by Rev Silas Wong, Treasurer, UUHK

This is the article I shared with the Blessed Minority Christian Fellowship (BMCF) lately. The content relates to my trip to the International Council of Unitarians and Universalists (ICUU) Conference in New York (as delegate for UUHK) and the history of Unitarian Universalism. Sorry, only in Chinese language.

基恩家書（二O一四年二月） 黃國堯

紐約的天氣雪冷時晴，冬日之美景盡現。剛巧舊曆新年來至，我就如遊子般書寫今次家書，以慰藉在遠方的親友。這次來美參加尋道會的國際會議（ICUU ), 遇到不少友善同志的牧者及信徒領袖，也遇上了同志的弟兄牧友，實在喜出望外。UU (Unitarian Universalist) 起源於特蘭西瓦尼亞（Transylvania），現為羅馬尼亞的一部份，卻為昔日匈牙利的領土。由於十六世紀宗教改革，他們卻因自成一派（不接受三位一體，祗信獨一的上帝）地不受天主教甚至抗羅宗（Protestant), 亦即改革派的基督徒的接納而被迫逼。然時至今日，全世界各地都有UU的成立。我在離開傳統教會服事後，便遇到在港成立尋道會的前宣道會弟兄，於是便與他們結緣。他們的存在對我而言便是如LGBT信徒受排斥和傷害，甚至被判為異端，重則被火燒死，輕則打入冷宮。然他們視同志及跨性人士卻情同手足，令我動容。若果要我說三位一體重要抑或獨一真神重要，後者無疑才是信仰的重心，不過透過主耶穌貫通新舊約的時代和聖靈的入住及更新。我想三位一體這教義充滿著奧秘，連神學家也不易理解，我們卻去對不接受者大反特反，如對耶和華見證會及猶太教等的討伐，這是否有點矯枉過正？！

然而，我想更重要的，除以認識獨一真神外，對人類尊嚴和差異者的尊重豈不更為重要嗎？！我想大部份所謂正統的教牧信徒對同志及跨性社群都誤解重重，更常恃勢凌人，凌辱傷害同志信徒不計其數。他們所傳講的所謂愛心是與真實的情況背道而馳，我們難道能視而不見，還要跪地求饒嗎？！因此，為免我們也陷入律法主義的漫漫長夜，我們不得不起來對抗。當然，對抗同時也可以對話，但如在戰爭之中也可進行談判，關鍵便在雙方的誠意。例如現在本港正進行性傾向歧視的立法討論，結果便視乎大家有多少體會和珍視對方，若果各持己見的話，那麼兩敗俱傷便在所難免；故此豁免條例才在考慮之例。

在這馬年新春中，唯願我們自己不自相殘害，也不為反抗傳統教會而彼此動刀兵。我們是君子，不是暴民，不是講佔中要玉石俱焚。我們乃是講道理和道德，但不是祗有你講沒人講的那種自以為是的作風。在此祝大家馬年靈命一馬當先，性傾向立法馬到功成！

Progressive Christian Fellowship (PCF) gathering May 21: "church-state relations in HK" by radio host "Fast Beat" (Cantonese).  Video recording can be found in "Videos" section of our website. 

進思基督徒團契五月廿一日之聚會請來《宗教右派》作者之一「快必」生鬼大談香港政教關係，得罪人多，稱呼人少，嚇得我們也快快在內容撮要之下加句卸責聲明：「講者個人意見」。內容撮要如下，重溫錄影可到本網「短片」區，不看走寶自誤！

上半場：國家神學維護國家極權主義

香港的「全球禱告日」承傳自南非。快必以南非八五年批判種族隔離政策的基督教《契機文件》（Kairos Document）切入，剖析香港的政教關係。文件批評，國家神學協助維持國家極權主義現狀。這仍然適用於當今香港教會。例子包括：播道會港褔堂吳宗文引用羅馬書十三章叫­人順服掌權者。馬時亨與「全球禱告日」強調法律與秩序（law & order），保護建制秩序，無視法律與秩序也可以不公義。《時代論壇》李錦洪鼓吹中立討論國民教育，便容許了政權以洗腦教育壓迫人民。明光社蔡志森對民主存戒心，認為性­小眾打著民主旗號爭取權益。相對地，基督徒民主教室（秘書處性文化學會（關啟文））更支持民主，但這亦意味教室須容忍性文化學會打壓性小眾（這是性政治）。

