COOS Pastor Receives White Powder Scare

COOS Pastor Receives White Powder Scare

Thursday, May. 7, 2009 Posted: 5:15:12PM HKT

An envelope containing white powder received last week by the Church of Our Saviour has sparked fears of anthrax poisoning.

Addressed to the senior pastor of the Anglican parish, one of the 26 congregations belonging to the Diocese of Singapore, the packet was found to be harmless by the Singapore Civil Defence Force hazardous materials team who went to the church office shortly after the COOS staff contacted the police on receiving the envelope.

Church staff feared that the powder could have been anthrax spores, which can cause death if inhaled, a source told the New Paper. There have been several scares involving white powder worldwide since 2001.

The spokesman said the Rev Derek Hong, COOS’ senior pastor, did not say if any letter had accompanied the envelope but thought it was connected to the Aware dispute, which has been highly publicised by the newspapers as an attempt by conservative Christians to take control of established women’s rights organisation Aware.

A fateful annual general meeting held on March 28 saw newcomers ousting veteran members from leadership positions, with four women, all of whom attend the Anglican congregation, voted into the exco, one of whom became the Aware president.

The new exco’s failure to account for what seemed to be a takeover of the NGO by ‘unknowns’ led to the media speculating and framing the incident as an attempt by a church to ‘hijack’ the organisation.

Pressured by the public media and the uncooperativeness of their own staff, the new leadership finally put together an impromptu press conference on April 23 during which they explained their concern that Aware under the old guard had over the past few years veered away from its original mandate to narrowly promote the homosexual lifestyle through its public activities and even in schools.

They explained that they ran for leadership in an effort to restore Aware to its original mandate. Two of them said they had received death threats, which have been referred to the police for investigation.

It was also revealed that senior lawyer Dr Thio Su Mien had encouraged the women to run for leadership positions in the NGO because of her concerns for the way she felt it was promoting lesbianism and homosexuality.

In a sermon on April 26, the Rev Hong had encouraged female churchgoers to “be engaged” and support then Aware president Josie Lau and “her sisters” in the women advocacy group. The public perceived the action as the Church interfering with secular organisations like Aware, giving rise to fear and outrage.

At this time, the National Council of Churches of Singapore, an umbrella organisation of Protestant denominations and churches, released a press statement in which it reaffirmed the official standpoint that churches should not get involved in the affairs of secular organisations. The NCCS also stated that its member churches were not involved in the Aware issue.

The COOS senior pastor also made a public apology for his actions on the pulpit which “have aroused some tension” in the matter and gave his assurance that he would be “more sensitive to similar situations in the future”.

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