaith activities which is gaining community-wide support in faith communities living together in mutual respect and harmony.
Personal
By God's grace, keeping reasonably good health with the expected geriatric problems of enlarged prostrate, borderline blood pressure and cholesterol levels and gout. Hee Choo discomforted by chronic back aches and acid reflux issues.
Maintaining my daily swim of 600 meters and golf at Tiara Country Melaka Golf and Country Club.
Hoping to make family visitations in 2011 to US and Australia where grandchildren Jinwei is in second year of PhD programme in neuroscience and Jinli graduating in International Relations from the University of Melbourne.
Thanking you for your kind thoughts and good wishes and wishing you and your family God's blessings in making your moves in the days ahead.
Hee Choo & Kim Hao
Christmas 2010
Rev Dr Yap Kim Hao
10E, Braddell Hill, Apt. #16-17
Singapore 579724
Tel: +65-6250-4561
Email: kimhao.yap@gmail.com
"When we lose the right to be different,
we lose the privilege to be free"
Attachment(s) from Kim Hao Yap
1 of 1 File(s)
Vavuniya Dec '10.docx
Christmas tradition or myth tells us that Mary & Joseph were also displaced persons compelled to travel on a donkey back to their birthplace of Bethlehem for census-taking. The Holy Family journeyed further on to exile in Egypt before returning home to Nazareth.
Residents in that region in particular continue to be displaced by the pressure of political conflicts. Travelers are displaced by weather gyrations. Migrant workers are displaced in search of employment. Others are displaced in search of greener opportunities. We have become people on the move across this globalized situation.
Wherever you are as family members and friends, may we wish you a Meaningful Christmas and a Moving New Year of 2011. May you realize your dreams and fulfill your hopes in the days ahead.
Church Encounters
In April, I participated in the annual Methodist Pastors Retreat in Johore Bahru and Melaka in Malaysia.
Attended the General Assembly of the Christian Conference of Asia in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia as its former General Secretary. These are occasions of renewal of relationships with partners in the mission of the Church.
Family Movements
Richie's family in Dallas visited us in July together with Shirley from Orlando. We went to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. It was to discover the roots for Sandy who is originally from Saigon. Raymond from Orlando paid a filial visit to the old folks whose last visit to US was in 2008. Susan here is expected to settle in Australia in two year's time and we will be in an empty nest and wondering where to fly to.
Mission Moves in Sri Lanka
I just returned from my third tiring trip to Vavuniya, gateway to northern Sri Lanka, in connection with the establishment of the Chen Su Lan Education Centre. It is a service to the displaced persons since the cessation of the Civil War. Classes including computer use started for about 500 registered students. It is an interfaith centre for peace and reconciliation.
Took a two hour ride on a three-wheeler from Negombo to Colombo which weaved and threaded through the congested traffic to the rapidly developing modern city sense the smell and see the sights of development.
Rode on a rented SUV with relief supplies to Vavuniya which is six hours away to the Tamil majority area.
Driven by Brigadier General Napagoda in a four-wheel drive vehicle through the jungle trek 40 KM further to Bogaswewa village to displaced persons who returned to their ancestral homes three months ago. Tossing and tumbling on the road that divided the conflicting armies battling in conflict for 30 years. Some areas still display landmines warning signs.
Met with Government Agent Mrs Charles (Catholic Tamil) to seek approval for land for Turkish Muslims to build an International School in Vavuniya and providing quality education including human values and interfaith relations.
Paid farewell visit to Major General Kamal Gunaratne who led the final battle which ended the war and now headed for a course in UK before receiving a higher command in Colombo. He supported is personally in our mission moves.
Journeyed four hours to Trinconmalee to meet with the Inspector General of the Police to survey the land for possible educational development.
Along the way we joined the pilgrims walking through the jungle path and up the 308 uneven steps to the oldest and highest ancient Giribandhu Pagoda reputed to have been constructed 75 days after Buddha's enlightenment. Continuing the six hour travel in the night to cross the country to Colombo Airport and waited at the VIP departure lounge to catch the early morning flight home to Singapore.
Continuing Ministry
Supporting Free Community Church organized by LGBT and the only church that welcomes all as Pastoral Adviser. Theologically trained lesbian Pastor Su Lin was installed. Heartened by repeal of DADT signifying global moves of acceptance of LGBT. It is getting better all the time and moving to welcome LGBT home.
Engaging in interfaith activities which is gaining community-wide support in faith communities living together in mutual respect and harmony.
Personal
By God's grace, keeping reasonably good health with the expected geriatric problems of enlarged prostrate, borderline blood pressure and cholesterol levels and gout. Hee Choo discomforted by chronic back aches and acid reflux issues.
Maintaining my daily swim of 600 meters and golf at Tiara Country Melaka Golf and Country Club.
Hoping to make family visitations in 2011 to US and Australia where grandchildren Jinwei is in second year of PhD programme in neuroscience and Jinli graduating in International Relations from the University of Melbourne.
Thanking you for your kind thoughts and good wishes and wishing you and your family God's blessings in making your moves in the days ahead.
Hee Choo & Kim Hao
Christmas 2010
Rev Dr Yap Kim Hao
10E, Braddell Hill, Apt. #16-17
Singapore 579724
Tel: +65-6250-4561
Email: kimhao.yap@gmail.com
"When we lose the right to be different,
we lose the privilege to be free"
Attachment(s) from Kim Hao Yap
1 of 1 File(s)
Vavuniya Dec '10.docx
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Viewing the Framework of Christian Sexual Ethics
Viewing Framework of Christian Sexual Ethics
VIEWING THE FRAMEWORK OF CHRISTIAN SEXUAL ETHICS
Yap Kim Hao
It was a bold step that the Free Community Church took last Sunday (5.12.10) to conduct an open discussion for its members on Christian Sexual Ethics. This is a responsibility that FCC cannot shirk to provide guidelines instead of rules, principles instead of legislation for the members ultimately to make responsible decisions and engage in sexual acts in accordance with justice and not just have sex.
The turning point of having this open session was on the submission of the Christian ministry master’s degree thesis by Gary Chan who embraced the framework of Christian sexual ethics propounded by Sister Margaret Farley, Professor Emeritus of Christian Ethics in Yale Divinity School.
Farley in her life-long study and teaching in ethics has traced the development of the theology of sex within the Christian tradition which interpreted the sacred texts of Judaism and Christianity. She acknowledged the insights from other religious communities, philosophical schools, cultural mores, physiological and psychological studies.
It resulted in the building of a framework of Christian sexual ethics. She indicated that her sources for her Christian ethics parallel the Wesleyan Quadrilateral of Albert Outler of Southern Methodist University – Scripture, Tradition, Reason and Experience.
The framework is inspired and informed by her understanding of the Christian faith and interpretation of the varied and sometimes conflicting teaching of the Bible linking to sexual issues. Within the religious tradition we have been on the trajectory of sex for the primary purpose of procreation, male domination & female submission , spirit over body, sex as dirty and suppression of sexual urges to pleasure of sex, sex as holy & a gift of the Creator and a defining moment in committed relationships to partners and to our God.
Sexual ethics refers to sexual morality and what is good and right in our sexual behaviour as an individual and a member of the communities to which we belong like family, church, society, nation and the human community. It is not just an individual act done in privacy singly and with partners for it has ramifications and implications for others around us.
Paul with vivid imagery (Romans 2:24ff) pictures God inscribing moral laws in human hearts and this is seen in the conscience of every person. There is a sense of right and wrong and the call to live in honesty rather than delusions, reason rather than rationalizations. Each one of us is free to accept or reject guidelines and ignore principles but ultimately sooner or later we have to face the consequences of our actions. Do we demean or edify ourselves? Do we build or destroy community?
Morality flows from the Great Commandment proclaimed by Christ, to love God with all one's heart, mind, strength, and soul, and to love one's neighbour as oneself.
This is the overarching principle that determines sexual ethics. Farley admits the fact that there is no systematic code of ethics in the New Testament. She added: “Yet moral guidelines for every sphere of human life, including the sexual, are to be gleaned from an overall command to love God and neighbour.”
All the seven principles cannot be regarded as strictly secular but they arise from the redemptive biblical teaching and have universal appeal and may even parallel or adopted by people of other faiths and even to those who have no religious affiliation.
Stemming from this commandment of love she spells out the principles in her framework of sexual ethics. Farley enumerates the seven cardinal principles - do no unjust harm, free consent, mutuality, equality, commitment, fruitfulness, and social justice.
