Uploading Vids Online = Public Distribution

Pastor Rony Tan is in trouble again.
This time not for putting down Buddhism, but for putting down gay people.

85 people including filmmakers Sun Koh and Royston Tan have lodged police reports over the long Chinese New Year weekend about pastor Rony Tan's offensive comments concerning gay men and lesbians in an online video.

[Click on the above to access
the article on Fridae.com and Pastor Rony Tan's video.]

Here are some quotes by Paster Rony Tan from the online video which was put up on the Church's website:

“If we don’t warn people against this, then there will be more and more homosexuals because many of these people will be harassing and seducing young boys, and they in turn will become homosexuals,”

"If you allow [homosexuality], next time people will want to get married to monkeys. And they will want rights. They’ll want to apply for HDB [a colloquial term to mean a government subsidised flat]. With a donkey or a monkey or a dog and so on. It’s very pathetic.”


You get the drift.


The gay community obviously feels strongly against these comments. I'm not gay and I feel the same way too. What's up with the association with paedophilia and bestiality?! He totally sounds like an out-of-control online flamer.

However, even though I feel uncomfortable with his words, whatever he preaches to his followers is not my main gripe. That's something between his followers and him. A 你情我愿 relationship between follower and leader. Religion is a personal pursuit, and especially so in a multi-cultural context such as ours. It's fine when religious teachings, especially such contentious ones, are conducted behind closed doors.

BUT... Putting up videos on a website which anyone can access does NOT qualify as behind closed doors.

Instead, this is a deliberate act to distribute the videos, as good as printing and distributing pamphlets to every HDB flat home, office, shopping centre, Starbucks, IR, temple/mosque/church, and even to government bodies. This is my main gripe.

Re: The couple who were jailed for 8 weeks for distributing anti-Catholic and anti-Muslim publications in 2009. Even after they had stopped distributing the publications, they were found guilty.

Not funny at all.

So just because this pastor has a 12,000-strong following that he gets let off the hook?

Mingyi had a huge following too. He even helped to put together a hospital for the needy. A solid contribution to society. Regardless, he was hauled to court for his wrongdoings. If Mingyi merely had to say 'Sorry, I won't do it again', would anyone buy that?

What makes this religious leader so special?