On March 18, 2016, our President Tatt Si had a cordial discussion with Mohamed Imran Mohamed Taib from Leftwrite Center about what religious people and atheists think of each other, and how religion-atheism relations can be managed in the public sphere. The event was moderated by interfaith facilitator Farid Hamid with Dr Hoon Chang Yau from SMU giving the keynote speech.
This was followed by the two speeches between Tatt Si and Imran. Watch it here:
What do those with religion think of atheism ?
Speaker : Mohamed Imran Mohamed Taib (Co-Founder, Leftwrite Center)
In his speech, Imran called on atheist friends to be “generous with religion and to avoid generalisation”. Speaking in his own capacity as a person of faith and not a representative of all muslims, Imran said spent the first 10 minutes defining religion and the atheism. He also felt that religion exists as a separate category from science. While science provides explanation, religion provides meaning in life.
What does an atheist think of religion ?
Speaker : Tan Tatt Si (President, Humanist Society Singapore)
Tatt si acknowledged that religious people are moral and is grateful that religions have contributed greatly to cultural development. For example, Muslims have helped to take mankind out of the dark ages. However, he felt that religion have caused conflicts along tribal lines. He also found that stories of creation and calamity are copies of each other, and that religions provide answers that cannot be questioned.
This was followed by the QnA:
Note: More speeches will be released in the following weeks. Stay tuned!