Farley is more specific in referring to unjust harm when she gives room to “harm which is necessary to bring about greater good” like in the practice of medicine. She accepts the sacred worth of every human person which demands priority and the obligation to respect. Free consent reflects freedom of the individual and self-determination. We cannot justify rape, violence, and harassment of unwilling partners. Mutuality cuts into traditional forms of having the male as active and female as passive, male as fulfiller and female as receptacle. There needs to be mutuality of attitudes, desire, and response of both partners leading to good sex. Equality is that of power in which no one dominates the other. Even though there is no complete equality, it should be close enough and adequately balanced to ensure no one is exploited, taken advantage or abused. Commitment has to be expressed in the form of covenantal relationship or a contract between partners. Fruitfulness is not only in procreation but also in the care and nurture of new life and also of non-biological children. Further, it can mean love and care of others and making a difference and enrich life in the process. Social justice requires sexual partners to take responsibility for the consequences of their actions to others and to the community.
These principles are inter-related and seek to explicate the commandment of love. To isolate any one or two of them will cause the framework to collapse. Every one of these principles has to be acknowledged and we need not rank them in importance. We may want to justify and add other principles as long as they do not contradict one another. These are goals that we all strive for. It is always work in progress in the fulfilment of our sexual lives.
The framework of Christian sexual ethics is relevant for all - gay or straight, leaders and followers. It does not privilege any group or community.
Turning to the LGBT, Farley specifically commented: “Standing before the biblical witness as a whole, a modest conclusion can be drawn is that there exists no solid ground or an absolute prohibition or a comprehensive unquestionable blessing for same-sex relationships and actions today, not in the Hebrew or the Christian Scriptures.”
The conclusion that Farley made is this: “My own view, as should be clear by now, is that same-sex relations and activities can be justified according to the same sexual ethic as heterosexual relationships and activities.” It is therefore not a question of imposing a straight sexual ethic on the gays and lesbians. It is an ethic that applies to the straight including me as well to make life more meaningful and responsible for all.
One of the genuine concerns from the open session is that of Casual Sex. Contrasting views were candidly expressed and it can only reveal the need to clarify further and find the responsible way to deal with this question of the question of Casual Sex. I consulted Wickipaedia which offers the following definitions.
Casual Sex
“Casual sex or hooking up refers to certain types of sexual activity outside the context of a romantic relationship. The term is not always used consistently: some use it to refer to any extramarital sex, some use it to refer to sex in a casual relationship, whereas others reserve its use for one-time encounters, promiscuity, or to refer to sex in the absence of emotional attachment or love.
Social norms and moral concerns
People's attitudes to casual sex range from conservative and religious views, the extreme of which is capital punishment for sexual relations outside heterosexual marriage, to liberal views, the extreme of which is free love. During the sexual revolution in the United States and Europe in the 1960s and 1970s, social attitudes to sexual issues underwent considerable changes. The advent of the pill and other forms of birth control, the Women's Liberation movement, and the legalization of abortion in many countries is believed to have led to a wider practice of casual sex. Most religions disapprove of sex outside of marriage.
Hook-up
A hookup (colloquial American English) is casual sex activity that could consist of manual stimulation, oral sex, or sexual intercourse. An extended hook-up sometimes refers to prolonged instances of casual sex interactions. This is a situation in which the involved parties occasionally meet for casual sex multiple times, always without a long-term commitment. This is a casual relationship specifically for sex and without any emotional aspect. Also another similar term is "no strings attached" ("NSA") sex.
Other colloquial terms used to describe two people engaged in a relationship in which there is no emotional but purely sexual involvement are "fuck buddies", "friends with benefits", "booty call", and "ami calin" (the popular French term).
Many people arrange these sexual escapades through the internet on websites such as craigslist or dudesnude.
One-night stand
One-night stand is a single sexual encounter between individuals, where at least one of the parties has no immediate intention or expectation of establishing a longer-term sexual or romantic relationship.
Anonymous sex
Anonymous sex is a form of one-night stand or casual sex between people who have very little or no history with each other, often engaging in sexual activity on the same day of their meeting and usually never seeing each other again afterwards.
Commercial
There are many specialist online dating services or other internet websites, known as "adult personals" or "adult matching" sites, which cater to people looking for a purely physical relationship, without emotional attachments. These can provide a relatively anonymous forum where people who are geographically close but in totally separate work and social circles can make contact.
When we put the template of Farley’s framework upon casual sex as described above, how can we rationalize casual sex. They even do not meet the requirement of the principles of consent and no harm. There was in our discussion about the possibility of detachment of emotion relating to feelings for one another from the physicality of sex. But emotions are conjured up in the sex act. Accompanying it is the fantasizing of the one to whom we are engaging in sex.
Casual sex is often equated with promiscuity and that is an issue that concerns not only LGBT but the straights as well. Open relationship in committed relationships in gay and lesbian communities is comparable with open marriage in the straight community.
Sex needs to be connected at the least to some level which leads to committed relationship. Some code of behaviour should distinguish the levels of relationship of acquaintance, friendship and dating.
Gay Lifestyle
Another issue is about the nature of the distinctive gay lifestyle and what defines the gay community as perceived by others. It was conceded that gays are more involved with sexual encounters than the straights. While proportionately it may be so in terms of numbers, there are social factors that are peculiar to the gays more than the lesbians and the straights. There is easier access to sex in the entering and withdrawing from the sexual encounters. The fear of unwanted pregnancies is not a factor. The disruption and destruction of the nuclear family unit is not involved. The unwillingness to commit is accepted. Careers are not being at risk. Secrecy is more easily protected. The fallout of a relationship is not as acute as in a marriage divorce. The issue is relationships and how casual sex affects them.
But there is yet another attempted justification for the pre-occupation with sex of the gays as shared by a lesbian. It could be that the gays are wired to have more sex. This is not proven by any scientific means at this time. It may be that sex is needed more since the gays feel greater rejection and sexual encounters affirm themselves and their acceptance by others. So many gays are doing it and there is this peer pressure and identification with the larger group.
All these factors may come into play but in the final analysis one has to live with honesty and authenticity with oneself. How does sexual behaviour affect us individually? Who do we see in the mirror before us in the isolation of our room? Are we emotionally and physically satisfied? We need to undergo this process of self-examination and live with our authentic self.
We also have to look beyond and view the human condition or the various communities to which we belong – family, church and society. We have individual as well as collective or corporate responsibility. What is the shape of our community going to be as a result of our sexual activities.
Each one of us is a stakeholder in the welfare of the community. We have invested time and energy in living our lives out in the different forms of relationships. This is the individual and social responsibility that we need to bear and the justice that we need to proclaim in all areas of life. Hence my concern and I trust it is yours as well.
VIEWING THE FRAMEWORK OF CHRISTIAN SEXUAL ETHICS
Yap Kim Hao
It was a bold step that the Free Community Church took last Sunday (5.12.10) to conduct an open discussion for its members on Christian Sexual Ethics. This is a responsibility that FCC cannot shirk to provide guidelines instead of rules, principles instead of legislation for the members ultimately to make responsible decisions and engage in sexual acts in accordance with justice and not just have sex.
The turning point of having this open session was on the submission of the Christian ministry master’s degree thesis by Gary Chan who embraced the framework of Christian sexual ethics propounded by Sister Margaret Farley, Professor Emeritus of Christian Ethics in Yale Divinity School.
Farley in her life-long study and teaching in ethics has traced the development of the theology of sex within the Christian tradition which interpreted the sacred texts of Judaism and Christianity. She acknowledged the insights from other religious communities, philosophical schools, cultural mores, physiological and psychological studies.
It resulted in the building of a framework of Christian sexual ethics. She indicated that her sources for her Christian ethics parallel the Wesleyan Quadrilateral of Albert Outler of Southern Methodist University – Scripture, Tradition, Reason and Experience.
The framework is inspired and informed by her understanding of the Christian faith and interpretation of the varied and sometimes conflicting teaching of the Bible linking to sexual issues. Within the religious tradition we have been on the trajectory of sex for the primary purpose of procreation, male domination & female submission , spirit over body, sex as dirty and suppression of sexual urges to pleasure of sex, sex as holy & a gift of the Creator and a defining moment in committed relationships to partners and to our God.
Sexual ethics refers to sexual morality and what is good and right in our sexual behaviour as an individual and a member of the communities to which we belong like family, church, society, nation and the human community. It is not just an individual act done in privacy singly and with partners for it has ramifications and implications for others around us.
Paul with vivid imagery (Romans 2:24ff) pictures God inscribing moral laws in human hearts and this is seen in the conscience of every person. There is a sense of right and wrong and the call to live in honesty rather than delusions, reason rather than rationalizations. Each one of us is free to accept or reject guidelines and ignore principles but ultimately sooner or later we have to face the consequences of our actions. Do we demean or edify ourselves? Do we build or destroy community?
