Christian Anti-Gay Group Teaching Human Rights in Hong Kong

Those of you who wonder why I so strongly oppose groups like the right-wing missionaries brought into Taiwan by the MOE-backed King Car education foundation (blogged previously from a labor standpoint by Scott Sommers) need go no further than the use of a Christian anti-gay group to teach "human rights" in Hong Kong (Taipei Times). I love the last section:

"Following the trend of liberalization, people only emphasize individual rights and ignore one's responsibility and obligation to society," the paper quotes the course outline as saying. "Extreme liberalists always uphold human rights to strike against traditional social values."

"The society hopes, by organizing this program, teachers will understand the true meaning of human rights," it adds.

The same incestuous combination of right-wing cult Christianity and government programs is going on right now here too, with the Ministry of Education's support of the King Car Educational Foundation, which in turn is connected to one of those unscrupulous, expansionist Christian "institutes", the Institute in Basic Life Principles. Do the King Car missionaries teach their students that the Earth is only 6,000 years old as IiBLP apparently believes? Scary stuff. Further, IiBLP says bluntly that this is a "ministry", as it is refered to on their website as Taiwan Ministry opportunities to share God's truth. Scott points out:

The chief instructor of IBLP is Bill Gothard. You can find Mr. Gothard's official webpage here. You might want to take a few minutes to browse through Mr. Gothard's site and appreciate some of his interpretations of a healthy life. These include the health benefits of male circumcision, his belief in arranged marriage, and his statement that God has aided the USA Department of Homeland Security. A Christian colleague I have spoken with about the organization likened them to a cult, but I don't know enough about the group to have an opinion of this sort.

Think they'll show up to teach morals here? I hope not. Taiwan could with fewer red state morals...

He found that the most religious democracies exhibited substantially higher degrees of social dysfunction than societies with larger percentages of atheists and agnostics. Of the nations studied, the U.S. — which has by far the largest percentage of people who take the Bible literally and express absolute belief in God (and the lowest percentage of atheists and agnostics) — also has by far the highest levels of homicide, abortion, teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases.

This conclusion will come as no surprise to those who have long gnashed their teeth in frustration while listening to right-wing evangelical claims that secular liberals are weak on "values." Paul's study confirms globally what is already evident in the U.S.: When it comes to "values," if you look at facts rather than mere rhetoric, the substantially more secular blue states routinely leave the Bible Belt red states in the dust.

Murder rates? Six of the seven states with the highest 2003 homicide rates were "red" in the 2004 elections (Louisiana, Mississippi, Nevada, Arizona, Georgia, South Carolina), while the deep blue Northeastern states had murder rates well below the national average. Infant mortality rates? Highest in the South and Southwest; lowest in New England. Divorce rates? Marriages break up far more in red states than in blue. Teen pregnancy rates? The same.

God save us from moralists.

[Taiwan] [Hong Kong]