Dorhauer is a Conference Minister for the Southwest Conference of the United Church of God. He has co-authored the book ‘Steeplejacking’ which details the war between mainstream religion and right-wing fundamentalists, who use controversial issues such as homosexuality to cause dissent among Christian; with the ultimate aim of taking over churches and secular organizations. He has great expertise in recognizing the signs of such an invasion and recommends methods to successfully counter it. There is an in-depth essay on the takeover of AWARE in this context at here. Being overseas, I regretfully cannot attend the May 2 EGM. Instead I have written this essay in support of the Old Guard and would like to present Dorhauer’s and my own knowledge on this matter.

Dorhauer: There is no doubt that AWARE has been targeted by an orchestrated attack. Please know that all of you are in my prayers - that is the first thing I want you to know. I want to be of help, and wish we had more time to go through some important details, and a better means of carrying on this conversation. What is clear is that the takeover group came in with a great deal of stealth, fully aware of their tactics and agendas and without anyone in the AWARE organization knowing what was coming.

In Australia, my partner is a committee member of a church that was one of many that received mass-mailed letters from Family First, a political party that purports to place family values above all else. The letter sought to provoke the church’s leaders over the so-called ‘homosexual agenda’ that sought to silence their right to preach against homosexuality so that gays would be normalized as part of mainstream society. As people here are generally more accepting, they have had to resort to more alarmist methods. Ms. Josie Lau and her cronies have also distorted facts and used the old AWARE’s supposed promotion of homosexuality to stir up support for themselves. Sounds terribly familiar, doesn’t it? At least they haven’t set up a political party yet.

One of the things that I have learned as a basic principle is that when others use strategies that rely on secrecy and stealth, the smartest thing you can do is broadcast openly and publicly what you learn about them, naming the bullies in a very public way, spelling out as clearly as you can and as publicly as you can the tactics that are discovered.

The media, the old Guard and its supporters have definitely exposed the new exco’s dirty tactics. There are plenty of articles detailing them in full and I do not need to reiterate them again here. This has helped raise supporters for their cause. The leaders in my partner’s church acknowledged that people had differing views on homosexuality, but were quick to announce the paranoia and exaggerations in the content of the letter to the congregation. I would encourage church leaders and supporters of the Old Guard in Singapore to continue to clarify the myths and distortions that are the allegations of the new exco, regardless of the outcome of the EGM.

…if someone from aware could take the floor tomorrow and say something like this: "We have been duped. A group hostile to the core values of AWARE has taken over our organization. Because of their dishonesty, covert tactics, and unChristian behaviors, we were taken off guard. It won't happen again. We will do what we can to discover who is funding their operation, who is teaching them to behave this way, and to build our own strategies to once again take charge of this organization which we built and for which we care very deeply. We are growing aware of how this same tactic is being used by others around the globe. Our mission is too important to leave in the hands of those who are this destructive and who behave in this way. But we are not shy, and we will not lay down just because of what they have done here. I call on all who are committed to the ongoing mission of our organization to join me in this struggle."

We know that Ms. Josie Lau is a vocal supporter of Focus on the Family, a right-wing evangelical organisation based in the US, but registered as a secular one in Singapore. In the US, FOTF supposedly promotes American family values…in Singapore, its website claims to support Asian family values. Yet the conservative anti-gay, anti-feminist stance adopted by both are essentially the same. James Dobson, founder of FOTF in the United States, preaches a doctrine of intolerance towards homosexuality, that women should be submissive, and of harsh parenting techniques, in the name of Christian faith. Due to its claims of being secular, FOTF here has managed to gain itself enough respect in the form of air-time on the radio and a regular column in the Today newspaper, while Lau has managed to run a charity drive benefitting FOTF through DBS. To blend into Singapore society, FOTF gave itself a veneer of secularity that was acceptable in our multi-religious society.

The invasion of Christian fundamentalism in secular Singapore did not start with AWARE, nor will it end with it. Focus on the Family started its work years ago, and organisations such as Action for Aids and other groups that might even remotely deal with homosexual issues had better be alert and brace themselves. Dorhauer and I have seen these continuous attempts at invasion occur overseas, and I doubt that the new exco will stop at taking over AWARE.

Those who have joined AWARE in order to vote against the new exco in the EGM will need to remain alert even if they succeed in ousting them. I predict that the EGM will not be a final showdown, but the start of many such battles to come against infiltration by Christian fundamentalists in the future. I hope we all have the stamina to stand our ground.

I read in the article that the newcomers said it was not important to share their views on homosexuality. That is a clear warning, and a very good way to overcome that is to ask as many questions as you can of newcomers. The organization should be very clear about its own core values, and articulate those to every new member. If they cannot accept the core values, or if they equivocate about them, then they should be approached with caution and suspicion….

What would be more important at this point is having conversation about what strategies can be developed both to take back ownership and leadership of the organization, and to equip leaders to detect the warning signs of potential interlopers…

… it looks as if the leaders of AWARE are on top of this, but it also looks like they may be up against a pretty ominous foe.

Australia and the US have become wise to these stealth tactics, but this is still new for Singapore. Let us continually seek to update ourselves and remain ahead of further underhanded takeover attempts in the future.