Singapore City Harvest Church pastor charged over funds

[canada-man]

them religious types sure love money don't they? more reason why they should be taxed

The founder of one of Singapore's richest churches has been charged for misuse of church funds.

Pastor Kong Hee is accused of appropriating up to S$24m ($18.8, £12m) to fund the singing career of his wife, Ho Yeow Sun (also known as Sun Ho).

He faces a lengthy jail term if found guilty, local media reported.

Four other executives of the City Harvest Church have also been charged, following a two-year investigation.

The five, who were arrested on Tuesday, have been offered bail of S$500,000 each. Their passports have also been impounded and they have been suspended from their duties.

Mr Kong and church board member John Lam Leng Hung face three charges of criminal breach of trust.

The other three church executives face charges of criminal breach of trust and falsifying accounts. They are due back in court on 25 July.

Mr Kong and his wife have always maintained that her pop music career is a way of reaching out to non-Christians.

Jordanian family values

Teen forced to marry rapist


Amman - The ordeal of a 14-year-old girl who was kidnapped and raped repeatedly for three days has infuriated Jordanians, especially when her attacker agreed to marry her to avoid going to jail.

In conservative Muslim societies like Jordan, rapists can walk free thanks to penal code Article 308, known as the “rape-law.”

In April, the unidentified girl was shopping in the northern city of Zarqa when a 19-year-old man kidnapped her, took her to the desert where he had a pitched a tent and raped her for three consecutive days, judicial sources said.

Police found the girl during a routine patrol, drove her back to her family home and arrested the man.

Within days news emerged that the boy had agreed to marry the girl, while all charges against him have been dropped.

Earlier this month, another girl, aged 15, was talked into following a young man to an empty apartment in Amman where she was also raped.

Judicial sources say the young man is now desperately trying to work out an arrangement with her family to marry her, to avoid going to jail.

Article 308 allows rape charges to be dropped if the perpetrator agrees to marry the victim. He cannot divorce the woman for five years.

“This article of the law not only helps perpetrators walk free, it rewards them by allowing them to marry their victims, who get punished... for God knows what,” Nadia Shamrukh, head of the Jordanian Women's Union, told AFP.

“By applying this law, another crime is committed. How can this 14-year-old girl, who is a minor anyway, marry her rapist? Can you imagine this?”



http://www.iol.co.za/news/world/teen-forced-to-marry-rapist-1.1329800#.T-w-zpF_Q9Y

 

[Aardvark154]

Only C-M one bad apple hence we should trample over religious freedom.

By the way the entire tone of the Jordanian article seems to be change the law.

 

[elmo]

Only C-M one bad apple hence we should trample over religious freedom.

By the way the entire tone of the Jordanian article seems to be change the law.

Religious freedom?? The poor girl must now marry a man who raped her and cannot divorce for five years. She is stuck with a violent attacker and it appears has no recourse as long as he can reach a deal with her family. It's barbaric and has nothing to do with religious freedom.

 

[rld]

Religious freedom?? The poor girl must now marry a man who raped her and cannot divorce for five years. She is stuck with a violent attacker and it appears has no recourse as long as he can reach a deal with her family. It's barbaric and has nothing to do with religious freedom.

Psst...I think Ardie is referring to the money case. The problem is that greed or theft is not causally connected to religion. His suggestion is similar to the idea of putting all men in jail because some mean beat their wives.

Clearly the criminal code of Jordan could use some improvements.

 

[Mencken]

Psst...I think Ardie is referring to the money case. The problem is that greed or theft is not causally connected to religion. His suggestion is similar to the idea of putting all men in jail because some mean beat their wives.

Clearly the criminal code of Jordan could use some improvements.

The church money scam case appears to be simply a crime. As long as the laws of Singapore cover that sort of thing, which I suspect they do, then the case will be resolved.

The Jordanian case is an illustration of the problem of mixing religious and secular laws...or having a non-secular society in general. This idea of a rapist getting off by marrying the victim comes from the Bible as well as from Islam...so I wouldn't point fingers too far. And it is an example of why I hope we are able to retain a secular society and not step back into some sort of theistic one.

 

[Aardvark154]

This idea of a rapist getting off by marrying the victim comes from the Bible as well as from Islam...so I wouldn't point fingers too far.

So under English Common Law (and feel free to include the U.S.A., Canada, Australia and New Zealand) how long has it been since marrying your victim (save in some rare Statutory Rape cases involving honest to gosh couples close in age) resulted in Rape charges being dropped?

Further, as the article was written it seems to me that the point was that a great many people in Jordan feel that the time has come for the law to be changed.

 

[hairyfucker]

I think it should be simple. You rape - you get raped and not by who you choose to be raped by.

 

[rld]

The church money scam case appears to be simply a crime. As long as the laws of Singapore cover that sort of thing, which I suspect they do, then the case will be resolved.

The Jordanian case is an illustration of the problem of mixing religious and secular laws...or having a non-secular society in general. This idea of a rapist getting off by marrying the victim comes from the Bible as well as from Islam...so I wouldn't point fingers too far. And it is an example of why I hope we are able to retain a secular society and not step back into some sort of theistic one.

On both points I agree completely. I am all for the separation of church and state, particularly in policy matters, and definately in criminal justice.

 

[blackrock13]

I think it should be simple. You rape - you get raped and not by who you choose to be raped by.

So an eye for an eye, how medieval of you.