Morality flows from the Great Commandment proclaimed by Christ, to love God with all one's heart, mind, strength, and soul, and to love one's neighbour as oneself.
This is the overarching principle that determines sexual ethics. Farley admits the fact that there is no systematic code of ethics in the New Testament. She added: “Yet moral guidelines for every sphere of human life, including the sexual, are to be gleaned from an overall command to love God and neighbour.”
All the seven principles cannot be regarded as strictly secular but they arise from the redemptive biblical teaching and have universal appeal and may even parallel or adopted by people of other faiths and even to those who have no religious affiliation.
Stemming from this commandment of love she spells out the principles in her framework of sexual ethics. Farley enumerates the seven cardinal principles - do no unjust harm, free consent, mutuality, equality, commitment, fruitfulness, and social justice.
Farley is more specific in referring to unjust harm when she gives room to “harm which is necessary to bring about greater good” like in the practice of medicine. She accepts the sacred worth of every human person which demands priority and the obligation to respect. Free consent reflects freedom of the individual and self-determination. We cannot justify rape, violence, and harassment of unwilling partners. Mutuality cuts into traditional forms of having the male as active and female as passive, male as fulfiller and female as receptacle. There needs to be mutuality of attitudes, desire, and response of both partners leading to good sex. Equality is that of power in which no one dominates the other. Even though there is no complete equality, it should be close enough and adequately balanced to ensure no one is exploited, taken advantage or abused. Commitment has to be expressed in the form of covenantal relationship or a contract between partners. Fruitfulness is not only in procreation but also in the care and nurture of new life and also of non-biological children. Further, it can mean love and care of others and making a difference and enrich life in the process. Social justice requires sexual partners to take responsibility for the consequences of their actions to others and to the community.
These principles are inter-related and seek to explicate the commandment of love. To isolate any one or two of them will cause the framework to collapse. Every one of these principles has to be acknowledged and we need not rank them in importance. We may want to justify and add other principles as long as they do not contradict one another. These are goals that we all strive for. It is always work in progress in the fulfilment of our sexual lives.
The framework of Christian sexual ethics is relevant for all - gay or straight, leaders and followers. It does not privilege any group or community.
Turning to the LGBT, Farley specifically commented: “Standing before the biblical witness as a whole, a modest conclusion can be drawn is that there exists no solid ground or an absolute prohibition or a comprehensive unquestionable blessing for same-sex relationships and actions today, not in the Hebrew or the Christian Scriptures.”
The conclusion that Farley made is this: “My own view, as should be clear by now, is that same-sex relations and activities can be justified according to the same sexual ethic as heterosexual relationships and activities.” It is therefore not a question of imposing a straight sexual ethic on the gays and lesbians. It is an ethic that applies to the straight including me as well to make life more meaningful and responsible for all.
One of the genuine concerns from the open session is that of Casual Sex. Contrasting views were candidly expressed and it can only reveal the need to clarify further and find the responsible way to deal with this question of the question of Casual Sex. I consulted Wickipaedia which offers the following definitions.
Casual Sex
“Casual sex or hooking up refers to certain types of sexual activity outside the context of a romantic relationship. The term is not always used consistently: some use it to refer to any extramarital sex, some use it to refer to sex in a casual relationship, whereas others reserve its use for one-time encounters, promiscuity, or to refer to sex in the absence of emotional attachment or love.
Social norms and moral concerns
People's attitudes to casual sex range from conservative and religious views, the extreme of which is capital punishment for sexual relations outside heterosexual marriage, to liberal views, the extreme of which is free love. During the sexual revolution in the United States and Europe in the 1960s and 1970s, social attitudes to sexual issues underwent considerable changes. The advent of the pill and other forms of birth control, the Women's Liberation movement, and the legalization of abortion in many countries is believed to have led to a wider practice of casual sex. Most religions disapprove of sex outside of marriage.
Hook-up
A hookup (colloquial American English) is casual sex activity that could consist of manual stimulation, oral sex, or sexual intercourse. An extended hook-up sometimes refers to prolonged instances of casual sex interactions. This is a situation in which the involved parties occasionally meet for casual sex multiple times, always without a long-term commitment. This is a casual relationship specifically for sex and without any emotional aspect. Also another similar term is "no strings attached" ("NSA") sex.
Other colloquial terms used to describe two people engaged in a relationship in which there is no emotional but purely sexual involvement are "fuck buddies", "friends with benefits", "booty call", and "ami calin" (the popular French term).
Many people arrange these sexual escapades through the internet on websites such as craigslist or dudesnude.
One-night stand
One-night stand is a single sexual encounter between individuals, where at least one of the parties has no immediate intention or expectation of establishing a longer-term sexual or romantic relationship.
Anonymous sex
Anonymous sex is a form of one-night stand or casual sex between people who have very little or no history with each other, often engaging in sexual activity on the same day of their meeting and usually never seeing each other again afterwards.
Commercial
There are many specialist online dating services or other internet websites, known as "adult personals" or "adult matching" sites, which cater to people looking for a purely physical relationship, without emotional attachments. These can provide a relatively anonymous forum where people who are geographically close but in totally separate work and social circles can make contact.
When we put the template of Farley’s framework upon casual sex as described above, how can we rationalize casual sex. They even do not meet the requirement of the principles of consent and no harm. There was in our discussion about the possibility of detachment of emotion relating to feelings for one another from the physicality of sex. But emotions are conjured up in the sex act. Accompanying it is the fantasizing of the one to whom we are engaging in sex.
Casual sex is often equated with promiscuity and that is an issue that concerns not only LGBT but the straights as well. Open relationship in committed relationships in gay and lesbian communities is comparable with open marriage in the straight community.
Sex needs to be connected at the least to some level which leads to committed relationship. Some code of behaviour should distinguish the levels of relationship of acquaintance, friendship and dating.
Gay Lifestyle
Another issue is about the nature of the distinctive gay lifestyle and what defines the gay community as perceived by others. It was conceded that gays are more involved with sexual encounters than the straights. While proportionately it may be so in terms of numbers, there are social factors that are peculiar to the gays more than the lesbians and the straights. There is easier access to sex in the entering and withdrawing from the sexual encounters. The fear of unwanted pregnancies is not a factor. The disruption and destruction of the nuclear family unit is not involved. The unwillingness to commit is accepted. Careers are not being at risk. Secrecy is more easily protected. The fallout of a relationship is not as acute as in a marriage divorce. The issue is relationships and how casual sex affects them.
But there is yet another attempted justification for the pre-occupation with sex of the gays as shared by a lesbian. It could be that the gays are wired to have more sex. This is not proven by any scientific means at this time. It may be that sex is needed more since the gays feel greater rejection and sexual encounters affirm themselves and their acceptance by others. So many gays are doing it and there is this peer pressure and identification with the larger group.
All these factors may come into play but in the final analysis one has to live with honesty and authenticity with oneself. How does sexual behaviour affect us individually? Who do we see in the mirror before us in the isolation of our room? Are we emotionally and physically satisfied? We need to undergo this process of self-examination and live with our authentic self.
We also have to look beyond and view the human condition or the various communities to which we belong – family, church and society. We have individual as well as collective or corporate responsibility. What is the shape of our community going to be as a result of our sexual activities.
Each one of us is a stakeholder in the welfare of the community. We have invested time and energy in living our lives out in the different forms of relationships. This is the individual and social responsibility that we need to bear and the justice that we need to proclaim in all areas of life. Hence my concern and I trust it is yours as well.
Friday, November 5, 2010
(When I was serving as Pastor of Wesley Methodist Church in Kuala Lumpur in the sixties with the Malaysian Opposition Leader Tan Sri Dr Tan Chee Khoon as Honorary Treasurer in the local congregation where a few MCA Cabinet Ministers also worshipped, Keat Peng was one of the vocal critics of my ministry. He had the prerogative to change his theological orientation and now serves as one of the aides to Anwar Ibrahim especially to faith communities. He arranged a meeting of Asia Church leaders with Anwar in his residence over High Tea last April and we were updated on the prevailing political situation. The following article articulates that choices must be given and reflects the prerogative we have to make the right choices.)
The Prerogative of Choice
by Goh Keat Peng
This we have to admire about the more established democracies: that there is no monopoly about which party will form the government of any level. The two or more main parties or coalitions of parties have reasonable chance. The people are not saddled effectively with just one choice. In recent times, the world has witnessed a change of government in Britain and just days ago, the House of Representatives in the US has changed hands. Just two years after a very popular president was swept into office, Congress is now in the hands of the opposition.
This should be the case in most things in life. An exception being family. We can of course choose who to marry or whether to marry at all. But we cannot choose which family we wish to be born in. This is of course because you can’t make choices before you have come into existence in the first place!
