Yen Feng, a singapore Reporter lauds the interfaith exhibition, a meeting point for all religions.
TALK of securing a “common space” in Singapore’s multi-religious society has focused largely on maintaining a secular public sphere.
The ongoing interfaith exhibition at Suntec City is a timely reminder that pluralism plays a part in promoting religious harmony, too. On display at the exhibition, organized by the Inter-Religious Organization and China’s State Administration of Religious Affairs, are more than 1,000 items of religious significance from 10 different religions, notably including lesser-known faiths like Jainism, Zoroastrianism and the Baha’i Faith, which in Singapore number altogether only about 3,000 followers.
The week-long exhibition, flush with explanatory notes, books, CDs as well as lectures and talks, enables visitors to better understand the fundamental tenets of each religion.
This transnational, interfaith endeavour is a public symbol of what has been ongoing in private circles all around Singapore in recent years. Activities organised by the various neighbourhoods’ Inter-Religious Confidence Circles, and interfaith youth forums, give opportunities for faith groups to exchange alternative views, and share with each other the different religious values that shape their lives.
Such exhibitions and cool-headed discussions on religion are crucial in a time when faith-based tensions in the world are hotter than ever.
Whether in Baghdad, Bombay or Belfast, from the recent Swiss ban on minarets, to the Ford Hood killings in the United States, community conflict is more often fuelled by religious misconceptions, rather than disagreement on where the line should be drawn between secular and religious society.
For example, since the 9/11 attacks, Islam, whose name means “peace” or “submission”, has been hijacked by religious extremists to cultivate public perception that Muslims are all suicidal, bomb-carrying fanatics.
To combat such misguided representations, discussions on pluralism, and the need to maintain a public space for all religions — such as the one in Hall 603 of Suntec City, where on the opening night of the religious exhibit, leaders of all 10 faiths in the IRO stood together on stage to offer the world a prayer of peace.
Such a show of non-exclusive solidarity is an example of what United States’ president Barack Obama’s faith advisor Eboo Patel said in an interview last month that “religion in the 21st century has to be about building a bridge of cooperation, not a bomb of destruction”. In Singapore, such a bridge may be drawn not as a detour from our public sphere, but as a meeting point for all religions to work together.
In a small country like Singapore, where people of all religions live together cheek by jowl, it is particularly important that we have a clear, unbiased understanding of the religious lives of our neighbours. We should know, at least, what the holy books central to each religion are, and what they say about their beliefs and the significance of their religious practices. In times of increased religiosity, such efforts will also circumvent acts of intolerance as politicians warn of followers retreating into their respective religious communities. In making the effort to understand the beliefs that underpin our neighbours’ rituals, we may find more commonalities than differences between us. And that is a surer way in Singapore — and around the world — to promote peaceful co-existence and religious harmony.
The 2009 China-Singapore Religious and Cultural Exhibition was held at the Suntec City Convention Centre.
PHOTO GALLERY
(Photos of the Jain Booth)
