This is a pre-event article written for the TOC to promote filmmaker’s Chris Johnson’s visit to Singapore in September 2016. We would like to thank TOC for publishing our article.
http://www.theonlinecitizen.com/2016/09/13/a-better-life-a-film-about-the-non-religious-comes-to-singapore/
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Sept 3, 2016
A week after launching our youth page, the Humanist Society (Singapore) – HumanistSG for short – held a meeting with tertiary education students and alumni alongside our annual BBQ. About 15 students and some alumni joined in, including many students from NUS! Also present were students from NTU, SMU and TP. After a round of introductions among the students and alumni, HumanistSG representatives explained the purpose of starting a youth wing and building a humanist network in teritary education institutions. [Read more…]
By Tan Tatt Si
On August 28, the Humanist Society (Singapore) performed our first celebrant service. While we had other humanist services in the past, this was the first time we are doing it in our organization’s name, ushering in a new chapter in humanist celebrant service here. [Read more…]
This is a summary of our President Tan Tatt Si’s presentation at the International Humanist and Ethical Youth Organization (IHEYO) Asian Humanism Conference, held at National Taiwan University in Taiwan on August 6-7, 2016. The two-day conference, sponsored by IHEYO and hosted by Taiwanese humanists, also included speakers from various parts of Asia. Tatt Si was the first speaker.
[Read more…]
Interfaith dialogues are a common feature in Singapore but since 2012, a different type of dialogue called the “UnConference” has been taking place annually at Nanyang Girls’ High School (NYGH). Instead of having a panel of religious leaders lead the dialogue, UnConference generates a dialogue from the ground-up, allowing participants to suggest their own topics and attend any discussion they fancy.
The Humanist Society (Singapore), or HumanistSG, has been sending representatives to the UnConference from 2014-2016. Although we are an NGO comprising of humanists, atheists, agnostics and other like-minded people, the Society also supports Singapore’s racial and religious harmony. This year, the UnConference was held on August 13.
As Singapore celebrates Racial Harmony Day this month, we are mindful that the terrorist threat to Singapore is at its highest in decades. Singapore’s political leaders has emphasised that the question is not whether a terrorist attack will happen here, but when it will happen.
It is an unfortunate fact that most terrorist attacks in major cities have been perpetuated under the banner of radical Islamic ideology. A similar attack in Singapore will undoubtedly have ramifications on the relationship between persons of different races and faiths.
After each attack by the Islamic State or its adherents (also known as ISIS/ DAESH), ordinary citizens, political and religious leaders often condemn the attackers by asserting that “terrorism has no religion”. However the Humanist Society (Singapore) suggest that this is a divisive slogan which discriminates against people with no religion.
The statement ‘terrorism has no religion’ can also be read as saying that the terrorists were in fact irreligious. Such interpretation even more glaring in reactions stating that the terrorists were “not true Muslims” or “not true believers” – therefore by implication having no religion. The logical conclusion of such statements is that atheism, or the lack of religion, is the root of terrorism instead.
While the slogan was formulated to guard against racial or religious prejudice, it inevitably casts aspersions against persons who have no religion. The Society is concerned that such sentiments may lead to further contempt and discrimination against people who do not subscribe to organised religion. We suggest that a better rallying call is “United against Terrorism”.
It is simplistic to think that merely disassociating religious ideology from terrorism will guard society against terrorism. Society’s collective response to a terrorist attack involve physical responses like the newly established Rapid Deployment Troops, as well as social and psychological responses such as the further strengthening of our multi-racial, multi-religious fabric.
We therefore call upon the Singapore government to step up national defense programmes regarding psychological defense, and the Inter-Religious Organisation and other grassroots organisations to conduct inter-faith events where the aftermath of a potential terrorist attack in Singapore can be honestly and frankly addressed.
Some links for reference:
HumanistSG and Effective Altruism Singapore co-organised an Effective Altruism workshop on May 15. Here are all the videos from the workshop. For the skype with Peter Singer, here’s a seperate video and summary.
Introduction to Effective Altruism
Zheng Huifen – Giving: Limited Resources, Maximum Impact
Other videos:
We organised our World Humanist Day celebrations on June 18 this year. The theme is Humanists: Be The Change. The talks are by speakers who represent organisations that make positive changes to their communities. These talks also aim to explore how we can make the most of our one life in a meaningful way for ourselves and others.
At the conference, we brought Humanitarian workers from MSF, UNHCR, Relief 2.0 & HappyPeopleHelpingPeople. The event, held at the Tampines Regional Library, attracted close to a hundred participants. In addition to the guest speakers, we also held members-only workshops on critical thinking and media writing.
The speakers featured in the video are:
1) Robin Low, Relief 2.0
2) Dr Marlene Lee, Doctors Without Borders (MSF)
3) Vivian Tan, UNHCR
4) Mohammad Nafiz Bin Kamarudin, Happy People Helping People
More information about the speakers and their presentations can be found here: https://humanist.org.sg/events/world-humanist-day-2016/
“Humanist Society (Singapore)” is our official name and it should be used as first reference in official documents, news articles and any other platform meant for mass communication and record keeping. We do not accept variants such as “Humanist Society of Singapore” or “Singapore Humanist Society.”
For second reference and beyond, we can be referred as a “the Society”, “organisation”, “group”, “non-governmental organisation” or “NGO”.
We have used an acronym, “HSS”, as our shortened form in the past. However, “HSS” is a commonly used acronym locally and around the world. Thus, it is not suitable in the long run. From today onwards, we will use a shortened form called “HumanistSG” for second references and beyond. This shortened form also happens to be our Twitter name: https://twitter.com/HumanistSG
“HSS” can be used in private, informal references to our organisation. “Humanist Society SG” shall be kept on our Twitter for brevity sake and will not be used as an official name or official shortened form.
Official first reference:
Official second references:
The Humanist Society (Singapore) was mentioned as the co-organiser of Introduction to Effective Altruism workshop in an article featuring the new group, Effective Altruism Singapore.
http://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/spore-group-out-to-get-biggest-impact-for-charity-donations
“To raise awareness and grow the community, Effective Altruism Singapore – which has a team of just eight but over 100 members on its Facebook group – holds monthly meet-ups, usually on the first Sunday of every month.
In May, the group also organised a public talk on effective altruism, with Australian philosopher Peter Singer speaking via Skype, in partnership with the Humanist Society (Singapore).
The goal is to get Singaporeans to donate to proven highly effective charities, and ideally to pledge a portion of their income each month.”
We also summarised the conversation with Peter Singer here: https://humanist.org.sg/six-lessons-we-learnt-from-peter-singer-over-skype/
