Ok .. let me steer everyone back to the topic. 
Sep 21, 2007
Churches don't seek to sow discord in
families
IT WAS with deep regret that I read the lamentation of Dr Lee Bee
Wah, 'Some mega churches affect students adversely' (ST, Sept
19).
I am a final-year university student attending what is presumably
one of the 'rich' mega churches Dr Lee alluded to. While I
sympathise with her feelings of 'losing' her loved ones, I find
some of the assumptions and generalisations she made unfair.
Firstly, while mega churches in Singapore
are active in sharing their faith with the public, they do not
target impressionable teenage schoolchildren. As with any
religion, it is natural that as Christians we desire to share the
joy of our faith with our friends and loved ones.
We are fortunate to live in a multiracial country where people are
free to practise any religion. As
religious tolerance is a value we guard strongly, it is saddening
that Dr Lee should imply that the indiscretions of her children can
be attributed directly to negative influence by the
church.
While church activities do take up time, as a cell-group leader I
can vouch that never has the church sought to sow discord in
families or influence teenagers to rebel against their
parents.
Like any other religion which seeks to inculcate good values and
strong family ties, the Bible teaches Christians to honour and love
their parents in obedience.
Some young Christians may get carried away by overzealousness, and
churches need to step in to correct them. However, it is unfair to
blame our family troubles solely on churches.
While speaking in general about the Christian faith to clarify
certain misconceptions, I acknowledge that there will inevitably be
deviants who may preach fanaticism.
I beseech Dr Lee to clarify matters with her children's church
pastor.
Teo Choon Liang
I have problems with the statements in red.
1. What does he mean by "not targeting impressionable teenage
schoolchildren"?
2. I realize many of the pro-Christian letters in the forum tend to
talk about the obvious; they just defend the church and the leaders
but seldom go into the problem. At most they will blame the problem
on some deviants who preach fanaticism.
It is inaccurate to paint the troublemakers as fanatic deviants
because such a description, no doubt, conjures up an image of
terrorists from another [peaceful] religion. However while we can
name a few fanatic deviants from the group of terrorists, we are
hard-pressed to name any deviant from the Christian faith.
It is amazing the author can bring up religious tolerance, when
Christians are mostly the ones who are tearing up the fabric of
religious tolerance locally.