You go to a neighbourhood grocer’s and there is not just one brand of toothpaste or, for that matter, toothbrush. With multiple choices for any product or service, an alternative is available. So a decision becomes necessary on your part. It could be that you walk into a megastore of today with ten choices of anything and still only stick to one brand of anything. That’s your prerogative.
Choice is on the whole healthy for human beings. To have the prerogative of choice is what you and I must have.
Such a prerogative is not always extended to all. In fact, choices are limited and sometimes not possible for certain sections of the human race for reasons of poverty, for example. Having spent time working alongside poor communities, I have been able to witness for myself how and why poor people have few options in life let alone worry about what brand of toothpaste to use. Children of poor family walk to school on an empty stomach, arrive in school about two hours late and make little progress through tiredness and hunger. For them, which school to go to isn’t an option nor will it be their primary concern. Under such circumstances, parents will already do well if they can find a way to feed their children, put clean clothes on them and walk them to the only school for miles around just to arrive a little earlier.
In a consumer society like ours, we who can afford to care about multiple choices must also be circumscribe about what things and issues are more important than others. I won’t suffer much, for example, if my favourite brand of toothpaste, soap, soup, toilet tissue, instant noodles, shoes or socks isn’t available at times. I won’t die for lack of choices in such things for the simple reason that the differences between brands are not always very wide. Food is food, clothes are clothes, toothpaste is toothpaste and hopefully the gaps between branded goods are closing. For such everyday things and needs in life, the enterprising among us have found that sometimes the brandless, cheaper stuff turn out to be better. So among the choices we have, we can now also choose between the really expensive and the less expensive without too much loss of quality.
The prerogative of choice is important to human beings. This is especially true in the matter of choice of government.
Choice of government is very much more important. My branded toothpaste may last two weeks if I am sparing in my use of it. If I am not happy with this particular brand, I can change brand the next time I go to the store. With government, change is much more diffuclt and complex. The opportunity to change a government is not as easy as going to the nearest convenience store. An elected sitting government can by constitutional provision keep the power to govern for five long years at state or federal level. In Malaysia, for lack of alternative given the weakness of opposition fare, essentially the same party coalition has been in power for 53 years!
Nobody is suggesting that the Malaysian situation is like Myanmar or North Korea but, over the many years, we have been saddled with the same ruling coalition since independence and independence has become dependence. The message is that “You can’t trust anybody else but us” and “Change ruling party at your peril”. Never mind how this 53-year rule has in many instances and in many ways impacted the country and culture and business in negative ways! There is no choice so “Better stick to the devil you know than the devil you don’t”.
Moreover, and even more important than the 53 years of continuous rule under the same party coalition, the tactics, antics and stunts used to ensure that power stays only with one team continues unabated and unashamedly. The same pattern remains every election: liberal use of catchy slogans, promises, liberal payouts of goodies up to the eve of polling day. It seems that an unfailing formula is working and winning regardless of what happens or not happen between elections.
Come on Malaysia, even in sports, Tiger Woods, Roger Federer, Chicago Bulls and Manchester United are no longer Number 1! Yet the game goes on in better state. It is because of higher standards of play, genius and fitness that the monopoly has come to an end and now that the stranglehold that former champions had on the prestigious titles have been loosened, we the sporting spectators can expect to see better matches and better returns for tickets we paid to enter the stadiums.
Time has come for change. Time to establish a two-party or two coalition system to provide Malaysians the preogative of choice they deserve. Time to show the powers that be that we cannot and will not depend only on them forever.
The Prerogative of Choice
by Goh Keat Peng
This we have to admire about the more established democracies: that there is no monopoly about which party will form the government of any level. The two or more main parties or coalitions of parties have reasonable chance. The people are not saddled effectively with just one choice. In recent times, the world has witnessed a change of government in Britain and just days ago, the House of Representatives in the US has changed hands. Just two years after a very popular president was swept into office, Congress is now in the hands of the opposition.
This should be the case in most things in life. An exception being family. We can of course choose who to marry or whether to marry at all. But we cannot choose which family we wish to be born in. This is of course because you can’t make choices before you have come into existence in the first place!
You go to a neighbourhood grocer’s and there is not just one brand of toothpaste or, for that matter, toothbrush. With multiple choices for any product or service, an alternative is available. So a decision becomes necessary on your part. It could be that you walk into a megastore of today with ten choices of anything and still only stick to one brand of anything. That’s your prerogative.
Choice is on the whole healthy for human beings. To have the prerogative of choice is what you and I must have.
Such a prerogative is not always extended to all. In fact, choices are limited and sometimes not possible for certain sections of the human race for reasons of poverty, for example. Having spent time working alongside poor communities, I have been able to witness for myself how and why poor people have few options in life let alone worry about what brand of toothpaste to use. Children of poor family walk to school on an empty stomach, arrive in school about two hours late and make little progress through tiredness and hunger. For them, which school to go to isn’t an option nor will it be their primary concern. Under such circumstances, parents will already do well if they can find a way to feed their children, put clean clothes on them and walk them to the only school for miles around just to arrive a little earlier.
In a consumer society like ours, we who can afford to care about multiple choices must also be circumscribe about what things and issues are more important than others. I won’t suffer much, for example, if my favourite brand of toothpaste, soap, soup, toilet tissue, instant noodles, shoes or socks isn’t available at times. I won’t die for lack of choices in such things for the simple reason that the differences between brands are not always very wide. Food is food, clothes are clothes, toothpaste is toothpaste and hopefully the gaps between branded goods are closing. For such everyday things and needs in life, the enterprising among us have found that sometimes the brandless, cheaper stuff turn out to be better. So among the choices we have, we can now also choose between the really expensive and the less expensive without too much loss of quality.
The prerogative of choice is important to human beings. This is especially true in the matter of choice of government.
Choice of government is very much more important. My branded toothpaste may last two weeks if I am sparing in my use of it. If I am not happy with this particular brand, I can change brand the next time I go to the store. With government, change is much more diffuclt and complex. The opportunity to change a government is not as easy as going to the nearest convenience store. An elected sitting government can by constitutional provision keep the power to govern for five long years at state or federal level. In Malaysia, for lack of alternative given the weakness of opposition fare, essentially the same party coalition has been in power for 53 years!
Nobody is suggesting that the Malaysian situation is like Myanmar or North Korea but, over the many years, we have been saddled with the same ruling coalition since independence and independence has become dependence. The message is that “You can’t trust anybody else but us” and “Change ruling party at your peril”. Never mind how this 53-year rule has in many instances and in many ways impacted the country and culture and business in negative ways! There is no choice so “Better stick to the devil you know than the devil you don’t”.
Moreover, and even more important than the 53 years of continuous rule under the same party coalition, the tactics, antics and stunts used to ensure that power stays only with one team continues unabated and unashamedly. The same pattern remains every election: liberal use of catchy slogans, promises, liberal payouts of goodies up to the eve of polling day. It seems that an unfailing formula is working and winning regardless of what happens or not happen between elections.
Come on Malaysia, even in sports, Tiger Woods, Roger Federer, Chicago Bulls and Manchester United are no longer Number 1! Yet the game goes on in better state. It is because of higher standards of play, genius and fitness that the monopoly has come to an end and now that the stranglehold that former champions had on the prestigious titles have been loosened, we the sporting spectators can expect to see better matches and better returns for tickets we paid to enter the stadiums.
Time has come for change. Time to establish a two-party or two coalition system to provide Malaysians the preogative of choice they deserve. Time to show the powers that be that we cannot and will not depend only on them forever.
Saturday, October 30, 2010
Queer Theology
queer church - a dialogue
by Miak Siew on Saturday, October 30, 2010 at 11:17am
Rev Yap posted his thoughts titled "The Nature and Purpose of FCC" a couple of days ago, and coincidentally i had my queer theology paper returned, and i could not help but reply to Rev Yap with my own thoughts on the the role of FCC. i am posting our email exchange here as an invitation to further dialogue, and the adventure of the unfolding of God's invitation to do a new thing.
----------------------------------------
The Nature and Purpose of FCC
We have been considering the role of Free Community Church in the Christian community here in Singapore. LGBT is at the beginning interested to relate Christianity to sexuality leading to the acceptance of homosexuality as a gift from the loving God the Creator of all that exists including all sentient beings irrespective of race and religion. Our Creator is continuously engaged in the evolutionary process of human beings living in co-operation with one another and in harmony with nature to bring about shalom. Religion has to be involved in this transformation process not only in sexuality and human development but also in ecology and mutual existence on planetary earth.
