Breaking away from the lecture formats of past Darwin Days, the Humanist Society held Darwin Day 2015 outdoors at the Singapore Botanical Gardens. It was a homecoming for the Society for it was in this gardens, back in 2009, where discussions to register our NGO with the government began. This garden, built in the 1860s and the birthplace of the rubber industry, was just a few months shy of being declared a UNESCO world heritage site.

Darwin Day 2015 was divided into two parts, the Darwin Photo Challenge and a self-guided tour at the Evolution Gardens. The day started early at 9am+ when participants gathered at a designated pavilion near the north entrance. Gamesmasters Eric briefed the participants, who subsequently broke up into groups of 3-5 people each. The teams named themselves “Monkey’s Uncle”, “Wallace”, “Green Nature” and “Lalangs”.

Team Wallace:

Team Green Nature

Team Lalangs

Team Monkey’s Uncle

These groups would take part in a mini-competition that resembles an Easter egg aunt, or an Amazing Race. Teams of participants went around the area to take photographs of birds, insects and mammals listed on a game sheet called the “Darwin Tree of Life. Different photographs were given points based on the varying difficulty levels. The challenge ends at a “bonus stage” in the Evolution Garden. 

The four teams toured the garden, reading about the history of plant life on Earth, and took part in a mini-quiz at the end.  The 9.9-hectare tells the evolutionary story of plant life on Earth throughout the ages. It shows the amazing story of how plants gave us life, and how, long before humans arrived, plants started to evolve into the myriad complex, wonderful life forms that we see today. At the end of the self-tour, participants took part in a quiz.

Group photo at the end of the event:

Also joining us on that day was a final-year student project group from Nanyang Technological University called PATH. They had contacted us a few months earlier and invited us to join an interfaith campaign that also includes the non-religious.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/95171409@N07/16513011526/in/album-72157650312482579/

You can watch their video of our Darwin Day here:

After the Darwin Day, we had a good lunch at Bar Bar Black Sheep. Members of the executive committee and volunteers also began discussing the upcoming IHEYO Asian Humanism Conference.

The Singapore Botanical Gardens is now a UNESCO World Heritage site! The garden is considered by many as the birthplace of the rubber industry when the first rubber seedlings came to the gardens from Kew in 1877. Today, the 74-hectare Botanic Gardens includes the National Orchid Garden which has over 1,000 orchird species and 2,000 hybrids on display. [Read more…]

Recently, we have been asked by members of the public and press about our views on meditation, a practice that is getting popular in Singapore. The mental practice is thousands of years old, and can be found in many religious traditions.

From the Society’s point of view, the practice of meditation has been shown to be beneficial psychologically by various studies. This article by Psychology Today compiles a list of scientific studies showing how meditation can be beneficial for your health, happiness and self-control. A 2003 study showed that a short program in mindfulness meditation produces demonstrable effects on brain and immune function.

While some might find the effects temporary, others have achieved a better quality of life, due to relaxation and stress reduction and relaxation. For patients with chronic pain and anxiety, there is evidence that meditation does reduce suffering and increase well being. [Read more…]

Admin note: This is a republished article from a newsletter by the Atheist Alliance International. It provides information for the non-religious seeking asylum from religious prosecution. Singapore has rejected asylum seekers in the past, citing its small size and limited resources. For asylum seekers in Southeast Asia, the nearest help available is the UNHCR Regional Representative in Thailand

ATHEISM & ASYLUM

By Stuart Bechman
Membership Director, AAI
membership@atheistalliance.org

One of the more persistent issues that we experience on an ongoing basis at Atheist Alliance International is the influx of emails from atheists in Muslim countries who have been “outed” to their family and/or neighbors and who are now seeking a way to leave their country to avoid ostracization, physical harm and/or incarceration.

It’s a problem that AAI has been discussing for some time.  As it turns out, most western countries readily recognize atheists as a first-tier persecuted minority, especially in “Muslim” countries. Such status usually provides a ‘fast-track’ in many host countries to granting asylum. However, without an international support group to assist them, few atheists are ever able to make their case for asylum.

There are, of course, plenty of organizations that seek to help persecuted Christians, Jews, other religious sects; but because they focus on their own communities, persecuted atheists are essentially invisible.

However, most people who leave or reject Islam are not looking for a replacement religion.  Most who leave Islam do so because they have developed a secular outlook. So it’s ironic that often the only option for outed atheists to get help is to adopt another religion (sincerely or otherwise) to get any emigration support services. [Read more…]