Videos: Religion and Atheism: A Conversation (Round 1)

19 April 2016 by

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!

Blog, Press

On creationism: MOE’s reply to a concerned parent

8 April 2016 by

A concerned member of the public, Mr Martin Piper, has written to the Ministry of Education (MOE) after a church pastor, Mr Lawrence Khong from Faith Community Baptist Church, said in a recent video that evolution is an example of a “deception from the devil.” Here’s an excerpt of what Mr Khong said about evolution in the 2.5-minute video:

“Every day we are subjected to a worldview that is a real deception from the devil. For example, I mean the world is telling us that evolution is a fact, undisputable. It is taught in schools. But the fact of the matter is I will be exploring with you that you could hardly find any evidence of true evolution. And in fact, evolution is based on faith and not facts.  In fact, if we study the different theories, we find that creation has the most evidence to show us that indeed there is a God who created us.”

MOE has since replied to Mr Piper and he has shared the correspondence with us.

* * *

Mr Piper wrote to MOE:

In this video the pastor Lawrence Khong says evolution taught in school is the work of the devil, that it isn’t based on facts and that his creation myth has the most evidence. I think these kinds of anti-science messages are against proper fact based education and work against the economic interests of Singapore. What in the ministry doing to combat these dangerous anti-science messages and to instead promote real scientific progress?

MOE’s reply:

Dear Mr Piper,

The science topics taught in our schools are selected carefully to ensure that current thinking and developments in science are covered adequately and accurately in age-appropriate ways. The teaching of science in Singapore schools aims to enable students to evaluate evidences and claims critically, and appreciate the impact of science and technology on society. This holistic development of scientific knowledge, skills and attitudes in our students will strengthen their scientific literacy, so that they are able to make informed decisions about scientific claims they may encounter in their daily life. It is with this consideration that the concept of adaptation and evolution is taught across various levels in our science curriculum.

Thank you for your interest on this issue.

Mr Piper’s reply:

Thank you for your reply. If someone demanded that “creation science” or other similar creation myths must be taught in schools, would you be able to confirm that their request would be denied?

MOE’s reply:

Dear Mr Piper,

Such concepts are not in the syllabus.

* * *

Mr Piper is probably not the first person to express such concerns. There is active movement to promote creationism in Singapore, leading to fears that creationists could push for the teaching of creationism or intelligent design in local science classes.

For example, local creationists have written letters to the press attacking evolution and promoting creationism. Talks on creationism were also held on school campuses through religious CCAs. One recent example is a creationist talk in NTU. A prominent historic church, St Andrew Cathedral, is also active in promoting creationism. The Australian-based Creation Ministries International has also been conducting regular talks on creationism in Singapore.

Blog

A short introduction to humanism

4 April 2016 by

We are in the midst of producing videos to explain humanism to the Singapore public, as well as introduce some of the work done by the Humanist Society. Last year, we formed a five-person film crew to draft scripts, pool camera equipment and provide post-production editing. This video is produced in December with the help of That Moment photography studio and released on March 2016. 

In this video, our founder Paul Tobin explains what is humanism. It is a democratic and ethical life stance, which affirms that human beings have the right and responsibility to give meaning and shape to their own lives. It stands for the building of a more humane society through an ethic based on human and other natural values in the spirit of reason and free inquiry through human capabilities. It is not theistic, and it does not accept supernatural views of reality.

Find out even more about the society in this video!

Announcements, Blog

Open letter to Lawrence Khong

1 April 2016 by

Dear Mr Khong,

We at the Humanist Society (Singapore) are writing to express our interest in and amusement with your April series of sermons.  Following your support for the Catholic Church in condemning Madonna’s concert as “immoral values promoted by the secular world”, we in the “secular world” find ourselves again at your ire.  We are pleased that we have joined the illustrious ranks of American pop singer Madonna in attracting your ire.

We recognise that as Singapore is a firmly secular society, and promotes freedom of religious expression and multi-cultural harmony, you and your church are completely free to express your views. In this spirit of free expression and interfaith exchange, our Society would be very pleased if you would include our speakers at your talks : “The Deception of Darwinism” & “No God, No Good or Bad”.

