New Creation Church pastor makes fun of Taoist rituals

New Creation Church pastor Mark Ng, who heads the church's Chinese ministry, joked about Chinese rituals and compared praying to Taoist deities to 'seeking protection from secret society gangsters'.



"You know, the police, they like to worship which idol? Guan-Gong! You know, the beard one and the face very red red one and the Guan-do very big big one? The police force Hong Kong worship, then everytime they go out har to catch the thief or robbers they always pray first. But do you know that the gangsters, the secret societies, they also pray to the same Guan-Gong!"

Church pastor apologises
Source: Straitstimes.com

THE Internal Security Department (ISD) has looked into an incident involving the New Creation Church over a 2008 sermon being circulated online that mocks Taoist beliefs.

The 10-minute audio clip was posted on YouTube last Friday. In it, a church pastor, Mr Mark Ng, can be heard joking with the congregation about Chinese rituals; in one instance, he compared praying to Taoist deities to 'seeking protection from secret society gangsters'.

The Ministry of Home Affairs said yesterday in a response to queries from The Straits Times that the church had, on its own accord, contacted YouTube to remove the clip. It has also apologised.

'We are aware of the case. ISD has looked into it and taken up the matter with the New Creation Church.'

In a six-paragraph letter posted on its website on Sunday, New Creation said that Mr Ng, who heads the church's Chinese ministry, did not intend for his comments to be disrespectful to other faiths.

It added that earlier this year, the church had reviewed its archive of sermons and had stopped reproducing that particular sermon and other insensitive content that had been previously sold in the church bookstore.