Thousands From Singapore Megachurch Counter LGBT Day by Wearing White
Six thousand attendees showed up dressed in white to a service at Faith Community Baptist Church on Sunday "to make a stand for God's intended marriage and family."
The "Wear White" campaign event came one day after the sixth annual Pink Dot, an event which celebrates LGBT individuals and calls for an end to discrimination, attracted 26,000 individuals, reported Channel News Asia and Singapore Yahoo!.
FCBC Senior Pastor Lawrence Khong called upon those in attendance to "preserve purity in the home," and said that while he had relationships with members of the LGBT community, he believed that the church could not bend on its definition of marriage as between a man and a woman.
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"We are not pushing a religious issue on our nation; we are standing here on a social and moral issue," he said. "Today, we wear white not because we want to preach to people, but [because] we want to share with them that we stand on the same moral ground that is healthy for our nation."
Khong insisted that his values were in line with those of the government's and stated that he was "confounded" by some who criticized FCBC as "confrontational," when Pink Dot was "a value generally not acceptable in our land."
"We, as Singaporeans, have the right to decide what kind of Singapore we want it to be," he said.
A study released by the Institute of Policy Studies earlier in 2014 showed that nearly 80 percent of the country believed that sexual relations between two adults of the same sex was wrong, and 73 percent said they were against gay marriage.
FCBC member Teo Yee Nam partially affirmed Pink Dot's work, but warned that the group should be sensitive to its cultural context.
"Pink Dot is right to protest for greater freedom and equality. I respect their push for greater inclusion," the FCBC member said ahead of the Sunday service. "But I feel they have to be mindful of society's stance on the traditional grounds of marriage."
Another attender, Maisy, told Yahoo Singapore that she came dressed in white out of her support for the traditional family, not directly in opposition to Pink Dot.
"We're just coming together to worship God, and wearing white to have the spirit of supporting family," she said. "Pink Dot has their own position. We don't have anything against them … after all, we're all Singaporeans."