下半場：折衷式政教分離站在統治者一邊

上年「五區公投」時，播道會港褔堂吳宗文叫人「投白票」打壓，快必於是在港褔堂外搞了個露天崇拜，更寫公開信問播道會吳宗文有否違反會章中之政教分離原則。播道­會陳黔開等與快必對話，說吳宗文講的是道德問題，趕不禮貌出議會。這樣，教會以為堅持保守道德，無形中與建制合作。第二件事。回歸基督精神同盟去了兩次「全球禱告日」。第­二次和平靜默參與也被暴力驅趕，保安施行暴力時還不斷喊著「耶穌愛你」。事後快必與主辦單位全城更新對話，對方只重申法律與秩序（law & order），快必則指出法律與秩序也可以不公義地保護政權。從以上兩件事顯示，香港政教關係是一種折衷式的政教分離，以道德秩序為名，維護建制政權，拒絕負起信徒責任批­評政府之不義。教會應自問，在替人民充權，或在支持統治者把人民去權。

（內容屬講者個人意見，並不代表尋道會或進思基督徒團契之立場）

伸延閱讀：
肥醫生：全球禱告日與信仰皮質盲
http://doctorfat.wordpress.com/2010/05/22/1656/
《基督教正在培育文革時代紅衞兵：拳頭祈禱日》
http://www.inmediahk.net/node/1007173
林忌：吳宗文是賣主的猶大
http://plastichk.blogspot.com/2010/04/blog-post_09.html
張國棟：香港教會會因為政治立場而分裂嗎？
http://www.brilliantforum.org/?p=545
回歸基督精神同盟
http://backtochrist.xanga.com
青台
http://www.hkgreenradio.org

by Rev Silas Wong 黃國堯牧師
Progressive Christian Fellowship (PCF) 進思基督徒團契
http://www.hkflash.com/diary/read.asp?id=silaswong&aid=18800101

今午，我到了旺角香港基督徒學會會址出席了進思基督徒團契舉行的《宗教右派》一書的討論會。這是近期該團契每月一次聚會研讀的書藉。今次請了其中一位作者秦晞輝來分享，他寫的一篇為「宗教霸權關注行動」，內中提及他在二ＯＯ九年在臉書發起遊行，由恩福堂走至明光社，並引起當時社會關注宗教右派的所為。秦現為中大政治與行政學系二年級學生，中小學時都在基督教學校讀書，故對基督教中的權威和順服教導不以為然。另外，團契也請了尋道會人文組召集人虞瑋倩（貓姐）作主持，她曾是浸信會多年會友，後來毅然離教，並成為反對基督教霸權的先鋒之一。　

在是次分享中，大家都把焦點放在基督教叫信徒順服執政掌權的文化，因為權柄是出於神，因此信徒便理所當然地順從。問題是沒有公義和傷害人的宗教及政府權柄，信徒仍要愚忠地順從嗎？就如希德拉殺害無數猶太人及侵略歐洲各國也要接受嗎？所以，要有獨立思考，而不服膺權威，並且要忍受強大的壓力，這才能作個真正敢言的信徒呀！很多教內的人都為著得到政府的利益或地產商的好處而不敢出聲批評，這種埋沒良知的情況比比皆是。

秦晞輝在文章中講說：宗教右派之所以有巨大的影響力，並不是一兩個人的文章，而是因為教會日夜無間的佈道感召。這話一語道破教會洗腦式的訓示，叫信徒失去了敏銳性，就連教會在社會上應有的公義也不顧了。秦在改正教會這般狀況不表樂觀，但世事無絕對，就如今天非洲和中東地區多國的政治變化，也始料不及。

The world should be alerted about this unbelievably horrible reality. In Nigeria, thousands of children are believed, by evangelical Christians, to be demon-possessed "witches" and some of them are tortured to death (1). Rev Helen Ukpabio of the Liberty Gospel Church is an infamous witch hunter. She made films to educate people that child "witches" exist (2). Her church's supporters have invaded a child rights conference (3), during which a humanist anti-superstition educator Leo Igwere's belongings were stolen. Now, Ukpabio has filed a lawsuit in the Nigerian federal court against Igwere for "religious discrimination" (hearing on Dec 17) (4)! A superstition-spreader who most likely indirectly caused multiple child murders brings to court a humane worker who tried to stop those children from being murdered! What on earth can be more absurd!

