READING:
1. What is the main idea of this reading? Summarize in a sentence or two.
2. What does Cole say is driving opposition to gay marriage in Taiwan
3. Cole compares these Christians to a terrorist organization. In what ways does he say are they like a terrorist organization?
4. Why does Cole say the government listens to such individuals?
Intensifying
efforts to block same-sex marriage regulations and to promote chastity in
Taiwan are led by a loose coalition of evangelical groups with worrying ties to
extremist Christian organizations in the U.S.
One of
the things we did when I was an intelligence officer was something called “link
analysis,” which consisted of establishing a full picture of the ties that
bound individuals, groups, organizations, and firms, to our targets. By doing
this, we hoped to obtain a fuller understanding of where indoctrination,
orders, and money were coming from, while enlarging the scope of our
investigation if our targets met other suspect individuals. While we could
never hope to have a complete picture of, say, a terrorist organization, it
drove home the fact that contemporary terrorist groups tend to be complex and
use many fronts to achieve their objectives.
Fast-forward
more than a decade, and I find myself once again attempting to establish a
picture of another entity that, in some but radically different ways, also
threatens society. This time, my endeavors were prompted by the campaign
against amendments to Article 972 of the Civil Code, which would legalize
same-sex unions in Taiwan, and the disgraceful actions of many participants at
the Happiness of the Next Generation Alliance rally on Nov. 30 against same-sex
marriage.
What
drove me to pursue the matter was the fact that the most sustained and strident
opponents of homosexual unions in Taiwan were individuals who were closely
associated with Christian churches here. The deeper I dug, the clearer it
became that ordinary Taiwanese either didn’t care one way or another, or in
fact supported the amendment (about 53%). Those who were vocal in their
opposition overwhelmingly belonged to Christian churches, and their ideology
sounded oddly similar to that which one encounters in the most conservatives of
U.S. (southern) states. In other words, despite claims by the Alliance that
homosexuality and same-sex marriage were “Western imports,” it was becoming
increasingly evident that the real foreign imports were in fact their
intolerant views and the arguments they used to “warn” society about the ills
that would befall it should 972 be amended.
I have
now spent weeks “link analyzing” the Alliance, and have made some of my
findings public in previous articles on the subject. The more I delve into
this, the more I am reminded of loose organizations like al-Qaeda (disclaimer:
I do not intend to imply that the Alliance is a terrorist organization; the
analogy refers strictly to structure). Those who have taken the lead in Taiwan
opposing same-sex unions — and interestingly, in spearheading True Love efforts
to promote chastity in high-schools — are all part of a loose network whose
epicenter can be traced back to ultra-rightist evangelical Christian
organizations in the U.S. Many of the leading religious individuals here
received training in divinity with groups like the round-the-clock prayer
International House of Prayer (IHOP) and the Wagner Institute — two recurrent
standouts in my research — before returning to Taiwan to spread a rigidly
theistic and zero-sum version of Christianity that involves a blend of magic,
cultism, and let’s be frank, homophobia.* Theirs is a spiritual battle to
Christianize the world by spreading the gospel in every corner of society, from
schools to the workplace, our bedrooms to government (IHOP University’s mission
statement is to “equip and send out believers who love Jesus and others
wholeheartedly to preach the Word, heal the sick, serve the poor, plant
churches, lead worship, start houses of prayer, and proclaim the return of
Jesus [my italics]”). The Kingdom Revival Times, a rather useful resource, is
full of news articles about IHOP members, including Jerry Chow (周吉仁),
being invited to address congregations in Taiwan.
This is
where the al-Qaeda analogy becomes useful. It would be invidious to accuse,
say, IHOP of directly involving itself in legislative decisions in Taiwan. It
doesn’t need to, as it has indoctrinated foot soldiers to do so on behalf of
its doctrinaire view of the world. This is very similar to many of the
terrorist organizations that sprang up all over the world following the Sept.
11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the U.S. and after the U.S. invasion of
Afghanistan. Although most of those offshoots subscribed to al-Qaeda ideology,
and many of their leaders and foot soldiers had at some point received training
in al-Qaeda camps, al-Qaeda central had little direct say over what those
organizations did. Most of the time, their actions served al-Qaeda’s grand
purpose, though admittedly they sometimes undermined the cause. Regardless, the
loose structure of the “alliance” made establishing a full picture of the
constellation a near impossibility.
On a
smaller scale, the same can be said of the overlapping evangelical Christian
organizations across the U.S. that advocate hardline views on homosexuality,
abortion, and “intelligent design” (creationism), which extend tentacles in
government, courthouses, universities, and the media.
This
structure is now being replicated in Taiwan, and I suspect, across Asia. And as
in the U.S., they have been recruiting wealthy individuals and government
officials in positions of influence to push policies that ill reflect the
wishes of the moderate majority. There is now in Taiwan a cross-pollinating (no
pun intended) constellation of Christian churches and bible study centers that
recruit, train, and indoctrinate Taiwanese, who are then encouraged to spread
the gospel. Conduct Google searches on almost any of them or their leaders —
the Bread of Life Christian Church, Agape Christian Church, Top Church, New
Life (yes, Ted Haggard), Impact Bible School, Asia for Jesus, “Workplace House
of Prayer” — and you will eventually unearth connections to IHOP, Wagner, and
other religious organizations that all share the characteristics of cults.
Despite
the relatively small number of its members, this loose alliance tends to punch
above its weight, perhaps because of the tendency of society and governments to
bend over backwards to make sure we show no disrespect to religion (in fact I
suspect that this may be one of the reasons why police officers stood by on
Nov. 30 as Alliance members blocked and surrounded proponents of same-sex
marriage in a public space). Those groups have infiltrated the halls of
government and our schools, encouraging high-school children to sign a pledge
to chastity until marriage (science demonstrates that such efforts have failed
miserably) or forcing upon them literature on the alleged dangers of homosexual
unions. Such efforts will only intensify as the groups further consolidate
their presence in Taiwan.
Scary
stuff.
* I
doubt that organizations like IHOP would be able to indoctrinate Taiwanese
minds to the same extent as, say, in Uganda, where their rhetoric has reached
levels of encouraging people to kill homosexuals. Among other things, their
reach in Taiwan is hampered by socio-economic conditions, not to mention
education levels, that differ markedly from those seen in countries like
Uganda, where missionary and humanitarian work serve as the entry point to
proselytizing. It is difficult to imagine Taiwanese, even those who oppose
same-sex marriage on religious grounds, being receptive to calls to kill
homosexuals or imprison them for life. Limitations notwithstanding, cultish
groups like IHOP can do severe harm to modern societies like Taiwan by
spreading intolerance and irrationalism.
++++++++++++++++
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2018/04/19/2003691592
1990 version
https://books.google.com.tw/books?id=1LmEC1b1bncC&printsec=frontcover&dq=the+passions+of+the+cut+sleeve&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwinls_I2-jaAhXBGZQKHeheB9QQ6AEILTAB#v=onepage&q=the%20passions%20of%20the%20cut%20sleeve&f=false
1992 version
https://books.google.com.tw/books?id=2a0wDwAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=the+passions+of+the+cut+sleeve&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwinls_I2-jaAhXBGZQKHeheB9QQ6AEIJzAA#v=onepage&q=the%20passions%20of%20the%20cut%20sleeve&f=false
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