AWARE

I recently received this email.

To My Friends,

STOP A GROUP OF CHRISTIANS FROM HIJACKING A REPUTABLE, SUCCESSFUL AND SECULAR CIVIC ORGANISATION TO PUSH ITS CHRISTIAN AGENDA UNDER THE GUISE OF AWARE.

STOP THEM NOW BEFORE OTHER RELIGIOUS GROUPS DO SIMILARLY.

IF WE DO NOT, THEN WHEN IT IS OUR TURN, THERE WILL BE NO ONE LEFT TO HELP US.

If you are female, please sign up as member of AWARE and go to the EGM to vote out the new Ex-Co. 

 

I think the person who started this chain of emails should be lauded for his/her fervour for defending the cause for secular plurality and diversity. It is easy for us to balk at their (new AWARE) actions and disprove the ideals they tout to stand for, which many of us only care to believe are built upon their fundamentalist beliefs, and as many of us would readily pick up the cudgels and plot a vehement riposte to the coup, righteously believing that we are the bastion of religious freedom and gay rights, we should not overlook the underlying motives these actions spring from.

 I believe sternly that whether for or against the movement, we all share a common goal of doing what we all believe is for the betterment of the society, but the bitterest irony of this saga is that we have all jumped too quickly onto judging and chastising others’ intentions, while self presumptuously believing we are the vessels of truth (doing what is right), stoking the fire of discordance. We have officially degraded ourselves into the likes of a radical terrorist, stuck firmly onto one’s views and blinded from the commonalities that bind us all together – peace, love and happiness – things that we all strive for, things that matter most to us.

By scowling at their actions and browbeating them with accusations and threats, we are equally culpable of bigotry. We should instead heal the divide rather than resist the change. As Bikkhu Bodhi points out, we live in a world that thrives on conflict, and in which the forces that nurture conflict are pervasive; obstinate and terribly powerful. But what we can do and must do is to testify by our conduct to the supremacy of peace: to avoid words and actions that engender animosity, to heal divisions, to demonstrate the value of harmony and concord. The model we must emulate is that provided by the Buddha in his description of the true disciple: “He is one who unites the divided, who promotes friendships, enjoys concord, rejoices in concord, delights in concord, and who speaks words that promote concord.”

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