This terrible thing forced me to reflect on religious faith, Christian faith in particular. Some Christians in Nigeria believed that certain children are demon-possessed witches, and tried to cast out demons to the point of murdering those children. Faith kills. Christians all over the world should reflect on the nature (and danger) of their own religious faith.

You might wonder how that bizarre thing in Nigeria can be related to the faith of Christians in the rest of the world. They are. At the heart of Christianity is a set of supernatural doctrines. A personal God created and is looking after this world. God hears and answers prayers. Bible being the Word of God. Original sin. Jesus is God. Virgin birth. Salvation by crucifixion. Resurrection. Second coming. Eternal life. Satan is real. Spiritual warfare between God and Satan. Satan can possess a human. And more.

If Christians believed these, it follows that a child can be possessed by Satan (demon). If a child is believed to be possessed, why not cast out the demon from the child? If the exorcism failed, why not "deliver" the poor child to "eternal life"? The line of thought is logical. More importantly, the concepts of "spiritual warfare" and demon possession are alive in Western Christians, most notably among charismatics and evangelicals. And Christian exorcism is still being practiced in the West, only not to the degree of murder.

Christianity, following Judaism, has been praising the faith of Abraham in intending to (though being stopped at the last moment) sacrifice his own son upon God's order. By praising Abraham, Christianity indirectly endorses human sacrifice. Abraham might have nothing to do with the situation in Nigeria, but seeing human life as less worthy than faith in God is the same common core value behind. Religious faiths, including Christianity, can be dangerous. The only safeguard is to put universal human rights standard above all religious faiths and all religious authorities, including the Holy Bible. Put it simply, to make the world safer, we must put human life above God.

The Bible says that Satan is real, demon possession is real. The Bible and the Church praise Abraham’s attempted child sacrifice. If you believe that a particular child is being possessed, will you endorse performing exorcism on him/her? Why or why not? If you believe that God demands you to sacrifice your own son, will you obey God out of faith? Why or why not? Is faith a virtue or a vice? Should a believer obey or be critical of religious authorities (Bible, Church, Pope, ministers, the Nigerian children-killing Christian leaders, etc)? These are important questions for all Christians to ask themselves.


尼日利亞：福音派信徒殺害兒童「巫師」

世界應該知道這件令人震慄的可怕事件。在尼日利亞，數以千計的兒童被基督教福音派信徒相信是被魔鬼附體的「巫師」，當中一些兒童甚至被折磨致死（1）。「自由福音教會」牧師海倫．Ukpabio是一個著名的獵巫者。她製作短片宣傳兒童「巫師」的確存在（2）。她的支持者曾闖入一個兒童權利會議搗亂（3），混亂間一位在場的反迷信教育家利奧．Igwere的財物被盜。現在，Ukpabio居然告上尼日利亞聯邦法院，控告Igwere「宗教歧視」，聆訊將於本月十七日展開（4）！世上還有更荒唐的事嗎？一名散播迷信，導致許多兒童被虐待致死的人在法庭控告一個試圖阻止這些兒童被殺害的人道工作者！

這件可怕的事情，迫使我反省宗教信仰，尤其是基督教信仰。有些在尼日利亞的基督徒相信，某些兒童是被魔鬼附體的「巫師」，為他們「趕鬼」，甚至殺害那些的兒童。信仰可殺人！世界各地的基督徒都應該反省他們自己的宗教信仰及其危險性。

