A little bird informed me of an incident that happened in a particular church in Subang Jaya over the weekend. In response to the CFM's "Vote Wisely" campaign, a church elder apparently used the pulpit to remind the congregation that "the government has been good to us".
Hmm .. shouldn't this be considered undue influence? I know for a fact that even some anti-establishment leaning pastors would not abuse their pulpit for endorsing any political groups or movement. They might endorse certain Scriptural principles like peace, justice, mercy, et al, but they leave the processing of that and the conclusion to the individual conscience of their congregation.
Wasn't it The Star in their recently published Cafe Latte Chat that suggested that it was improper to use the pulpit to endorse political views. And isn't the "government" (read BN) candidate for the constituency where the church in question from the same political party that owns The Star by proxy?
Some of us (2 clergy and 2 lay) took some time to read the responses to The Star's op-ed / interview above and provide some responses as we felt that perhaps the views presented were not representative enough of the diversity in opinions in the Christian community. Those that participated in this exercise are Pastor Raj Singh from Christian Life Gospel Centre (PJ), the Rev. Sivin Kit from Bangsar Lutheran Church (KL), Steven Sim from Bukit Mertajam Gospel Centre (Bkt Mertajam) and yours truly.
Rev Sivin Kit has them published as a series on his blog (the original op-ed/interview with our responses in blue) :
- Christian Perspectives On Politics in Malaysia |
- Christian Perspectives On Politics in Malaysia II
- Christian Perspectives On Politics in Malaysia III
- Christian Perspectives On Politics in Malaysia IV
Interestingly, this exercise was conducted over the season of Epiphany (literally meaning "a comprehension or perception of reality by means of a sudden intuitive realisation").
If you liked this post, consider buying me some coffee. Suggested price is $1.00 for a cup and $10.00 for a 1 lbs bag (personally I am a big fan of Ethiopian Yirgacheffe).
Categories: 12th General Elections, Integral Mission
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Comments (1)
Bob K said:
Some conversation on this is happening here :
http://www.usj.com.my/bulletin/upload/showthread.php?t=21498
Posted on February 20, 2008 6:20 PM