Moses Tay Leng Kong ( zh, t=鄭靈光; born 1938) is a retired Singaporean Anglican bishop. He was the 7th

Bishop of Singapore A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is c ...

from 1982 to 1999 and the first Archbishop of the Province of Anglican Church in South East Asia from 1996 to 2000. Tay was educated in medicine at the

University of Singapore The National University of Singapore (NUS) is a national public research university in Singapore. Founded in 1905 as the Straits Settlements and Federated Malay States Government Medical School, NUS is the oldest autonomous university in the ...

. He practiced medicine in Malaysia for eight years. He was Dean of the Diocese of Singapore (1974-1982). In 1982, Tay was installed as the 7th

. On 2 February 1996, he was installed as archbishop of Province of South East Asia. In early 1982, he was posted as director of the Tan Tock Seng Hospital, following the career path that the Ministry of Health had charted, but a few months later tendered his resignation to be appointed as the Bishop of Singapore.

Philip Jenkins Philip Jenkins (born April 3, 1952) is a professor of history at Baylor University in the United States, and co-director for Baylor's Program on Historical Studies of Religion in the Institute for Studies of Religion. He is also the Edwin Erle S ...

notes that when Tay visited

Stanley Park Stanley Park is a public park in British Columbia, Canada that makes up the northwestern half of Vancouver's Downtown Peninsula, surrounded by waters of Burrard Inlet and English Bay. The park borders the neighbourhoods of West End and ...

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

in the early 1990s, he was deeply troubled by the

totem poles Totem poles ( hai, gyáaʼaang) are monumental carvings found in western Canada and the northwestern United States. They are a type of Northwest Coast art, consisting of poles, posts or pillars, carved with symbols or figures. They are usually m ...

he saw there. He concluded that "as artifacts of an alien religion, these were idols possessed by evil spirits, and they required handling by prayer and

exorcism Exorcism () is the religious or spiritual practice of evicting demons, jinns, or other malevolent spiritual entities from a person, or an area, that is believed to be possessed. Depending on the spiritual beliefs of the exorcist, this may be ...

." Jenkins goes on to suggest that this behavior "horrified the local Anglican church," which "regarded exorcism as an absurd superstition." Tay was involved in founding the Anglican Mission in the Americas in the late 1990s to give support to orthodox Anglicans in North America. He was involved in the consecration of Chuck Murphy and John H. Rogers Jr. as their bishops in 2000. Tay was one of the most outspoken voices in the

Anglican Communion The Anglican Communion is the third largest Christian communion after the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches. Founded in 1867 in London, the communion has more than 85 million members within the Church of England and other ...

in opposition to the theological liberalism of the Episcopal Church of the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

.article on Tay's position
/ref>

Bibliography

Sources

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tay, Moses 1938 births University of Singapore alumni Anglican bishops of Singapore Singaporean Anglicans Singaporean people of Chinese descent Singaporean archbishops Anglican archbishops of South East Asia Living people Anglican archbishops in Asia 20th-century Anglican bishops in Asia 20th-century Anglican archbishops Anglican realignment people