As you may be aware, the Humanist Society (Singapore) is a society which promotes, among other things, living a rational life and embracing scientific enquiry. Among our members are several science researchers, science educators and other persons with a passion for science and nature. We believe our members would have much to contribute to a discussion about Darwinism and evolution.

“The Deception of Darwinism” – we have at least four representatives, a biologist, an anthropologist (likely from NUS Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum), a medical doctor and a general scientist who would be greatly interested in deliberating with your speakers. We have celebrated Darwin Day for the past six years to highlight the importance and wonder of the science and nature, and we are well familiar with the internationally accepted work of Darwin in explaining science. Imagine, modern medicine and antibiotics developed based on Darwin’s theory of evolution and has saved countless lives – that is a real feat for Charles Darwin’s work!

“No God, No Good or Bad” – our founding President Paul Tobin is well qualified to speak on this, as the author of the celebrated book “The Rejection of Pascal’s Wager: A Skeptic’s Guide to Christianity“. Paul is well versed with the Bible; his thoughtful analysis of the Bible’s many contradictions will surely add a different flavour to your sessions.

We were also contemplating to attend “The Stars reveal the Truth”, but prefer to be earthbound, as all good humanists know that there is only one life on this Earth and we should make the very best of it.

As a token of our appreciation, and to facilitate Interfaith dialogue, our Society will reserve five places for the Faith Community Baptist Church congregation in our upcoming World Humanist Day (a paying event) conference in June.

At World Humanist Day, we celebrate the values of humanism: of upholding the dignity and value of each human being, of respecting the choices of the individual. We celebrate that we have but one brief life on this planet Earth, which we live to the fullest and the best, backed with reason and science, and compassion for ourselves and our fellow beings. We are sure these are values which resonate strongly with you and your congregation, and we do hope to see you there.

Executive Committee
Humanist Society (Singapore)

Announcements, Blog

SIX-SIX: Keeping the faith with the faithless

29 March 2016 by

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SIX-SIX News, an independent media outlet in Singapore, wrote a feature about the rising number of non-religious Singapore residents. They interviewed one of our members, Pearl Lin, as well as Leftwrite Center member Mohamed Imran Mohamed Taib with regards to relations between the religious and non-religious. Read more here:

http://www.six-six.com/article/keeping-the-faith-with-the-faithless-atheistic-agnostic

An excerpt from the article:

The choice between identifying as an atheist and an agnostic can be a fraught one. Pearl Lin says that for a long time she was on the fence, but counts herself as an agnostic. She considers herself first and foremost, though, as a humanist.

“It’s basically believing in the basic goodness of people,” she explains. The 22-year-old student is an executive committee member of the Humanist Society (Singapore). The organisation has been around since 2010 and currently has around 150 members who are atheists, agnostics, freethinkers and humanists.

The ‘humanist’ tag is more palatable than the ‘atheist’ one, it would seem. “It sounds a little less aggressive. If you say you are an atheist, people have this preconceived notion of what an atheist is. People just think you are completely against religion and so I think they are more comfortable with our identifying as humanists because a lot of people are not sure what it is. 

“And from there you can kind of educate them on the meaning and tell them that basically we’re just a bunch of people who believe in reason and science, and also that we do not need organised religion to tell us what is right or wrong.”

Press

ST: Youth in Singapore shunning religion

21 March 2016 by

The Straits Times has published a feature on the rising number of non-religious youth in Singapore, quoting several academics, religious leaders and one of our members. Our organisation was also mentioned for our efforts at interfaith dialogues as a voice for the non-religious, which tend to be “excluded and forgotten”.

http://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/youth-in-singapore-shunning-religion

Points brought up by academics and religious leaders:

  • The rise in is in tandem with an increasingly educated, and more common for individuals who grew up in families where religion was already nominally practised.
  • Traditional religions have also been slow to engage young people and help them appreciate their faith.
    Change in attitudes among the young, who have become more independent in their thinking.
  • Exposure to range of ideologies, which results in a spectrum of views within the non-religious category.
  • Relative stability of a country also means there is less concern about the future because the present is “non-threatening”. Less incentive to look to religion for divine intervention or for security.
  • Multi- religious make-up of Singapore and the open-door policy of religious institutions here facilitate “shopping” for a religion.
  • Some young people could also be identifying more with liberal ideologies that clash with religious teachings on topics such as homosexuality.
  • High-profile failures of institutional religions to uphold their credibility as a moral voice, which may also have turned some people away from religion.
Press