FCC began at the stage when LGBT were secure enough to come together to form SAFEHAVEN as a support group with common concerns and shared leadership. When the larger community outside seem to move in the direction of acceptance of LGBT essentially more for political and economic reasons, the issue of homosexuality surfaced both within faith communities and secular society. SAFEHAVEN was able to mobilize courageous people and evolve to form the Free Community Church.
What is the nature of FCC? Because LGBT was excluded from the majority in society we paraded the principle of inclusion. We proclaim that FCC is the only inclusive church. Our distinctiveness is that we are the only Church that does not exclude and truly welcomes LGBT. Those who come do not feel that they are discriminated upon and excluded. We continue to enable in the interpretation of the BIblical texts to relate faith with sexuality and assert that homosexuality is not a sin. The degree of acceptance even within FCC is correlated with the change of one's theological understanding of the sacred text on the issue of one's sexual orientation. The theological baggage that we carry may even force us to internalize homophobia. But we are gaining ground to move out of regarding homosexuality as a sin or even fallen nature to the stage where we accept that our sexual orientation is a given and a gift from our loving Creator.
When FCC declares that we are an inclusive community it does that mean that mean we are completely free and we include every body and every view including those which differ from one another. We merely tolerate the differences. We isolate ourselves from other people and other perspectives. Inclusivity without interactions and openness to change is intolerable. Inclusivity in itself is heretical. It is not the move to uniformity and the forming of one common view for all. It is the sharing of our views always tentative and seeking common approach to address the problems that we face in our personal lives and in community life. We are on the journey of evolving like all things around us.
Our religious faith must relate to our common life and address all issues and not only on sexual orientation. The changes in our theology must move beyond sexuality but to all of life.
Yes, there is an emerging problem that FCC will deal exclusively with homosexuality issues. The churches outside will continue to be concerned with heterosexual issues with the LGBT members clossetted within. We will continue to live apart from one another.
The authentic Christian Church is be inclusive with regard to gays and straights, male and female & in-between, rich and poor. The change and re-construction of theology must take place to relate to evolve and grow such a community. There are people, gay and straight, who are expecting and waiting for a different theology that permeates all churches including FCC today. As long as we reflect the prevailing theology, whether liberal or conservative, that governs the life our our Christian churches today we will continue to exist where we are, separate and unequal. The reconciling church is an example with a majority of straights but decided to be gay affirming. The kind of theology that they have evolved which leads them to accept LGBT must influence them to relate in a new way to all other areas of life. They too need to transform their theological understanding of what God expects from their commitment to the life and mission of the church in the prevailing pluralistic paradigm. The same can be said of the purpose of the existence of FCC. Let us engage and learn from one another to equip ourselves for such a time like this.
Rev Dr Yap Kim Hao
----------------------------------------
Thank you, Rev Yap, for reiterating what i think is the call of FCC.
i believe that FCC is called to be a queer church, not just an LGBT church. Oddly, but not surprising to me, Rev Yap's email came just a few hours after i had my paper on queer theology returned to me. i'm halfway through the penultimate semester here in PSR, and i am constantly thinking how i can apply what i learned, and what it is we are called to be as a community.
Queer theology differs from LGBT theology, as "queer" isn't another identity alongside lesbian and gay, or a shorthand for LGBT, but rather "a radical destabilizing of identities and resistance to the naturalizing of any identity." In other words, "queer" is the refusal to be boxed in, or categorized, or labelled. Queer theology (and queer theory) exposes the artificiality and constructed nature of gender and sexuality and challenges the binary categories that are normally taken for granted as natural and self-evident. It is unrelenting, obstinate in its deconstruction of all binary divides - This is the gift and insight queer theory offers to theology - in exposing the instability of categories, queer theory exposes and challenges the dualistic categories embedded in theology - not just of gender and sexuality that is often associated with queer theology, but the dualistic categories of mind/spirit and body, emotion and reason, church and state, sacred and secular, holy and profane, personal and the political, young and old, and many others. These categories are not distinct and discrete, but rather are constituted in and of each other. It is not a matter of either-or, but both-and.
i know this is rather jargon-filled, but as Paul put it so eloquently in Galatians - "There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus." the labels and categories do not matter in the body of Christ.
what does that mean in the living out in community? that is a challenge for us to discover - because we are doing a new thing that God is calling us forward into. there is no model we can look at, but rather dig deep within ourselves. This is what it means to be equal beloved children of God. it doesn't mean we are the same.
do we allow ourselves to be transformed, move beyond our comfort zones to the radically different, uncomfortable, even go to dangerous places Jesus invites us to go when He asked us to follow him? are we able to imagine a different world and bring that world into fruition? are we willing to be open, and listen to each other, and be transformed? can we abandon the labels "conservative", "liberal", "progressive" and be in community with those we do not necessary agree with, and work together to build the Kin-dom of God on earth? dare we dream beyond ourselves, and dare we imagine a different world? being Christian cannot be done alone - it has to be done in community.
miak
----------------------------------------
An epiphany for me. I don't feel so lonely as I have been for some time. Well said, Miak. You and I are on the same wavelength. Hopefully and anxiously waiting for others to join in our common adventure of doing a new thing always.
Hooray for Queer theology. It is the liberating theology for all in captivity in different closets beyond sexuality.
Rev Dr Yap Kim Hao
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Darren Koh
Hey Miak! As always I'm running off late for one deadline or other. I have to prepare my viva questions on my student's papers in an hour's time, but thought I'd just jot some thoughts in here for a moment.
You speak of the willingness to ...abandon labels and "be in community with those we do not necessary agree with and work together to build the Kin-dom of God on earth". I mourn the split the Anglican Communion, which for longest time was a communion of churches with many differences, but still survived them all, but alas, the thorny issue of homosexuality seem to driving the communion to schism: a simple reflection of the point that while we may wish to abandon labels, so long as others do not, we will not be in communion or in a community with them. People have to choose to be a community.
The challenge of faith we face, lies in challenging the faith. Just as when Christ challenged the faith then prevalent, or when the church in her evolution, challenged the faith then prevailing, the challenge is seen as something that has to be put down. (The early non-Jewish christians became a challenge to the Jewish Christians, and the Jerusalem Council gave a little ground, though in the end, it took the rise of Pauline Christianity to sever the links with the old, freeing us to the new. )
Herein lies the nub of the problem: what exactly are we challenging? Should FCC become a single issue church, focussing her energies on nuturing her LGBT members while standing as a beacon, albeit a beacon of hope to one section of society? Or should FCC be a multi-issue church, spreading her resources among the many barriers to the love of God that exist?
Truth be told, I would hazard a guess (and would be glad to be proven wrong) that many of her members would rather not be part of any challenge, and would rather not be in any battle. Yet, the fact of the matter is, the very existence of FCC is a challenge to the establishment in Singapore. But like the annoying pimple or scar, there is a risk will it will just in the end be a tolerated annoyance to the establishment Or should it aim to disrupt the peace by engaging to transform the establishment? But what are we trying to transform into????
Heady questions. Rev Yap says "The reconciling church is an example with a majority of straights but decided to be gay affirming." It's still in a sense, early days for FCC. But then, I never thought that was possible till I was in the US, and there worshipped at an Episcopal Church where the priest would joke about the choir-master's partner from the pulpit. It was not a breath of fresh air - it was like an overdose of oxygen!!! It can happen. But at what cost? The Episcopal Church as an establishment is only beginning to find out.See More
19 hours ago · LikeUnlike
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Yap Kim Hao
The challenge is to be the church concerned with all issues and for all people who are created. Nothing foreign is alien to me. Just as there was the issue of circumcision in the early community of the followers of Jesus, we are challenged ...to take a position on other issues which emerged. It was followed by Paul who moved away from Judaism and "founded" the Christian movement along with the community influenced by Graeco-Roman culture, then the Reformation and the continuing process of re-forming the Christian community relevant to our time and place. The future is open and we are to challenge one another to discover the new thing and develop new loyalties in the evolving situation that we experience in life around us.See More
15 hours ago · LikeUnlike
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Darren Koh
Ahh but Rev Yap - therein lies the challenge to each one of us: in being a neighbour to everyone, and in so doing, recognise that I have to love everyone as myself. And so we should strive, and recognise we will fail. But in recognising... we fail, we arise each new day, we do it all again, because god showed us what love is.
Tall order. Logic demands we fight issues, and we husband our resources. To do more requires a fire in our hearts that not many would want. Like the foxes, we want our holes; like the birds we want our nests. And how many can leave the dead to bury the dead?
How many of us would prefer to hide behind the shadow of others and cling onto Paul's idea that some are apostles, some prophets, some are pastors and some teachers - "because it's not me" - hoping that we will just be a contributing member of the church? It's someone else's job to engage in the headline stuff.
