An apology by a Singaporean church for one of its preacher's disdainful comments about Taoism is a sign that the nation's interfaith relations are in danger of turning sour.
The New Creation church, which has a following of some 20,000 people in a nation of about five million, issued its conciliatory statement after a 2008 sermon by its pastor Mark Ng appeared on YouTube last week (it has since been removed), to public scorn from the nation's Taoists as well as scrutiny from the internal security agency.
In the clip, Ng likened the ritual of praying to a Taoist deity to a criminal practice. He bluntly told his congregation: "Praying to him for what? For protection. It's just like a secret society, you know, gangster."
Ng is not the first Christian preacher to have initiated a public furore over his derogatory remarks about other faiths this year. In February, clips of pastor Rony Tan of the Lighthouse Evangelism church, mocking the Buddhist and Taoist precepts of rebirth and nirvana, also stirred strong reactions.
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