Straits Times, 16 March 2011
NOTE TO READERS: We will not hesitate to remove any religiously inflammatory remarks – Ed
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terry,
State persercution of religious minorities ( Inquisition) versus civil unrest by religious minorities. (riots)
Incidentally, when the Inquistion was sent out by Rome, they tended to dismiss charges of witchcraft and several popes actually wrote of doubting the existance of witch craft at all. They were far more interested in the Jews, Moslems and heretics which posed a real politcal threat to them. Most witchcraft cases were carried out by local magistrates and they usually tried to close it by executing the accused before the Inquistion comes into town, since the trumped up nature were only too easy to spot.
“hes forgotten Joan Of ARc who led the crusades all over europe that killed thousands….”
Considering that the Hundred Years War consisted mostly fighting in France and parts of Belgium, I’d think Germany and Austria feels left out of Europe. Thousands in a war that lasted quite literally a century would be a very peaceful war indeed.
Also, Jeanne’dArc had a rather short military career of a couple of years, barely enough to travel Europe in those days not to mention fighting in all of Europe.
“less likely to riot? my foot….more likely to start a riot.”
Name the last riot carried out by Chrisitians due to explicitly religious reasons please?
“I had one Idiot showing up at my door carrying a bible who pointed to pictures of My God at my altar and say they are Devils and i should stop praying to them.”
So you’d start a riot over someone sharing his religious views with you? I think you are a tad confused over the whole starting a riot thing.
“Im sure non christians have been similarly approached by Bible toting types in public places and at their own homes..”
Here;s an idea. Start a riot over credit card salesman since they affect a lot more people and are more prolific. Seems to be you consider direct selling a valid reason fo unrest.
You know, Christians actually have to be the ones starting the burning of shops and looting to be considered starting a riot, not others doing it in reaction to them.
@Mohd Shahid
The Crusaders marched onto Jerusalem and took it then applied mediveval pratices of war and slaughtered the inhabitant when they refused to surrender. SOP for they did the same thing in European wars.
Theo van Goh was neither a Muslim nor a citizen in a theocratic state, making the treason arguement irrelevant. Since being non Muslim, the Allah= higher being arguement also won’t apply to him.
If someone published something that defamed my mother, then I’d sue him. That’s what the courts are for.
I won’t call you a terroist, just a hod head who needs to cool his heels in Whitely Road.
Using the logic and standard they set for tang lian hong, pap should declare that GY is insulting the other religion in S’pore.
Christians started demonstration all over the world. This is the phenomena.
Just see Korea. Christian Koreans are the most active demonstrators. Even in Myanmar, the Christians are active in that.
It might be surprising the demonstration in the Middle East might are started by the Christians. Christian spies at work.
Kew Kah Fatt
Riot= use of violence on the streets, smashing of shop spaces and running battles with the riot police
Demostration= Loud chanting and marching through specified area with police maintaining order but not interfering while no violence occurs.
Learn the difference.
Koreans have been demostrating rather violently even before Chrisitans became a slight majority in Seoul and the largest single religious group nationwide. Many of the demostrations are started by Marxist leaning unions.
Considering that Christians are 0.1% of the Burmese population, I”d like to see some proof of that.
Middle East-wat? First conspiracy theory I’ve heard. I thought it was the illuminati and the Mossad remote controlled sharks?
Er…the story of why Christians today (both protestants, catholics and the orthodox) are a lot less likely to be provoked to violence as a result of blasphemy, had a lot to do with the rise of the enlightenment in the West in the 17th to 18th century. You know, things like the scientific revolution, and the idea that the state should be seperated from the church. Even then progress was extremely bumpy: it took centuries since the bad old days of the spanish inquisition and witch burning before it dawned on majority populations in Western countries that killing in the name of God and other sorts of religions (like nationalism and communism) was seriously irrational.
This also applies to America, the most religious country in the West. The idea that killing people in the name of God is legitimate has been trumped by the deeply held belief in religious freedom and freedom of speech(invented by their enlightenment era founding fathers in the 18th century.
However it would appear that some posters here like Mohd Shahid here have not really grasped the point of why Singapore, in line with many other westernised countries, does not burn people at the stake for blasphemy. He wrote:
“If someone were to say that your mom and wife are prostitutes and your father is a bastard and you all live in a brothel and put that into writing and sell it all over will you keep quiet or find the guy and give him a good kick in his teeth?”
The answer is no, because nowadays, there are various ways you can address your grieviances, like defamation and libel laws (they are not just there for LKY to beat his political opponents with).
