Taiwan Church News

3323 Edition

November 2 - 8, 2015

Church Ministry

Violence, Reconciliation And Hope In Ireland As A Reference For Taiwan's Future

Reported by Chen Yi-fan

On November 2 & 3, a joint event of the pastoral studies curriculum of Tainan Theological College and Seminary(TTCS) and Sin-Lau Hospital Theological Lecture, entitled as "Localization and Globalization Of The Church - A Biblical Reflection", is held at Siong-im Hall of TTCS. Rev. Dr. Mark Gray, chief pastor of Ireland's Bannside Presbyterian Church, is invited as the lecturer to deliver his theological thoughts based on the history of Ireland.

In the opening service of this series of lectures, Rev. Wong Chong-gyiau, president of TTCS, reminds the audiencethat contemporary churches need to think deep whether her faith can be practiced as the "body" of Christ, as many churches in 20th century have gone astray from the truth. For example, Hitler was enthusiastically supported by the German church; South African church implicitly agreed the apartheid; American church unbelievably overlooked the racial conflicts around them; Taiwan church is even preposterously coward trying to deliver the political asylum seekers in exchange for the money offered by the authority.

Based on the scripture of Old Testament, Isaiah 58:6~12, Rev. Gray remarks in his first three lectures that this periscope could be applied as a model for the church's prophetic participation into the issues about social justice. It can also be used as a criteria to evaluate how the church of Ireland takes action in her context. In his last lecture, Rev. Gray investigates the violence shown in the Bible and the secular world. He gives his thoughts on the phenomenon why the Christians, be they in Ireland or around the globe, always justify their cruel violence in the name of God?

"Though the Presbyterian Church of Ireland get involved into various social issues today, their positions are quiteconservative", says Rev. Gray, "their religious faith is of no use to shape the society with justice!" Being conservative on social issues, different denomination within the Protestant Christianity stands off against each other on the fundamental creeds. As the Protestant Church in Ireland stresses personal salvation, the sufferings of their Catholic neighbors become invisible.

In the same vein, the southern Ireland established a Catholic-inclined constitution in 1937, controlling the lives ofpeople with quite conservative teachings. For example, if the marriage was mixed up of different denominational faiths, any couple would be discriminated as the second-class citizens. Many Protestants in southern Ireland, therefore, chose to keep silent on this malice code in order to keep their own property and faith.

Rev. Gray reminds the audience that the fate of both Irish Catholics and the Protestant Presbyterians, though reaps some power and privileges in modern Irish history, is still discriminated by the British government. This is because they do not share their freedom and embrace each other after they got the power, but keep digging trench to keep them apart. And this is a problem deserves our deliberate thoughts to solve it.

Translated by Peter Wolfe