TODAY: More studies needed on non-religious demographic

11 March 2016 by

Following the release of General Household Survey 2015 report that showed more Singapore residents not identifying themselves with any religion, we have written a letter to TODAY Voices responding to academics’ views that non-religious residents could still be religious, and at the same time calling for more studies on the non-religious demographic.

Here’s the letter published on TODAY: http://www.todayonline.com/voices/more-studies-needed-non-religious-demographic

If URL is not working, you may refer to our unedited letter:

More studies needed on non-religious demographic

The Humanist Society (Singapore) read with interest the article published in TODAY on 9 March (“More S’pore residents not identifying themselves with any religion: General Household Survey 2015”).

The findings of the General Household Survey 2015 report revealed that more Singapore residents are not identifying themselves with any religion, compared with the situation six years ago.

We note that two academics, Mathew Mathews and Tan Ern Ser, offered some views regarding this shift in the numbers. Dr Mathews suggested that Singapore residents may still hold religious views while lacking a formal religious affiliation. Dr Tan speculated that among “religionists”, they may move towards fundamentalism as a response to secularisation.

The HSS would like to add our perspective to this discussion. This development definitely warrants greater in-depth research into the reasoning of the demographic which professed to be “non-religious”. Drawing from our experience, the HSS is comprised of over 100 members, the vast majority of whom have no religious affiliations and no religious beliefs. Our members instead aim to live our lives according to secular values such as compassion, rationality and reason.

As regards the increasing secularisation in Singapore and elsewhere, this can only be a positive trend. As the HSS has often pointed out, secularism is the only model that can work for a culturally diverse country such as Singapore. A country which safeguards its secular public space, is the best form of society for people with all faiths and none, to gather and contribute for the greater good of the country. In contrast, it is a common occurrence that religious fundamentalism is a sad symptom of negative socio-economic circumstances or political conflict. One need only look to the examples of various countries – Boko Haram in Nigeria, the Lord’s Resistance Army in Uganda and most recently ISIS/ DAESH in the Middle East.

The HSS calls for more academic research to be conducted on the “non-religious” population to better interpret this trend. There is a growing body of academic literature in the US and Europe on the psychology, sociology and morality of non-religious people. Research has shown that the lack of religiosity does not weaken empathy or cause unhappiness; in some cases quite the opposite.

Zheng Huifen

Vice President

Humanist Society (Singapore)

Press

Media coverage for pastafarian strainer interview

2 March 2016 by

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Our interview with Dan Tang (above) and how he exercised his right to wear a strainer (religious pastafarian headgear) for his driving license photo has gone viral.

It has been reported in AsiaOne, Mothership, Coconuts Singapore, and Cleo. We were also included in a Sunday Times column, Trumped-up surname and strains of pasta-mania, on March 6, 2016.

Some screenshots:

asiaone report

 

mothership

coconutas

 

 

Press

Statement: On the secular world and immorality

2 March 2016 by

STATEMENT FROM THE HUMANIST SOCIETY (SINGAPORE)

The Humanist Society (Singapore) refers to the concerns expressed by various church leaders regarding the American pop singer Madonna and her upcoming Singapore concert.

Church leaders were quoted as equating “the secular world”  with immoral values. Archbishop William Goh stated that Catholics have a “moral obligation not to support those who denigrate and insult religions, including anti-Christian and immoral values promoted by the secular world”. These comments were supported by some other Church leaders, including Pastor Lawrence Khong of the Faith Community Baptist Church. [Read more…]

Announcements, Blog

Darwin Day 2016

1 March 2016 by

DSCF7366

By Cheng Chee Hoew

On the morning of 20 February 2016, Humanist Society (Singapore) celebrated the anniversary of Charles Darwin’s birth with a trip to the Singapore Zoological Gardens. [Read more…]

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