Anyway, using that as an analogy to justify why violence against those who insult God is a good thing is pretty alarming. Do you seriously suggest that those who are say atheists had better keep their mouths shut, and not say or write anything to provoke your religious sensibilities (in practical terms, challenging religious texts and leaders on their frequently homophobic, sexist, racist and anti-scientific views), on pain of actual injury or death enforced by vigilantes like yourselves? If the answer is yes, I would suggest that perhaps George Yeo is not terribly far off when he made that observation!
some MIWs really need to retire. too stressed from working to long in respective their ministries.
seriously, S’pore political scene needs new blood.
why fix when it ain’t broke? cos it may be too late if its broken!
i am free ..have my blessings..there are no right or left .show yorself that u are less likely to riot .i don like to think too much..who s`blood is not red in color?
Football hooliganism can range from shouts and small-scale fistfights and disturbances to huge riots where firms attack each other with deadly weapons such as sports bats, bottles, rocks, and knives.
It occured in begium, bosnia, bulgaria, croatia, france, germany, greece, italy, netherlands, poland, portugal, russia, serbia, sweden, spain, switzerland, turkey, uk, nothernireland, scotland, wales, argentina, braxil, mexico, usa, canada, bangladesh, china, jordan, israel, north korea, syria, japan, congo, egypt, gambia, ghana, ivory coast, libya, mali, mauritius, mozambique, south africa and zimbabwe and australia. Though not mentioned by wikipedia, it occured in singapore too.
Are they mostly christains or muslims? Who is more likely to riot?
We are human.
BG Yeo gave some examples of the sensitive issues the Government had to deal with: not allowing Muslim girls to wear headscarves in public schools but allowing Punjabi Sikhs to wear a turban; and banning Salman Rushdie’s book The Santanic Verses but allowing The Last Temptation of Christ by Nikos Kazantzakis.
BG Yeo reason is Christians are less likely to riot. Did BG Yeo imply that Punjabi Sikhs are most likely to riot? Since they are allowed to wear turban but muslim girls are not allowed to wear headscarves?
The hard truth is : if you are exertive, the government will compromise in order to win your votes. Otherwise, your beliefs have to be compromised. It’s nothing to do with who is less likely to riot.
Example like aljunie GRC, who give about 46% votes to WP. Now they are offered 460 millions. What about other GRCs?
A Superficial comment from a Superficial leader.
Do we still want this kind of leader?
How to reply to others when my comments here are deleted ?
Those people who give comments like, “The other religions riot too. Look at Sri Lanka, the Hindus are clashing with the Buddhists, etc…” are missing the point. How many of these riots were caused by religious sentiments? Do the Hindus and Buddhists clash beacause their respective religious beliefs were insulted?
The central point of GY’s statement is that the government is using “different strokes for different folks,” and this should be the point of discussion, NOT which religion is tolerant and which is not.
It is often not religion that riots but the political and economical forces that drive the violence..
give he a cup of ” banana juice” to wash he dirty mouth ! such dirty comment may caused to start of another riot !
Goerge Yeo sounds like he is implying that muslims are more likely to riot. Aiyah! I was thinking of voting for PAP… But now …???
So, Georgie Boy, from the AWARE saga, can we say that Christians are more likely to surreptitiously take over NGOs?
If christians less likely to riot why LKY arrest church members in 1987? Pathetic!
ha ha ha , why so happy huh??? i saw he collect “sampah” lah in a GRC activities !!! ha ha ha….
They worry so much that they forgot to worry about the words that come out of their mouths. How ironic…..
If such things continue to be said by the highly-paid, anger and not religious differences will drive everyone to riot….
anyone want to riot now ??? no , singaporean prefer the GE voting system.
Totally out of context.First of all,no one in the right mind would riot. They will lock you up using ISA(internal sercurity act).And mind you,its no reason lockup.You cannot call lawyer,cant call your mum also.Can lock you up for a pretty long time(see they happy).The longest record is 32years(go google).
Wat christian?!wat muslim?! wat Buddis?
Wait you see ISD badge flash in front of you,next moment you sit in a cell.Mas Selamat opposite a cell to you.Then you can ask him how he escape(maybe can learn from him)
Ya..sure! Christian unlikely to riot but more likely to screw people’s backside, go corrupt and put down others religion like those Pastors and best of all..great liar! Monthly salary kena overpaid by 6K and these christian Pastor said in court he really didn’t notice it! haha..Christian sure are unlikely to RIOT but likely to do lots of evil things,,sigh…
Christians are possibly most likely to show disrespect and provoke others.
Past years’ sagas of shamed pastors had already shown enough.
What more arguments do u need against these true facts??
I wonder what makes George Yeo makes such remark. Didn’t he study the rebellion of Martin Luther against the Catholic main stream in Germany. There were riots too of course not led by Martin but by opportunists in the rank and file of the Catholic organisation.
well…christians are less likely to riot but they are more likely to preach people around them. Every once in a while some of my friends who are christians will ask me to attend their church event to listen to their preaching.
One of my christian friend actually questioned me,”why you buddhist/taoist has so many gods? i thought there should only be one? ” I don think it’s very polite of her to ask that just because she doesn’t believe in my religion. I strongly believe that everyone should respect each other for whichever the religion they believe in.