你可能認為發生在尼日利亞的恐怖事情與世界其他地方的基督徒的信仰無關。它們實在有極大關係。在基督宗教信仰的核心是一套超自然信念：上帝創造並保守世界；上帝聽禱告；聖經是神的話語；原罪；耶穌是神；處女生子；十架救贖；復活；基督再來；永生；撒旦是真實的；神和撒旦屬靈爭戰；鬼附；等等。

如果基督徒相信這些，自然也相信孩子有可能被撒旦（魔鬼）附體。孩子被鬼附，為何不替他們趕鬼？如果趕鬼失敗，為何不早送孩子入永生？這樣的思路是合邏輯的。更重要的是，「屬靈爭戰」是西方基督徒也相信的，尤其是靈恩派和福音派。西方基督教也有進行趕鬼，只是不至殺人而已。

基督宗教，承繼猶太教，讚揚亞伯拉罕的信心，在上帝的命令之下，打算把自己的兒子獻祭。基督宗教讚揚亞伯拉罕，便間接贊同以活人獻祭。亞伯拉罕或許與尼日利亞的情況無關，但視人的性命低於對上帝的信心，便是兩者背後共通的價值觀。宗教信仰，包括基督宗教，可以是危險的。唯一的保障，就是把普世人權標準置於一切宗教信仰和所有宗教權威之上，包括聖經。簡單來說，使世界更加安全，我們必須把人的生命置於上帝之上。

聖經說撒旦是真實的，鬼附真有其事。聖經和教會讚美亞伯拉罕企圖殺子。如果您相信某個孩子被鬼附，你會否贊同替他趕鬼？為何，為何不？如果你相信上帝要求你犧牲自己的兒子，你會否以信心服從上帝？為何，為何不？信心是一種美德或是一種惡？信徒應該服從宗教權威或批判宗教權威（聖經、教會、教宗、牧師、尼日利亞殺兒童的基督教領袖等）？這些都是所有基督徒要問自己的重要問題。


Notes 註:

1 Saving Africa’s Witch Children (Channel 4)
www.channel4.com/programmes/dispatches/episode-guide/series-8/episode-1
"In some of the poorest parts of Nigeria, where evangelical religious fervour is combined with a belief in sorcery and black magic, many thousands of children are being blamed for catastrophes, death and famine: and branded witches. Denounced as Satan made flesh by powerful pastors and prophetesses, these children are abandoned, tortured, starved and murdered: all in the name of Jesus Christ."

2 End Of The Wicked – Helen Ukpabio www.youtube.com/watch?v=NUeKBibBN0I

3 Helen Ukpabio supporters invade child rights conference in Calabar, Nigeria
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bWktZEj6OZ8 

4 Witch Hunter Takes Humanist to Court (from a CFI email)

In May 2009, the Center for Inquiry (CFI) launched an anti-superstition campaign to highlight and combat the abuse of alleged "child witches" throughout the African continent. Now "witch hunter" Helen Ukpabio, head of the Liberty Gospel Church in Nigeria, has filed a lawsuit in Nigerian federal court against Leo Igwe, CFI's representative in Nigeria.

The events were set into motion on July 29 when a mob of about 150 members from Ukpabio's Liberty Gospel Church attacked Igwe and others during a "Child Rights and Witchcraft" event in Calabar, Nigeria. Police finally broke up the mob and arrested one person. Igwe’s bag, phone, camera, and a copy of his planned speech were stolen and his eyeglasses were smashed.

The complaint filed by Ukpabio essentially alleges religious discrimination on the part of Igwe, who has been a tireless vocal critic of Ukpabio's claims that many of Nigeria's children and women are "witches". The suit, scheduled for a hearing on December 17, is seeking an injunction to prevent Igwe and other humanist groups from holding seminars or workshops aimed at raising awareness about the dangers associated with religious belief in witchcraft. 

(The mission of the Center for Inquiry is to foster a secular society based on science, reason, freedom of inquiry, and humanist values.)

