There seems to be a lot of news related to religion lately.
The filial piety issue and suspect involved in the Syrian crisis arrested Singapore, the Islamic party holding an anti-Ahmadiyya and anti-democracy rally in Indonesia, the Brunei sultan implementing arab style sharia law and silencing anyone who criticize his decision, the knife attack in China by a muslim group, Christians stirring up controversies regarding the Noah movie in America and the latest execution video out of Syria.
It is no secret that Religion has played a major part in a lot in the world's violence and political news, and I would like to air some of my major concerns.
First, I would like to discuss the dangers of the Abrahamic three religions. If you look into history, majority of the world's religious war and violence involved either Islam, Christianity or Judaism, and other non abrahamic religious violence either have involvement with the Abrahamic three or internally evolved into a cult. What is it about the Abrahamic three that caused so much controversies and violence compared to other recent religions? The answer is actually simple, Politics.
The Abrahamic three, compared to the rest of human religions, are intertwined with Politics. Judaism, Christianity and Islam is not only a religion but a political ideology. They have rules and regulations to control their flock and how to interact with non-believers. They have campaigns, either through evangelicalism or through military subjugation in order to spread their religion/political ideologies.
And these three religion, upon reaching the level of extremism, creates a tribal like mentality. Treating other humans who don't believe in the same religion as you as "out groups" that you can turn into an enemy. That is why you see so much sectarian violence between different faction of muslims in the Middle East, the violent attack to the Ahmadiyya minorities in Indonesia, the ancient Crusade wars and the Catholic - Protestant conflict that lasted for years. This is what happens when religion and politics mix.
This is what concerns me as a Singaporean. Currently, we are in close proximity to a lot of religious politics. We are an Island trying to be secular in the middle of a lot of religious politics in every direction. We have Aceh and Brunei implementing arab style Sharia law. We don't know what kind of ideologies that could stem from these countries who are only a few hundred kilometers away. We also have the Islamic Defenders Front in Jakarta that preaches that democracy, something that we as Singaporeans are striving to achieve in the face of PAP's authoritarian-capitalism regime, is haram and a pathway to hell.
And within Singapore, we are playing host to a lot of profitable Mega Churches holding ludicrous amount of money. Having that much amount of money in a mega church creates a heighten risk of corruption. I don't mean about the Kong Hee saga only, but the risk of Churches using this money to creep into our secular politics. Recently I was informed that NTU had played host to a talk about "Intelligent design" and NUS will be hosting a talk about "Science and Christianity" somewhere in April. What I fear is when "Christian values" makes it into politics, a lot of civil liberties could be compromised. Sex education, rights to abortion and contraception, teaching of the science of evolution and even attitudes towards rape are all being screwed over in America where conservative Christians are holding power.
Do we have any guarantee that religion and politics will not mix here in Singapore as well?
The second issue I want to discuss here is our lack of rights to discuss religion under the guise of "respecting religion." I believe TRS has shared that Singapore have some sort of law that prevents "offending the religious feelings" of others.
Many religious apologists will try to play the "no true scotsman" fallacy and say they are moderates and extremist does not represent them. While it is true that majority of the religious are either peaceful or benign, they are actually acting as a smoke screen for the extremists. What do I mean by that? Well imagine if one of the religion is trying to insert their political ideologies into our secular political system or a religious violence has occurred in close proximity to Singapore. We must tip toe around the religious feelings of the moderates in order to discuss the issue. In some instances tip toeing is impossible leaving the issue undiscussed and unresolved.
If we are to achieve true democracy in Singapore, we must be able to openly discuss issues we are facing and issues in close proximity to our country. We must also make a clear separation of religion and politics in order to maintain a modern secular society.
Well that basically two of my major concerns about religion in Singapore and surrounding countries. The mixing of religion and politics, and our inability of openly discuss the issue without the risk of persecution. I want to hear the thoughts of other Singaporeans about this and if there are other irreligious people out there sharing the same sentiment.
A Young Singaporean Agnostic
TRS Contributor