Archives for May 2018

Members-only Telegram Chat

27 May 2018 by

Note: Non-current members may join the public chat: https://t.me/chattingwithhumanists

Dear current members of the Humanist Society (Singapore),

We have explored many options to facilitate communicate between members and we will be using Telegram, a features-rich and reliable chat app, for this purpose.

Please fill up the following form to let us know your Telegram username, once we have verified that you are a current member, you will be added to the chat.

Name, Email, Telegram

 
If you are a current paid up member, you can provide your telegram username if you wish to join the members-only chat (periodically updated). You may join our announcement channel https://t.me/humanistsocietysingapore and its public-chat without providing your username.
Cancel

Membership

Membership to the chat group is restricted to current members of Humanist Society (Singapore). The executive committee reserves the right to remove any non-current members and revoke the invitation link to this chat. Current members are members who have paid up their membership dues for the current year, please check with our secretary if you are unsure of your membership status.

Notification Setting

It is recommended that you mute notifications from the Telegram supergroup chat. In case you miss a event broadcast, check the pinned message, website, or facebook.

Announcements

Coconuts: Concern over the meaning of Christmas

26 May 2018 by

Online news website Coconuts wrote about Humanist Society’s statement expressing ‘concern’ over the meaning of Christmas.

The Humanist Society expresses concern about the concern regarding the meaning of Christmas celebrations

Last week, the National Council of Churches (NCCS) have expressed deep concern that the Orchard Road Christmas celebrations are all about Disney properties rather than the Christian meaning of the season itself.

Now, Humanist Society Singapore (HSS) is deeply concerned about the NCCS’s concern through a parodic letter of concern to all Singaporeans, deconstructing the very nature of Christmas to its pre-Christian meaning. It’s by no means an attack on the NCCS, but a droll message of unity that calls for everyone to celebrate the season any way they choose to — in an ethical, humanist manner of course.

In case you’re not up to speed, the NCCS aren’t that happy that Orchard Road’s Christmas light-up has become super commercialized, especially so for this year in the Singapore Tourism Board’s collaboration with the House of Mouse. “The original meaning of Christmas has been effectively buried under the thick layer of this extensive and sophisticated brand promotion exercise,” noted Reverend Dr. Ngoei Foong Nghian, the general secretary of NCCS.

Finding the funny side of the complaint, HSS expressed their own concern by providing a history lesson of sorts about the “deeper meaning” of Christmas. “Do not monopolize December for yourself, NCCS,” the caption accompanying the letter urged on the HSS website.

“We are concerned that the light-up, with a heavy leaning towards emphasis one religion, may detract the historical significance of the days surrounding every December,” wrote the HSS executive community in jest.

“Since Earth stabilized its wobble through the help of its oversized satellite – the moon, and maintaining a 23.5° tilt off the elliptical path around the Sun, the northern hemisphere’s been observing these shortest days of every year since time immemorial. Druids, Pagans, Phoenicians, Egyptians, Arabians, Babylonians, Sumerians, Akkadians, Persians, Indians, East-Asians etc have been observing the rebirth of the winter sun, coining it Winter Solstice, to Saturnalia, to 冬至 (‘winter has arrived’).

In pre-Christian Rome, Saturnalia involved gift giving and the associated role reversal between servants and masters; and other parts of Europe, Yule time and god Odin (雷公 Thor’s father) were celebrated at this same season. The character Santa Klaus was Sinterklaas in Europe, and uncannily based on or imbued with qualities from Odin and Old Man Winter.”

HSS, being a group for local humanists, atheists, agnostics, skeptics and generally non-religious but ethical folks here, would of course be presumed to be anti-religion, but what it noted about Christmas does have some historical truth. The annual festival commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ has pagan origins, with December 25 being the date chose to appropriate festivities by the Romans in honor of the Sun god Sol Invictus. Here, have a nicely animated explanation of Christmas’ unchristian origins.

But HSS is not having a little fun without a point. The message they’re driving is that Singaporeans should celebrate the winter solstice anyway they want to, be it through Christian-appropriate ways or Disney-sanctioned decor.

“All we ask is we all cut down on wastage, reuse wrapping paper, reduce plastics, recycle the old and used, re-gift unwanted gifts; think of, and help the needy and downtrodden; use less sugar in Yule-log cakes, puddings and egg nogs, eat less meat, and refrain from driving when drinking.”

Wise words that we all can abide to. Happy Festivus, everyone.

Featured Articles/Letters, Press

A heart-thumping session

1 May 2018 by

Humanists value the only life we have. Sometimes just a few critical minutes can mean the difference between life and death. On Apr 28, 2018,  a group of women and men responded to our call for the Emergency Preparedness Workshop at People’s Association HQ on King George’s Avenue.

The workshop began with a theory lesson introducing us to the human anatomy and the basics of cardio-pulmonary resuscitation and automated external defibrillators (AED). The class was lively with enthusiastic questions and laughter as the trainer dispelled many TV-inspired myths about the practice of CPR and AED.

Emergency preparedness lesson

After the break, we proceeded to the practical session, breaking up into smaller groups led by individual trainers. It was a very different feeling to get our hands on the training mannequin and AED set, taking turns to perform chest compressions and ventilations (commonly known as mouth-to-mouth).

CPR and AED practical session

The course was provided free of charge by PA as part of its emergency preparedness initiative. Certified trainees are encouraged to participate in community volunteer programmes to keep their skills fresh and current. If you get the opportunity to participate in a course like this, we cannot recommend it enough. Someone’s life could depend on you one day.

Announcements, Blog, Events