Inter-religious faith

The Straits Times carried a report by Li Xueying on September 3, 2008 titled "Clergy wary of inter-faith talks" which reinforced my doubts on the depth and extent of inter-faith dialogue being promoted in Singapore. My doubts were based on my personal understanding and experiences with the different religions that I had been exposed to. According to the poll by sociologist, Dr Mathew Mathews who is also a Pentecostal church pastor; nearly half of Christian leaders fear such dialogue will compromise their beliefs. He added that the bulk of Christian clergymen in Singapore are apprehensive about inter-faith dialogue. Nearly 50 per cent feared inter-faith dialogue would compromise their religious convictions.






Dr Mathews noted that Christianity in Singapore tends to be conservative, evangelical, "embracing ab exclusivist stance" in viewing other religions. This spills into the clergymen's attitudes towards collaborating with other religions. They fear it would lead to the perception that "all religions are equal". The study sparked a discussion on the extent religions here can tolerate and understand one another. Some were pessimistic. One participant asked: "If religions hold on to that exclusive point of view, there is no hope. Am I right to be depressed ?" Replied Dr Mathews: "Though one holds on to the position that the other is wrong....you can still relate to them on other levels - as a citizen, as a human being, for instance."



Professor Ten Chin Liew, a philosophy don, earlier noted that some differences were simply irreconcilable, for instance those on afterlife and the divinity of Christ. He is "a little sceptical" about whether they can be eliminated. Even when religions share common values such as kindness, it is not possible to "water down", say, the Catholic faith to such general values, he said. "You just have to find common ground on as many issues as you can." That would be an uphill task as a study on 2,700 young people by sociolinguist Phyllis Chew showed that three-quarters of them are tolerant of other religions, but this was seen as "not talking about it" rather than genuine understanding. In response to the various views on further bridging efforts and extent of candid discussion on the differences, Institute of Policy Studies chairman Tommy Koh said Singapore does need to be sensitive when talking about religion.





Incidentally, Dr Mathew Mathews is a visiting fellow at the National University of Singapore's Sociology department; and the forum was organised by the Institute of Policy Studies on September 2, 2008.