You made a choice in nailing your colours to the mast. I made my choice after a period of vocational discernment. Will enough people make the choice to lead the challenge you have pointed out?See More
10 hours ago · LikeUnlike
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Yap Kim Hao
You are so right that this is the challenge each one of us faces. This is the human predicament. But is there really an alternative. Just to resign or even to commit suicide. The current "It Gets Better" movement is serendipity. This is a c...reative movement that none of us expect. It is the trajectory that we need to travel. It is always the lonely road and one that is less travelled. But to get better we are compelled to affirm or we stagnate and wither in the dying vine. I remember that some were fishermen and tax collectors but they chose to be apostles. I remember the carpenter who ended up on the Cross.See More
4 hours ago · Like
by Miak Siew on Saturday, October 30, 2010 at 11:17am
Rev Yap posted his thoughts titled "The Nature and Purpose of FCC" a couple of days ago, and coincidentally i had my queer theology paper returned, and i could not help but reply to Rev Yap with my own thoughts on the the role of FCC. i am posting our email exchange here as an invitation to further dialogue, and the adventure of the unfolding of God's invitation to do a new thing.
----------------------------------------
The Nature and Purpose of FCC
We have been considering the role of Free Community Church in the Christian community here in Singapore. LGBT is at the beginning interested to relate Christianity to sexuality leading to the acceptance of homosexuality as a gift from the loving God the Creator of all that exists including all sentient beings irrespective of race and religion. Our Creator is continuously engaged in the evolutionary process of human beings living in co-operation with one another and in harmony with nature to bring about shalom. Religion has to be involved in this transformation process not only in sexuality and human development but also in ecology and mutual existence on planetary earth.
FCC began at the stage when LGBT were secure enough to come together to form SAFEHAVEN as a support group with common concerns and shared leadership. When the larger community outside seem to move in the direction of acceptance of LGBT essentially more for political and economic reasons, the issue of homosexuality surfaced both within faith communities and secular society. SAFEHAVEN was able to mobilize courageous people and evolve to form the Free Community Church.
What is the nature of FCC? Because LGBT was excluded from the majority in society we paraded the principle of inclusion. We proclaim that FCC is the only inclusive church. Our distinctiveness is that we are the only Church that does not exclude and truly welcomes LGBT. Those who come do not feel that they are discriminated upon and excluded. We continue to enable in the interpretation of the BIblical texts to relate faith with sexuality and assert that homosexuality is not a sin. The degree of acceptance even within FCC is correlated with the change of one's theological understanding of the sacred text on the issue of one's sexual orientation. The theological baggage that we carry may even force us to internalize homophobia. But we are gaining ground to move out of regarding homosexuality as a sin or even fallen nature to the stage where we accept that our sexual orientation is a given and a gift from our loving Creator.
When FCC declares that we are an inclusive community it does that mean that mean we are completely free and we include every body and every view including those which differ from one another. We merely tolerate the differences. We isolate ourselves from other people and other perspectives. Inclusivity without interactions and openness to change is intolerable. Inclusivity in itself is heretical. It is not the move to uniformity and the forming of one common view for all. It is the sharing of our views always tentative and seeking common approach to address the problems that we face in our personal lives and in community life. We are on the journey of evolving like all things around us.
Our religious faith must relate to our common life and address all issues and not only on sexual orientation. The changes in our theology must move beyond sexuality but to all of life.
Yes, there is an emerging problem that FCC will deal exclusively with homosexuality issues. The churches outside will continue to be concerned with heterosexual issues with the LGBT members clossetted within. We will continue to live apart from one another.
The authentic Christian Church is be inclusive with regard to gays and straights, male and female & in-between, rich and poor. The change and re-construction of theology must take place to relate to evolve and grow such a community. There are people, gay and straight, who are expecting and waiting for a different theology that permeates all churches including FCC today. As long as we reflect the prevailing theology, whether liberal or conservative, that governs the life our our Christian churches today we will continue to exist where we are, separate and unequal. The reconciling church is an example with a majority of straights but decided to be gay affirming. The kind of theology that they have evolved which leads them to accept LGBT must influence them to relate in a new way to all other areas of life. They too need to transform their theological understanding of what God expects from their commitment to the life and mission of the church in the prevailing pluralistic paradigm. The same can be said of the purpose of the existence of FCC. Let us engage and learn from one another to equip ourselves for such a time like this.
Rev Dr Yap Kim Hao
----------------------------------------
Thank you, Rev Yap, for reiterating what i think is the call of FCC.
i believe that FCC is called to be a queer church, not just an LGBT church. Oddly, but not surprising to me, Rev Yap's email came just a few hours after i had my paper on queer theology returned to me. i'm halfway through the penultimate semester here in PSR, and i am constantly thinking how i can apply what i learned, and what it is we are called to be as a community.
Queer theology differs from LGBT theology, as "queer" isn't another identity alongside lesbian and gay, or a shorthand for LGBT, but rather "a radical destabilizing of identities and resistance to the naturalizing of any identity." In other words, "queer" is the refusal to be boxed in, or categorized, or labelled. Queer theology (and queer theory) exposes the artificiality and constructed nature of gender and sexuality and challenges the binary categories that are normally taken for granted as natural and self-evident. It is unrelenting, obstinate in its deconstruction of all binary divides - This is the gift and insight queer theory offers to theology - in exposing the instability of categories, queer theory exposes and challenges the dualistic categories embedded in theology - not just of gender and sexuality that is often associated with queer theology, but the dualistic categories of mind/spirit and body, emotion and reason, church and state, sacred and secular, holy and profane, personal and the political, young and old, and many others. These categories are not distinct and discrete, but rather are constituted in and of each other. It is not a matter of either-or, but both-and.
i know this is rather jargon-filled, but as Paul put it so eloquently in Galatians - "There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus." the labels and categories do not matter in the body of Christ.
what does that mean in the living out in community? that is a challenge for us to discover - because we are doing a new thing that God is calling us forward into. there is no model we can look at, but rather dig deep within ourselves. This is what it means to be equal beloved children of God. it doesn't mean we are the same.
do we allow ourselves to be transformed, move beyond our comfort zones to the radically different, uncomfortable, even go to dangerous places Jesus invites us to go when He asked us to follow him? are we able to imagine a different world and bring that world into fruition? are we willing to be open, and listen to each other, and be transformed? can we abandon the labels "conservative", "liberal", "progressive" and be in community with those we do not necessary agree with, and work together to build the Kin-dom of God on earth? dare we dream beyond ourselves, and dare we imagine a different world? being Christian cannot be done alone - it has to be done in community.
miak
----------------------------------------
An epiphany for me. I don't feel so lonely as I have been for some time. Well said, Miak. You and I are on the same wavelength. Hopefully and anxiously waiting for others to join in our common adventure of doing a new thing always.
Hooray for Queer theology. It is the liberating theology for all in captivity in different closets beyond sexuality.
Rev Dr Yap Kim Hao
· Comment · LikeUnlike · View Original Post · Share
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Hope Attenhofer likes this.
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o
Darren Koh
Hey Miak! As always I'm running off late for one deadline or other. I have to prepare my viva questions on my student's papers in an hour's time, but thought I'd just jot some thoughts in here for a moment.
You speak of the willingness to ...abandon labels and "be in community with those we do not necessary agree with and work together to build the Kin-dom of God on earth". I mourn the split the Anglican Communion, which for longest time was a communion of churches with many differences, but still survived them all, but alas, the thorny issue of homosexuality seem to driving the communion to schism: a simple reflection of the point that while we may wish to abandon labels, so long as others do not, we will not be in communion or in a community with them. People have to choose to be a community.
The challenge of faith we face, lies in challenging the faith. Just as when Christ challenged the faith then prevalent, or when the church in her evolution, challenged the faith then prevailing, the challenge is seen as something that has to be put down. (The early non-Jewish christians became a challenge to the Jewish Christians, and the Jerusalem Council gave a little ground, though in the end, it took the rise of Pauline Christianity to sever the links with the old, freeing us to the new. )
Herein lies the nub of the problem: what exactly are we challenging? Should FCC become a single issue church, focussing her energies on nuturing her LGBT members while standing as a beacon, albeit a beacon of hope to one section of society? Or should FCC be a multi-issue church, spreading her resources among the many barriers to the love of God that exist?
Truth be told, I would hazard a guess (and would be glad to be proven wrong) that many of her members would rather not be part of any challenge, and would rather not be in any battle. Yet, the fact of the matter is, the very existence of FCC is a challenge to the establishment in Singapore. But like the annoying pimple or scar, there is a risk will it will just in the end be a tolerated annoyance to the establishment Or should it aim to disrupt the peace by engaging to transform the establishment? But what are we trying to transform into????
