Key Articles
Tackling Anti-Vaccine Sentiments in a Time of COVID-19
Singapore has just received its first shipment of the Moderna Covid-19 vaccine,. This is the second Covid-19 vaccine to be approved for local use, following the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. These vaccines have been described to be instrumental in the global effort to combat the pandemic. Yet despite strong evidence of vaccine efficacy, ‘anti-vaccine influencers’ still lurk online, feeding fears and stirring up misinformation. DJ speaks to Siti to better understand her work in countering such anti-vax narratives.
Response to The Straits Times Op-Ed
A recent op-ed written by Chua Mui Hoong and published in The Straits Times, ‘S’pore teen detained under ISA: Wake-up call for Christian community’ (5 Feb 2021), has piqued some interest and stirred emotive discussions within the non-religious community. This is particularly because Archbishop William Goh, of the Catholic Church, was quoted that he ‘believes that the greatest risk of religious fanaticism comes from a hostile and extreme form of secularism’. He argued that an overly secular society would push religion into marginalised, private areas, diminishing the scope for open, public sharing and discussions of commonalities and differences. Some of us may remember Archbishop Goh’s previous misinformed comments on atheism and secularism.
This bears repeating.
[Read more…]Make interfaith dialogues more mainstream to counter extremism
The Humanist Society (Singapore) is shocked to read that a 16-year-old Singaporean was detained under ISA after plotting to commit acts of terrorism against Muslims in Singapore.
[Read more…]HSS Study Trip Scheme
HSS Study Trip Scheme is a scheme where you attend a paid workshop, conducted by a professional external party, on behalf of the HSS for the purpose of picking up new skills in the industry.
Humanism Workshop – Applying Humanism to our Daily Lives
The Humanism Workshop held on 24 Jan 2021 has the following theme: “Applying Humanism to our Daily Lives”.
At this virtual workshop (due Covid), we looked at the problem of ‘toxic algorithms’ that often flood individuals with similar content after just one click, sucking people rapidly into echo chambers like a whirlpool, facilitating the spread of misinformation. We shared methods to combat this problem, such as cleaning up and re-diversifying social media accounts, learning to find good sources, confining addictive apps to PCs-only.
This virtual workshop also:
- Introduced the main principles of secular humanism, recapping a brief history of humanism
- demonstrated actionable steps that can apply to the everyday lives of non-religious individuals, facilitating their search for meaning and happiness.
Combating ‘toxic algorithms’
Why is combating toxic algorithms important?
A 16-year-old boy was detained in Dec 2020 under Singapore’s Internal Security Act after making detailed plans and preparations to conduct terrorist attacks against two mosques in the northern part of Singapore.
[Read more…]Farewell 2020
It has been a difficult year for the world, with many nations still struggling to contain the Covid-19 pandemic. In the fight against the virus, prolonged lockdowns have affected livelihoods, separated families, grounded air travel, and brought a chill to festive seasons not seen in many decades. Healthcare personnel have also sacrificed their time, and sometimes their lives, in the frontline effort against the pandemic. Overall, the pandemic has put humanity as a whole to a severe test.
[Read more…]