Free to worship?
Singapore is a multicultural society. In a tiny population of around 4 million people, we see a medley of different languages spoken, a mixture of different religions being practiced. We see people of different skin colours and different hair style, with different tastes of clothes. We observe different religious ceremonies... or do we?
I was just reflecting on a particular incident in the afternoon. My grandmother asked me if I go to church. As she was speaking in hokkien and I'm not very proficient to her level, I couldn't make out what she was saying and thought she was saying something else and answered 'no'. She had asked me earlier why I never go down earlier to offer joss stick in our annual CNY ancestor worship. I honor my family's freedom to worship and so I shall not comment on that any further. But I was just wondering if I had been able to make out what she was asking me earlier, what would I answer? She was asking me about the 'church' (教堂)... actually I would have answered no anyway, cos I dun really go to any church building to worship. Hope Church Singapore is a smart church (教会)(if you can find us, you can join us). Not playing with words but I wanna play around with the misconception that people have on church. It gets funny sometimes. Yet as I dwell on this issue, I seriously wonder what would have happened if I choose to publicly declare my faith in front of the family members who would rather me not believing in Christ.
In a multicultural Singaporean society, is there really a freedom to worship and follow any religion as I see fit?
How many times have I heard of parents who threatened their children because they believe in Christ? How many times do I see children afraid of committing to Christ because of the fear of family repercussion? Society dun see these, but they are happening. Is there really freedom to worship?
How many times I see people faithfully observing the sanctity of festivals such as Hari Raya Puasa, Haji, Chinese New Year, Qing ming (清明), Mid-autumn, Deepavali, Vesak Day and yet I see Christmas being disrespected for what it is. We see various programmes on TV during Christmas but none, I saw none, informing of the audience of Christmas origin. Good Friday is observed as a holiday, but more important, Easter... people only think of bunnies!!! I enjoy the different religious ceremonies in Singapore, got to eat good foods then. But these holidays are only celebrated in Singapore through television!!! I will continue, and till the day that I die probably, to exclaim the exasperation that I encountered during Christmas with a motley gang of young people who choose to celebrate Christmas their own way and refusing, utterly refusing to allow any religious elements in. I wonder, if this group of people chooses to celebrate Christmas as another day of gathering, why not they choose another day like Vesak Day?
Is there freedom to worship? Continuously, I see university students struggling between their faith and their studies. In the department of history, for example, I used to argue that the discipline should start to think about God seriously and start examining the bible for all its worth if they want to teach philosophy of history in class. Teaching Judeo-Christian philosophy and yet teaching the wrong things, being made to accept it as the right thing is certainly that has been distasteful to me.
Is there really freedom to worship? Or even freedom to religion? At least in Singapore, we dun see people being killed for their faith. But what does this mean? Is there really freedom when subtle repression of religion is being taking place in our daily lives. You dun see them but you know they are there. So is our government doing anything about it? Is our people doing anything about it? I seriously doubt so, our dearest Singaporeans will not for the sake of religious freedom, and the argument that they should not interfere with what a person believes. Alas, how many family lives have been ruined because Christianity has been portrayed in the wrong light and not given a chance to express itself fully, though we hold Romans 8:28 to be true.
I seriously suspect, for our political parties, that unless they start thinking about religions in Singapore, there will always be a certain group of people whom they cannot engage directly. There are no church in my constituency, but there's one quite near to mine. But I sometimes wonder if my MP will establish good relationship with the churches as well as he establishes with the temple authorities in the precinct. I sometimes wonder. Grassroot activities are organised in the death of Sunday mornings or Saturday evenings thus again alienating most of the Christians. This happens across the board but I can only speak for my constituency. Simply put it, Christian needs are not met in our current political system. So talk about multiculturalism?
Today if I were to tell everyone that I'm renouncing Christ, I think probably I will receive a double portion of ang baos from my family. But... why should I? I have the freedom to choose what I want to believe. And I answer my own question. I exercise my freedom and test the system. The system passes, but only barely. Singaporean multiculturalism is still a long way to go. This not only applies to Christianity but other religions as well. I'm quite sure. But as far as I am concerned, I can only speak from my own experience as a Christ follower.