King's God: The Unknown Faith of Dr Martin Luther King Jr
by Robert James "Be" Scofield
Nov/Dec 2009
Tikkun

Although Martin Luther King served as a Baptist minister, this article from Tikkun shows that, as a young man in the liberal Crozer Theological Seminary (1948-1951), King rejected majority of the orthodox Christian doctrines, most central of which is perhaps the deity of Jesus. In The Humanity and Divinity of Jesus, a paper written for the class "Christian Theology Today," King clearly lays out his non-orthodox view on the deity of Jesus:

"The significance of the divinity of Christ lies in the fact that his achievement is prophetic and promissory for every other true son of man who is willing to submit his will to the will and spirit of God. Christ was to be only the prototype of one among many brothers. The appearance of such a person, more divine and more human than any other, and in closest unity at once with God and man, is the most significant and hopeful event in human history. This divine quality or this unity with God was not something thrust upon Jesus from above, but it was a definite achievement through the process of moral struggle and self-abnegation."

A few more King's liberal views on core Christian doctrines:

Virgin Birth. King is frank here: "We of this scientific age will not explain the birth of Jesus in such unscientific terms." Jesus's early disciples saw his "spiritual life so far beyond theirs," explains King, that they believed that Jesus's uniquesness could only be explained biologically. 

Bodily Resurrection. Jesus's followers "had been captivated by the magnetic power of his personality," King writes, which led them to believe that he "could never die."

Second Coming. "It is obvious that most twentieth century Christians must frankly and flatly reject any view of a physical return of Christ," says King boldly. "The final doctrine of the Second Coming is that whenever we turn our lives to the highest and best there for us is the Christ."

Regarding heaven, King understands that it is located here on earth: "When we see social relationships controlled everywhere by the principles which Jesus illustrated in life--trust, love, mercy, and altruism--then we shall know that the kingdom of God is here."

The author, therefore, concludes: "It should not be surprising then that while Dr King served a Baptist church, his first choice of religion was Unitarian Christian (which later merged with Universalism). Coretta Scott had been attending Unitarian churches for years before she met and married Martin, and they both attended Unitarian services while in Boston."

馬丁路德金的神：馬丁路德金的信仰鮮為人知的一面

眾所週知，馬丁路德金是浸信會牧師。但這篇在 Tikkun 刊登的文章說，從他在神學院時的學術論文顯示，年青時的馬丁路德金拒絕了很多正統的神學觀點，當中最核心的要數耶穌的神聖。以下的論文文字清楚解釋他對耶穌神聖的非傳統觀點：

「基督的神聖的意義在於，他的成就，對每個願意服從上帝意志的真正人子，具先導作用。基督只是在眾多兄弟中的一個原型。出現這樣一個比所有人都更神聖和更人性，同時與上帝和人聯合的人物，在人類歷史上是最重要和最充滿希望的事件。耶穌的神聖素質或與神合一，不是從上而下強加的本質，而是透過道德掙紮與自我克制過程而獲得的成就。」

馬丁路德金還有其他自由神學的思想：

童女產子。他說得清楚：「我們這科學時代不再如此非科學地解釋耶穌之出生。」他認為耶穌的門徒經驗耶穌之「靈性遠超凡人」，所以相信唯有與別不同之純潔成孕才能解釋耶穌的獨特性。

身體復活。馬丁路德金如此寫道：耶穌的跟隨者「完全臣服於他的人格力量」，至使他們相信耶穌「不可能死」。

基督再來。他大膽宣稱：「很明顯，大多數二十世紀的基督徒必須坦率地斷然拒絕任何基督身體將再來的想法。」他解釋：「基督再來這教義的意思是，每當我們的生命向最高處邁進，基督便向我們再來。」

至於天堂，他主張地上的：「當我們看到世界各地的社會關係彰顯耶穌在生命中示範的原則—信任、愛、憐憫、利他主義—那麼我們就知道，神國在這裡。」

所以，本文作者如此寫道：「這樣，我們便無需驚訝，雖然金博士在浸信會事奉，他的宗教首選是 Unitarian 基督教（它後來與 Universalism 合併）。他的夫人在認識馬丁之前，多年來都是上 Unitarian 教會的；他倆在波士頓的時候，都是參與 Unitarian 的主日崇拜的。」