On Christians in Singapore

"I hope you have not been leading a double life, pretending to be wicked and being really good all the time. That would be hypocrisy." - Oscar Wilde

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For those who think that all Christians in Singapore are homophobes who want to take over the government and impose their will on everyone:

"To break it down for the outsider, Protestant (that is, non-Catholic) Churches in Singapore can be broadly classed into three subtypes in character.

The Traditional

The Fundies

The Richies

The Traditional consist of churches that have a long history here. Some were planted by ang mohs some time back and have carried on since then. These congregations are small to mid-sized and tend to grow via family additions as opposed to converts.

They tend to be more traditional and orthodox, you find the bulk of non-charismatic churches in this part of the venn diagram. Generally it is easier for outsiders to join these kind of churches as they do not make that much demands, but they don't also do all that much to increase their sizes versus the other groups.

The Fundies consist of a group of congregations with rather distinct, separatist and specific beliefs on how the religion ought to be practiced, with relatively little room for individual variance. They generally see themselves as distinct and separate from those other more "worldy" christians. Basically they view themselves as Navy SEALS for Christ. Some are small, exclusive churches while others can be quite large. There is also a lot of variance in one fundie believes is okay and what they other believes is not. Some may think listening to secular music and drinking any sort of alcohol is a sin while another is cool with that.

Oh yeah, dominionism theology, that is that the church ought to influence/dominate garmen and society is quite popular with this bunch, and there are varying degrees to what they think it's okay to do to achieve this.

Also the term "fundie" is not an insult to them and if you are calling them that to them it means they are doing something right.

The Richies are congregations that practice a more modern, lifestyle approach towards the religion. As it is usually why they reap in the moonah as they are extremely attractive to the young, energetic crowd who are starting to step into their economically active prime. The theology is usually lifestyle focused and stuff from the bible is often interpreted in some rather creative ways in order to present a modern message. This is where you find a lot of your megachurches.

These demarcations are not absolute and there is significant overlap between all of them, for example FCBC could be considered both fundie and richie, while others like Cornerstone more fundie than richie. CHC is quite far up the richie scale and they receive a lot of fire from those far up the fundie spectrum for some of their practices.

The Traditional on the other hand, generally think the two groups are young punks who don't know what they are doing. You can see everyone gets along swimmingly."


On churches doing social work:

A: Maybe I am ignorant. But just checking... Buddhist temple i came across quiet a lot offer free food to people during certain timing. 100% free. They also conduct house visits and offer help.

But i had never hear, christian church open up and offer free food to people like Buddhist temple. Or they have? Anyone can tell me?

B: got lei, but not specific to soup kitchens

sauces: ask ani social werkers

i know some of them run this thing where they buy food and deliver straight to old folks living alone in one room flats 24/7/365 i believe. dunch even need to go out of the house to get your three hots

catholics also do a lot of stuff, but usually running in background.

C: Our History | Welcome to Willing Hearts

Churches don't usually advertise what they do but there are soup kitchens like Willing Hearts. Most operate through secular charities.

B: i know for a fact the church that people like to kbkb alot about, fcbc does a lot of stuff via touch community services. that's why garmen like them, save them a lot of trouble.

one does not need to like them, but also need to be objective ya?

I think there are big issues with institutionalised religion.

But criticism that is made also needs to be properly informed.

For example in the latest non-drama Lambertgate, some wise mind probably thought he could troll the fundies by starting a Sun Ho petition.

Problem with that is, most fundies don't really like the Crossover Project, CHC or Sun Ho to begin with. In fact they might even have some schadenfreude in watching CHC squirm in the first place.

So whoever that person is probably failed epically in trying to troll the fundies, and pretty much gave them what they wanted unintentionally.

So in other words, they don't really understand the people they are criticising/trolling.