I was just reflecting on a particular incident in the afternoon. My grandmother asked me if I go to church. As she was speaking in hokkien and I'm not very proficient to her level, I couldn't make out what she was saying and thought she was saying something else and answered 'no'. She had asked me earlier why I never go down earlier to offer joss stick in our annual CNY ancestor worship. I honor my family's freedom to worship and so I shall not comment on that any further. But I was just wondering if I had been able to make out what she was asking me earlier, what would I answer? She was asking me about the 'church' (教堂)... actually I would have answered no anyway, cos I dun really go to any church building to worship. Hope Church Singapore is a smart church (教会)(if you can find us, you can join us). Not playing with words but I wanna play around with the misconception that people have on church. It gets funny sometimes. Yet as I dwell on this issue, I seriously wonder what would have happened if I choose to publicly declare my faith in front of the family members who would rather me not believing in Christ.
In a multicultural Singaporean society, is there really a freedom to worship and follow any religion as I see fit?
How many times have I heard of parents who threatened their children because they believe in Christ? How many times do I see children afraid of committing to Christ because of the fear of family repercussion? Society dun see these, but they are happening. Is there really freedom to worship?
How many times I see people faithfully observing the sanctity of festivals such as Hari Raya Puasa, Haji, Chinese New Year, Qing ming (清明), Mid-autumn, Deepavali, Vesak Day and yet I see Christmas being disrespected for what it is. We see various programmes on TV during Christmas but none, I saw none, informing of the audience of Christmas origin. Good Friday is observed as a holiday, but more important, Easter... people only think of bunnies!!! I enjoy the different religious ceremonies in Singapore, got to eat good foods then. But these holidays are only celebrated in Singapore through television!!! I will continue, and till the day that I die probably, to exclaim the exasperation that I encountered during Christmas with a motley gang of young people who choose to celebrate Christmas their own way and refusing, utterly refusing to allow any religious elements in. I wonder, if this group of people chooses to celebrate Christmas as another day of gathering, why not they choose another day like Vesak Day?
Is there freedom to worship? Continuously, I see university students struggling between their faith and their studies. In the department of history, for example, I used to argue that the discipline should start to think about God seriously and start examining the bible for all its worth if they want to teach philosophy of history in class. Teaching Judeo-Christian philosophy and yet teaching the wrong things, being made to accept it as the right thing is certainly that has been distasteful to me.
Is there really freedom to worship? Or even freedom to religion? At least in Singapore, we dun see people being killed for their faith. But what does this mean? Is there really freedom when subtle repression of religion is being taking place in our daily lives. You dun see them but you know they are there. So is our government doing anything about it? Is our people doing anything about it? I seriously doubt so, our dearest Singaporeans will not for the sake of religious freedom, and the argument that they should not interfere with what a person believes. Alas, how many family lives have been ruined because Christianity has been portrayed in the wrong light and not given a chance to express itself fully, though we hold Romans 8:28 to be true.
I seriously suspect, for our political parties, that unless they start thinking about religions in Singapore, there will always be a certain group of people whom they cannot engage directly. There are no church in my constituency, but there's one quite near to mine. But I sometimes wonder if my MP will establish good relationship with the churches as well as he establishes with the temple authorities in the precinct. I sometimes wonder. Grassroot activities are organised in the death of Sunday mornings or Saturday evenings thus again alienating most of the Christians. This happens across the board but I can only speak for my constituency. Simply put it, Christian needs are not met in our current political system. So talk about multiculturalism?
Today if I were to tell everyone that I'm renouncing Christ, I think probably I will receive a double portion of ang baos from my family. But... why should I? I have the freedom to choose what I want to believe. And I answer my own question. I exercise my freedom and test the system. The system passes, but only barely. Singaporean multiculturalism is still a long way to go. This not only applies to Christianity but other religions as well. I'm quite sure. But as far as I am concerned, I can only speak from my own experience as a Christ follower.
Comments
Post a Comment