Free Community Church - Living Water Cell Group for Gay Men (Jan 9)

living water started on 15 Jul 2005 as a support group for gay men who
want to find out more about what the Bible says about homosexuality.
since then living water has gone through 6 cycles and the members from
the first “trilogy” has gone on to form a cell group.

we are starting on living water vii (yes 7!), and we are inviting guys
who are interested join us.

many of us are still struggling to reconcile our sexuality with our
faith. many seek to escape from this struggle by not confronting it,
and burying it deep within. some of us stop attending church. some of
us lead double lives.

it is not an easy journey, and there are no simple answers. i know, i
am still journeying too. but being a Christian is not a destination;
it is a journey, a pilgrimage.

If you are a gay Christian and keep wandering in a wilderness
wondering whether God can ever accept you, we welcome you to join us.
Please also extend this invitation to struggling gay Christians you
may know. They need a safe space to work through their questioning.

We have named the group Living Water in honor of the warm and honest
encounter between Jesus and the Samaritan woman.

Session Info: For the first six sessions, we welcome new members to
join in. As the topics from Session 7 onwards are more private, we
will not take new members into the support group. If you want to go
through the fundamentals - the six Biblical passages and the various
areas we are going to touch on, we welcome you.

we meet every friday at zion road, near great world city at 7:30pm.

please contact me at miak@pacific. net.sg for details

ST: Local blogs being added to S'pore's historical archives (Jan 7)

Local blogs being added to S'pore's historical archives
by Keith Lin, Straits Times, Jan 7, 2008

HOME-GROWN blogs are making history, literally.

The National Library Board (NLB) is adding blogs to Singapore's historical archives as part of its efforts to retain a comprehensive record of online content.

In all, the library aims to archive some 100 blogs by the end of the year.

Eleven have been selected so far, ranging from offerings such as Air-Conditioned Nation (http:// cherian.blogspot. com) by media academic Cherian George, to the satirical Mr Brown (www.mr brown.com).

Mr Raju Buddharaju, the library's director of digital resources and services, described blogs as an 'invaluable' source of news and social commentary for
the present and future generations of Singaporeans.

'Content from blogs often offers views which would otherwise not be accessible from mainstream media,' he said.

Even so, the library is selective when it comes to deciding which blogs to archive.

Only those produced by individuals who are recognised experts in their respective fields of knowledge, famous personalities or award-winning blogs will be considered, Mr Raju said.

The library will take digital snapshots of the selected blogs at least once a year and post their contents on its web archive - available at www.nlb.gov. sg. Access is open and free to the public.

Assistant Professor Lim Sun Sun, who teaches new media studies at the National University of Singapore, described the NLB's efforts as 'far-sighted' .

'This affirms the importance of blogs in adding to the public sphere and contributing to the growth of public discussion,' she said.

The move towards an official repository of blogs marks the second phase of the NLB's efforts to document online media.

Its web archiving project, which began in October 2006, targeted websites initially. So far, around 25,000 local websites of social and historical value have been recorded.

The NLB's eventual goal is to archive most, if not all, websites in the .sg domain - which are those registered here - by 2010.

Archiving of online material is not unique to Singapore. China and Japan have similar archives, and popular search engines Google and Yahoo also archive selected free online news articles.

Yawningbread. org, a prominent blog championing gay rights, is also being archived by the NLB. The blog's founder Alex Au said he is 'honoured' to be included.

'It shows that the Government considers even blogs known for their dissenting articles as valuable material for our future generations, ' he said.

Said Dr George, who has three blogs looking at various aspects of Singapore media and politics in the archives: 'This is not about the authorities giving legitimacy to individual blogs.

'It is part of a welcome movement in Singapore to recognise the value of multiple perspectives in telling the Singapore story.'

DPA: Blogs added to Singapore's historical archives (Jan 7)

Singapore - Blogs are being added to Singapore's historical archives as part of the National Library Board's move to retain a record of online content, news reports said Monday.

The library is aiming to archive 100 weblogs, so-called blogs, produced by individuals who are recognized experts in their fields of knowledge, famous personalities or award-winning blogs, by the end of this year.

'Content from blogs often offers views which would otherwise not be accessible from (mainstream) media,' The Straits Times quoted Raju Buddharaju, director of digital resources and services, as saying.

He described blogs as an invaluable source of social commentary for present and future generations.

The NLB's eventual goal is to archive all websites in the .sg domain, which are those registered in Singapore, by 2010, the report said.

Eleven have been selected so far. Among them is Yawningbread.org, a prominent blog championing gay rights by Alex Au, the blog's founder. Another is Air-Conditioned Nation by media academic Cherian George.