Chrsitians likely less to riot!!!Compared to what???Pegi lah. Yg bunuh Albanians & Bosnians, Iraqis, Pakistanis etc tu sape. Kat Ireland, Protestan berbunuh dgn Katolik tu apa. Pergi kat Youtube lihat mcm mana kristians riot against org islam kat amerika & uk. Nak bina masjid jauh dari Ground Zero pun tak dibenarkan. Poodahlah. Kaum kristian sejak zaman roman dulu banyak membunuh manusia termasuklah org Yahudi.Kat Tanah Melayu, British, Portugis dan Belanda datang serang dan bunuh ramai org melayu tu apa. Dongeng sejarah ke.
Christians build WMD incl. bio,chem and nookelear and then sell it to African and Arab countries so that the can murder each other.Proxy war. US gives Israel billions every year of free WMD to murder the Palestinians. Western countries lead by US, UK and France send secret missions to Middle East and South East Asia to incite riots through their so-called democracy and racial hatred.They through electronic media such as internet in he name of freedom of speech wage electronic war to incite riots in developing and third world countries.
the sickening, the Botak…. the world most ugly face….
This fellow George Yeo is becoming mad, following the footsteps of his Master LKY, he digs into his soul and spouts out its venom. We can see that this bunch of people in Cabinet is uncouth for all the racial harmony they are seen to preach. My Muslim brothers, this is the reason that MUIS is ineffectual in doing anything positive for the Muslim Community all these years. It is because their Masters are in the secret recesses of their heart against Islam or do not wish to understand Islam.It is dangerous to live in a country whose leaders are so biased. Vote for an opposition who may push for more normalcy in religious existence..
I am appalled that a leader who is supposed to be alert to religious sensitivities can make a comparative statement,”So we got questioned. Our reply was the Christians are less ready to riot.” This is an astounding statement, even if true. But history has shown that in the name of Christianity whole continents of people were decimated, in America, Australia, Africa and the most bloody and prolonged wars and revolutions occurred in the Christian continent of Europe. If Christians are less ready to riot, people of what religion is most ready to riot, is naturally demanded by the perceptive hearer. I am sure that given the prompting of such a statement, it should be readily concluded that “Muslims are most ready to riot” as this fashion is the Spirit of the Age. Now what good will these two concepts do for Society in Singapore, if not divide it into well behaved Christians and bad behaved Muslims. Of late ideas of this sort are thrown at the Muslims, for example the recent LKY statements. I just wonder whether these leaders are so sure of themselves that they do not mind to dice with fire. Whether their ideas as articulated are true or false can be debated. But what is sure to be the consequence is the insult to normal life in a multi religious society.
I think that we need alternative views and experiences in our leaders so that they cause each other to catch their breath before they speak to hurt others. The chorus -like uniformity of speech emanating from a few fixed ideas at the top is deleterious to the well being of everyone. We should enrich the conceptual apparatus available to Parliamentarians by voting in an opposition, this election time.
To put it in other words, the PAP’s policies with regards to banning certain books but allowing others, allowing certain headwear but banning others have nothing to do with being concerned for our racial and religious harmony or showing due respect to all religions in Singapore ( within rational limits ) but rather those policies are driven by bigoted opinions about certain groups.
Oh, lets ban this book because so-and-so will likely riot but it’s okay, no need to ban this book regardless how insulting it is to so-and-so religion because so-and-so are less likely to riot.
This apparently is the logic of the PAP government.
For Singapore’s sake, let’s VOTE PAP OUT !
But…salman rushdie’s Satanic Verses is considered to be blephemous to the Muslims, that was why it’s banned, no? (refer to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Satanic_Verses)
although im not a big fan of george, i gotta say there’s gotta be more sensitivity towards the muslim community, taking into account that our neighbours are muslims, and they are more likely to fiercely protect their faith (ie riot) against ANYTHING slightly sacrilegous. i didnt see any riots when Dan Brown’s book got published & made into a movie.
but anyway i wonder, why would a muslim want to read the satanic verses? so isn’t it great that it’s being banned to show respect for your belief??
i felt that GY shouldn’t be making this statement in the first place.
riots happen when humans are being oppressed or provoked, irregardless of race and religion. humans are still humans. born with feelings.
if he doesnt want riots to happen, dont oppressed nor provoked.
As a professed leader of multi-religious Singapore, George Yeo’s comments showed his incompetence, insensitivity & lack of understanding of religious groups.
Fully agree with payalebar’s views. GY is definitely not alone; there are many GY-like creatures and their cronies holding key leadership positions in Government/GLCs/affiliated organisations. Christians in SG are slowing emerging into a powerful interest group. They tend to promote thier own kinds and marginalise the non-Christians. If unchecked, given the opportunity, I believe they will raise their ugly heads and causing serious trouble to this country and the region. Religion should strictly be a private matter and Singapore should always be a secular State!