Heady questions. Rev Yap says "The reconciling church is an example with a majority of straights but decided to be gay affirming." It's still in a sense, early days for FCC. But then, I never thought that was possible till I was in the US, and there worshipped at an Episcopal Church where the priest would joke about the choir-master's partner from the pulpit. It was not a breath of fresh air - it was like an overdose of oxygen!!! It can happen. But at what cost? The Episcopal Church as an establishment is only beginning to find out.See More
19 hours ago · LikeUnlike
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Yap Kim Hao
The challenge is to be the church concerned with all issues and for all people who are created. Nothing foreign is alien to me. Just as there was the issue of circumcision in the early community of the followers of Jesus, we are challenged ...to take a position on other issues which emerged. It was followed by Paul who moved away from Judaism and "founded" the Christian movement along with the community influenced by Graeco-Roman culture, then the Reformation and the continuing process of re-forming the Christian community relevant to our time and place. The future is open and we are to challenge one another to discover the new thing and develop new loyalties in the evolving situation that we experience in life around us.See More
15 hours ago · LikeUnlike
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Darren Koh
Ahh but Rev Yap - therein lies the challenge to each one of us: in being a neighbour to everyone, and in so doing, recognise that I have to love everyone as myself. And so we should strive, and recognise we will fail. But in recognising... we fail, we arise each new day, we do it all again, because god showed us what love is.
Tall order. Logic demands we fight issues, and we husband our resources. To do more requires a fire in our hearts that not many would want. Like the foxes, we want our holes; like the birds we want our nests. And how many can leave the dead to bury the dead?
How many of us would prefer to hide behind the shadow of others and cling onto Paul's idea that some are apostles, some prophets, some are pastors and some teachers - "because it's not me" - hoping that we will just be a contributing member of the church? It's someone else's job to engage in the headline stuff.
You made a choice in nailing your colours to the mast. I made my choice after a period of vocational discernment. Will enough people make the choice to lead the challenge you have pointed out?See More
10 hours ago · LikeUnlike
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Yap Kim Hao
You are so right that this is the challenge each one of us faces. This is the human predicament. But is there really an alternative. Just to resign or even to commit suicide. The current "It Gets Better" movement is serendipity. This is a c...reative movement that none of us expect. It is the trajectory that we need to travel. It is always the lonely road and one that is less travelled. But to get better we are compelled to affirm or we stagnate and wither in the dying vine. I remember that some were fishermen and tax collectors but they chose to be apostles. I remember the carpenter who ended up on the Cross.See More
4 hours ago · Like
Thursday, October 28, 2010
Nature and Purpose of FCC
The Nature and Purpose of FCC
We have been considering the role of Free Community Church in the Christian community here in Singapore. LGBT is at the beginning interested to relate Christianity to sexuality leading to the acceptance of homosexuality as a gift from the loving God the Creator of all that exists including all sentient beings irrespective of race and religion. Our Creator is continuously engaged in the evolutionary process of human beings living in co-operation with one another and in harmony with nature to bring about shalom. Religion has to be involved in this transformation process not only in sexuality and human development but also in ecology and mutual existence on planetary earth.
FCC began at the stage when LGBT were secure enough to come together to form SAFEHAVEN as a support group with common concerns and shared leadership. When the larger community outside seem to move in the direction of acceptance of LGBT essentially more for political and economic reasons, the issue of homosexuality surfaced both within faith communities and secular society. SAFEHAVEN was able to mobilize courageous people and evolve to form the Free Community Church.
What is the nature of FCC? Because LGBT was excluded from the majority in society we paraded the principle of inclusion. We proclaim that FCC is the only inclusive church. Our distinctiveness is that we are the only Church that does not exclude and truly welcomes LGBT. Those who come do not feel that they are discriminated upon and excluded. We continue to enable in the interpretation of the BIblical texts to relate faith with sexuality and assert that homosexuality is not a sin. The degree of acceptance even within FCC is correlated with the change of one's theological understanding of the sacred text on the issue of one's sexual orientation. The theological baggage that we carry may even force us to internalize homophobia. But we are gaining ground to move out of regarding homosexuality as a sin or even fallen nature to the stage where we accept that our sexual orientation is a given and a gift from our loving Creator.
When FCC declares that we are an inclusive community it does that mean that mean we are completely free and we include every body and every view including those which differ from one another. We merely tolerate the differences. We isolate ourselves from other people and other perspectives. Inclusivity without interactions and openness to change is intolerable. Inclusivity in itself is heretical. It is not the move to uniformity and the forming of one common view for all. It is the sharing of our views always tentative and seeking common approach to address the problems that we face in our personal lives and in community life. We are on the journey of evolving like all things around us.
Our religious faith must relate to our common life and address all issues and not only on sexual orientation. The changes in our theology must move beyond sexuality but to all of life.
Yes, there is an emerging problem that FCC will deal exclusively with homosexuality issues. The churches outside will continue to be concerned with heterosexual issues with the LGBT members clossetted within. We will continue to live apart from one another.
The authentic Christian Church is be inclusive with regard to gays and straights, male and female & in-between, rich and poor. The change and re-construction of theology must take place to relate to evolve and grow such a community. There are people, gay and straight, who are expecting and waiting for a different theology that permeates all churches including FCC today. As long as we reflect the prevailing theology, whether liberal or conservative, that governs the life our our Christian churches today we will continue to exist where we are, separate and unequal. The reconciling church is an example with a majority of straights but decided to be gay affirming. The kind of theology that they have evolved which leads them to accept LGBT must influence them to relate in a new way to all other areas of life. They too need to transform their theological understanding of what God expects from their commitment to the life and mission of the church in the prevailing pluralistic paradigm. The same can be said of the purpose of the existence of FCC. Let us engage and learn from one another to equip ourselves for such a time like this.
--
Rev Dr Yap Kim Hao
10E, Braddell Hill, Apt. #16-17
Singapore 579724
Tel: +65-6250-4561
Email: kimhao.yap@gmail.com
"When we lose the right to be different,
we lose the privilege to be free"
We have been considering the role of Free Community Church in the Christian community here in Singapore. LGBT is at the beginning interested to relate Christianity to sexuality leading to the acceptance of homosexuality as a gift from the loving God the Creator of all that exists including all sentient beings irrespective of race and religion. Our Creator is continuously engaged in the evolutionary process of human beings living in co-operation with one another and in harmony with nature to bring about shalom. Religion has to be involved in this transformation process not only in sexuality and human development but also in ecology and mutual existence on planetary earth.
FCC began at the stage when LGBT were secure enough to come together to form SAFEHAVEN as a support group with common concerns and shared leadership. When the larger community outside seem to move in the direction of acceptance of LGBT essentially more for political and economic reasons, the issue of homosexuality surfaced both within faith communities and secular society. SAFEHAVEN was able to mobilize courageous people and evolve to form the Free Community Church.
What is the nature of FCC? Because LGBT was excluded from the majority in society we paraded the principle of inclusion. We proclaim that FCC is the only inclusive church. Our distinctiveness is that we are the only Church that does not exclude and truly welcomes LGBT. Those who come do not feel that they are discriminated upon and excluded. We continue to enable in the interpretation of the BIblical texts to relate faith with sexuality and assert that homosexuality is not a sin. The degree of acceptance even within FCC is correlated with the change of one's theological understanding of the sacred text on the issue of one's sexual orientation. The theological baggage that we carry may even force us to internalize homophobia. But we are gaining ground to move out of regarding homosexuality as a sin or even fallen nature to the stage where we accept that our sexual orientation is a given and a gift from our loving Creator.
When FCC declares that we are an inclusive community it does that mean that mean we are completely free and we include every body and every view including those which differ from one another. We merely tolerate the differences. We isolate ourselves from other people and other perspectives. Inclusivity without interactions and openness to change is intolerable. Inclusivity in itself is heretical. It is not the move to uniformity and the forming of one common view for all. It is the sharing of our views always tentative and seeking common approach to address the problems that we face in our personal lives and in community life. We are on the journey of evolving like all things around us.
Our religious faith must relate to our common life and address all issues and not only on sexual orientation. The changes in our theology must move beyond sexuality but to all of life.
Yes, there is an emerging problem that FCC will deal exclusively with homosexuality issues. The churches outside will continue to be concerned with heterosexual issues with the LGBT members clossetted within. We will continue to live apart from one another.
The authentic Christian Church is be inclusive with regard to gays and straights, male and female & in-between, rich and poor. The change and re-construction of theology must take place to relate to evolve and grow such a community. There are people, gay and straight, who are expecting and waiting for a different theology that permeates all churches including FCC today. As long as we reflect the prevailing theology, whether liberal or conservative, that governs the life our our Christian churches today we will continue to exist where we are, separate and unequal. The reconciling church is an example with a majority of straights but decided to be gay affirming. The kind of theology that they have evolved which leads them to accept LGBT must influence them to relate in a new way to all other areas of life. They too need to transform their theological understanding of what God expects from their commitment to the life and mission of the church in the prevailing pluralistic paradigm. The same can be said of the purpose of the existence of FCC. Let us engage and learn from one another to equip ourselves for such a time like this.