China and Japan have similar archives of online material.

The NLB's archiving project started in October 2006. It has recorded 25,000 Singapore websites of social and historical value.

FCC Service - Speaker: Susan Tang (Jan 6)

SUNDAY SERVICE (ENGLISH)
6 Jan 2008 (Sun) - 10.30am

FCC Main Hall
56 Geylang Lor 23
Level 3, Century Technology Building
All are welcome!

Speaker
SUSAN TANG
Vision Sunday

Special Guest Vocalist - MELVIN TAN

Worship Leader - VICTOR LEE
Vocals - NATHAN GUO, LIONG WAILING
Keyboards - TBC
Guitars - NATHAN GUO
Drums - JIMMY
Sound - LUO QING LONG
Video - VERON TAN
Prayer - MIAK SIEW
Communion - CYRUS HO
Service Pastor - JORG DIETZEL

AP: Tens of Thousands Rally in Spain in Defense of Traditional Family (Jan 2)

Tens of Thousands Rally in Spain in Defense of Traditional Family

Tens of thousands of people in predominantly Roman Catholic Spain rallied Sunday in Madrid to defend the traditional family in a country where the government has legalized same-sex marriage and facilitated divorce.

The crowd roared when Pope Benedict XVI appeared on giant TV screens in a live hookup from St. Peter's Square in Vatican City, praising the crowd.

The pope, speaking during the traditional noon Sunday Angelus prayer, said the family is ''based on the unbreakable union of man and woman and represents the privileged environment where human life is welcomed and protected from the beginning to its natural end.''

''It is worthwhile to work for the family and marriage because it is worthwhile to work for the human being, the most precious being created by God,'' the pope said, speaking in Spanish. He urged parents to bring up their children with respect for the moral values that give dignity to human life.

It was Benedict's latest appeal for the traditional family, a central theme of his papacy. The Vatican has campaigned against proposals to legalize same-sex marriage and denounced Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero's government for passing a law recognizing such unions.

The rally filled a central intersection, Plaza de Colon, and spilled over into neighboring streets. No crowd estimates were available.

The president of the Spanish Bishops Conference, Ricardo Blazquez, said the term ''traditional family'' often is interpreted as an anachronism.

But, he said, the traditional family ''is rooted in human nature itself.''

''Its validity is a thing of yesterday, today, and tomorrow,'' he said. (Daniel Woolls, AP)

Fridae.com: Australia to get second lesbian parliamentarian (Jan 2)

australia to get second lesbian parliamentarian
News Editor

Senator-elect for Western Australia Louise Pratt has become the second openly lesbian woman - after Climate Change Minister Penny Wong - to serve in newly-elected prime minister Kevin Rudd's administration.

Louise Pratt, a former Western Australia Legislative Council member, will take up her Senate seat in July this year. She had notably become the youngest woman ever elected to the Western Australia Legislative Council at the time of her election in 2001.

Having served as a regular spokesperson for prominent advocacy group Gay and Lesbian Equality in WA before her appointment to the Legislative Council, the 35-year-old Labor Party member has been credited for playing a significant role in a gay and lesbian law reform committee that pushed for the passage of the Acts Amendment (Lesbian and Gay Law Reform) Act 2002. It is considered to be some of the most progressive laws in the country. The reforms included a complete ban on discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, the granting of the right for same-sex couples to adopt children, a lowering of the age of consent from 21 to 16, the right for same-sex couples to inherit from a deceased partner, and the repeal of legislation which had made it an offence to promote homosexuality in schools.

Pratt was quoted as saying in the gay Sydney Star Observer that law reform for same-sex couples and GLBT individuals would be high on her agenda and has vowed to ensure that her party makes good on its promise to implement all 58 federal laws which discriminate against gays and lesbians.

“It is very exciting to be coming in with the change in government,” Pratt said.

“I think we can already begin to see how different the political landscape is going to be. With (former PM) John Howard gone, we have a much less conservative Opposition leader as well as a Labor government.”

Defending her party’s resolve to reform gay and lesbian laws nationally, she said, “I can only go from my experience. At a State level, we promised we would reform the law and we did.”

“We have committed to changing the laws at a national level, and Kevin Rudd is already asking his Cabinet colleagues to pursue election promises.

“The proof will be in the pudding, and I look forward to having that dialogue with the lesbian and gay community as we undertake the reform agenda.”

Her other key policy interests as stated on her web site include environmental issues; refugees, minority and gender equity issues; social, economic and environmental sustainability; and family policy, including child welfare, adoption, childcare and life work family balance.