I agree with her wholeheartedly on point (1) but I think that point (2) is an unjust and baseless statement made with reference only to personal and anecdotal evidence.

Churches (and indeed all other charitable organisations) should subject their financial books to scrutiny. There are three reasons for this.

(1) This ensures transparency and accountability to the world. Underlying this need is the principle that any organisation that received donations or tithes should account to their donors on how their monies are being used. Donors would then feel assured that a mockery is not being made out of their donations.

(2) This would also serve to build public confidence and trust in these organisations. Public confidence has been eroded since the NKF debacle. Following that incident, it is a right step forward for the Government to push for greater transparency.

(3) Even though churches may feel their pastors are 'Ordained by God', we should ask ourselves: Would any reasonable church thus blindly justify every action by their pastor, be it, inter alia, regarding the use of money or the preaching of doctrine (especially potentially dubious doctrine)? Would churches thus defend their pastors' wrongdoings by telling the public that their pastors are 'Ordained by God'? The bottom line is that whilst pastors are ordained by God, they are not God. We should therefore not blindly grant them social-financial-doctrinal-public immunity on the mere basis of divine ordination.

Dr Lee's second point is less convincing than her first. The problem with anecdotal evidence is that it does not give us a sense of how biased the evidence is. Did Dr Lee bother to find out the experiences of a variety of students or did she base her views solely on the accounts of a few parents?

There is an equation in need of balance: Churches on one hand impart doctrine and teach from the Scriptures. On the other, we young men and women also have to exercise discretion and seek the Scriptures with a prayerful heart. We should not accept church teachings at mere face value, for it is when we delve deeper into it, checking it for doctrinal soundness and reflecting over it that we learn more and become a better person to ourselves, to the church, and to society.

Tang Shangjun