--
Rev Dr Yap Kim Hao
10E, Braddell Hill, Apt. #16-17
Singapore 579724
Tel: +65-6250-4561
Email: kimhao.yap@gmail.com
"When we lose the right to be different,
we lose the privilege to be free"
Saturday, October 23, 2010
It Gets Better
From International Herald Tribune
Campaign Offers Help to Gay Youths
By BRIAN STELTER
Published: October 18, 2010
“Middle school was the worst,” Calvin Stowell says in a YouTube video he uploaded on Oct. 1.
"It Gets Better" Project (youtube.com)
Dan Savage, a syndicated columnist, started the project.
Homophobia was rampant. Bullies were “pretty relentless,” he says, recalling that on his first day there, a girl walked up to him and asked, “Are you a faggot? No offense.” Eventually his parents pulled him out of the school.
Looking directly at the camera, Mr. Stowell, now 22, then says three words that he wants isolated gay, lesbian and transgender teenagers to hear: “It got better.”
Thousands of people like Mr. Stowell have posted personal testimonies to YouTube in an online campaign titled “It Gets Better” that has, in Internet parlance, “gone viral” in the four weeks since it started. The campaign is intended to help gay teenagers who feel isolated and who may be contemplating suicide, and it coincides with a rash of recent news stories about bullying and the suicides of gay teenagers and young adults.
The highly personal videos have caused some teenagers to ask for help. Mr. Stowell now spends hours each day replying to messages from viewers.
“Growing up, I never had someone to confide in,” he said. Now these teenagers do. “I can’t even articulate how much this has ended up meaning to me,” he said.
Mr. Stowell says he has received 23 e-mails from teenagers who said they had felt suicidal. He has referred them to the Trevor Project, a toll-free telephone line and online chat site for gay youths at risk. The YouTube channel for “It Gets Better” is the third largest source of traffic to the Trevor Project, and there has been a “great increase” in calls in the last month, a spokeswoman for the project said.
The videos are “a new way of using the technology at hand to save lives,” said Stephen Sprinkle, a professor at Brite Divinity School in Fort Worth, who posted a video to YouTube about the loneliness he felt before identifying as gay.
Some say the videos also represent an important moment for the gay rights movement. The sharing of coming-out stories has long been a tool of solidarity among gays as “a way to say that we understand each other because we had to come out under fire or because we struggled with it,” Mr. Sprinkle said.
The “It Gets Better” videos are different, he said, because they are both more public and more positive. “We’re able to look back on our stories and say, it really has gotten better,” he said.
Dan Savage, the sex columnist who started the project, concurred, saying in an interview that the videos were “helping gay adults realize that it’s gotten better for us,” but that “for teens, it’s been getting worse out in the boonies, in the exurbs.”
The “It Gets Better” idea came to Mr. Savage, 46, while he was riding the AirTrain shuttle to Kennedy International Airport last month and thinking about Billy Lucas, a 15-year-old from Indiana who committed suicide Sept. 9. The local news media reported that Mr. Lucas was bullied regularly.
Days earlier, Mr. Savage had blogged about the suicide, and a reader had written: “My heart breaks for the pain and torment you went through, Billy Lucas. I wish I could have told you that things get better.”
Mr. Savage said he felt the same way. But how to tell them? He gives talks at colleges regularly, but not at middle schools or high schools. “I would never get permission,” he said, blaming a system of “parents, preachers and teachers” who “believe they can terrorize gay children out of being gay as they grow up.”
His realization was this: “I was waiting for permission that — in the era of YouTube, Twitter, Facebook — I didn’t need anymore.”
Mr. Savage and his husband put the YouTube page online on Sept. 21, and he promoted it in his syndicated column. The column quoted the politician Harvey Milk: “You gotta give ’em hope.”
For Mr. Savage, the responses have been “really overwhelming” — far too many for one person to watch. He is now preparing a permanent home for the videos.
Most are by ordinary people. Some are by celebrities, like Tim Gunn, a mentor on the hit show “Project Runway,” who revealed in his video that he tried to kill himself at 17.
The most popular video features Joel Burns, a Fort Worth city councilman, who read his testimony at a Council meeting. Choking back tears, he recalled being roughed up one day in high school by older children who told him that “I should die and go to hell where I belonged.”
Mr. Burns’s message to gay teenagers was succinct: “The attitudes of society will change. Please live long enough to be here to see it.”
Campaign Offers Help to Gay Youths
By BRIAN STELTER
Published: October 18, 2010
“Middle school was the worst,” Calvin Stowell says in a YouTube video he uploaded on Oct. 1.
"It Gets Better" Project (youtube.com)
Dan Savage, a syndicated columnist, started the project.
Homophobia was rampant. Bullies were “pretty relentless,” he says, recalling that on his first day there, a girl walked up to him and asked, “Are you a faggot? No offense.” Eventually his parents pulled him out of the school.
Looking directly at the camera, Mr. Stowell, now 22, then says three words that he wants isolated gay, lesbian and transgender teenagers to hear: “It got better.”
Thousands of people like Mr. Stowell have posted personal testimonies to YouTube in an online campaign titled “It Gets Better” that has, in Internet parlance, “gone viral” in the four weeks since it started. The campaign is intended to help gay teenagers who feel isolated and who may be contemplating suicide, and it coincides with a rash of recent news stories about bullying and the suicides of gay teenagers and young adults.
The highly personal videos have caused some teenagers to ask for help. Mr. Stowell now spends hours each day replying to messages from viewers.
“Growing up, I never had someone to confide in,” he said. Now these teenagers do. “I can’t even articulate how much this has ended up meaning to me,” he said.
Mr. Stowell says he has received 23 e-mails from teenagers who said they had felt suicidal. He has referred them to the Trevor Project, a toll-free telephone line and online chat site for gay youths at risk. The YouTube channel for “It Gets Better” is the third largest source of traffic to the Trevor Project, and there has been a “great increase” in calls in the last month, a spokeswoman for the project said.
The videos are “a new way of using the technology at hand to save lives,” said Stephen Sprinkle, a professor at Brite Divinity School in Fort Worth, who posted a video to YouTube about the loneliness he felt before identifying as gay.
Some say the videos also represent an important moment for the gay rights movement. The sharing of coming-out stories has long been a tool of solidarity among gays as “a way to say that we understand each other because we had to come out under fire or because we struggled with it,” Mr. Sprinkle said.
The “It Gets Better” videos are different, he said, because they are both more public and more positive. “We’re able to look back on our stories and say, it really has gotten better,” he said.
Dan Savage, the sex columnist who started the project, concurred, saying in an interview that the videos were “helping gay adults realize that it’s gotten better for us,” but that “for teens, it’s been getting worse out in the boonies, in the exurbs.”
The “It Gets Better” idea came to Mr. Savage, 46, while he was riding the AirTrain shuttle to Kennedy International Airport last month and thinking about Billy Lucas, a 15-year-old from Indiana who committed suicide Sept. 9. The local news media reported that Mr. Lucas was bullied regularly.
Days earlier, Mr. Savage had blogged about the suicide, and a reader had written: “My heart breaks for the pain and torment you went through, Billy Lucas. I wish I could have told you that things get better.”
Mr. Savage said he felt the same way. But how to tell them? He gives talks at colleges regularly, but not at middle schools or high schools. “I would never get permission,” he said, blaming a system of “parents, preachers and teachers” who “believe they can terrorize gay children out of being gay as they grow up.”
His realization was this: “I was waiting for permission that — in the era of YouTube, Twitter, Facebook — I didn’t need anymore.”
Mr. Savage and his husband put the YouTube page online on Sept. 21, and he promoted it in his syndicated column. The column quoted the politician Harvey Milk: “You gotta give ’em hope.”
For Mr. Savage, the responses have been “really overwhelming” — far too many for one person to watch. He is now preparing a permanent home for the videos.
Most are by ordinary people. Some are by celebrities, like Tim Gunn, a mentor on the hit show “Project Runway,” who revealed in his video that he tried to kill himself at 17.
The most popular video features Joel Burns, a Fort Worth city councilman, who read his testimony at a Council meeting. Choking back tears, he recalled being roughed up one day in high school by older children who told him that “I should die and go to hell where I belonged.”
Mr. Burns’s message to gay teenagers was succinct: “The attitudes of society will change. Please live long enough to be here to see it.”
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