Oh, Ye Of Little Faith...
Was having my daily cuppa at Coffee Bean when this article in the Straits Times, Home section caught my eye: "Clergy 'wary of inter-faith talks' ", along with its sub-header "Nearly half of Christian leaders fear that such dialogues will compromise their beliefs: Poll". Along with other findings, the poll also showed that Christian leaders feared to collaborate with leaders from other religions due to an "exclusivist" stance.
I'm not a church-goer. In many ways, I am not even what you would call a typical God-fearing Protestant. However, the results of the poll simply reinforces my belief that my conscious decision not to go to church was the right one. How can our religious leaders, supposedly people of high enlightenment and staunch faith, be so wary and reluctant to engage people from other faiths?
Far from compromising their beliefs, constructive dialogue with leaders from other religions ought to have a reinforcing effect on one's faith. To be able to understand in-depth, the beliefs and traditions of other faiths is one very good way to reinforce one's own stance towards his religion. To adopt an exclusivist stance towards other religions is akin to an ostrich hiding its head in the sand: ignoring another religion will not make the religion go away.
Far from reinforcing one's own beliefs, exclusionist attitudes leads to ignorance, division, and eventually strife; consequences which are fundamentally opposing to the tenets of Christianity itself. In the same article, a poll of 2,700 youths, three-quarters of whom held religious beliefs of some sort, found that while they were overall highly tolerant of people of other faiths, this stemmed more from a "let's not talk about it" stance rather than from genuine understanding.
Isn't this the same as just ignoring the issue?
I am proud to say that I have friends from all major religions found in Singapore: Christian, Buddhist, Taoist, Muslim and Hindu, amongst others. In the same breath, I am also ashamed to say that I probably do not know as much about their respective religions as I ought to. However, I will not adopt a "Holier Than Thou" attitude, which the newspaper article is alluding to. This would be the surest way to deepen inter-religious divisions.
To our religious leaders, who have been anointed by divine providence to lead the flock: we need you to be enlightened and understanding, to clear our doubts and to reinforce our beliefs. How are we going to do that if you are going to be ostriches with heads hidden in the sand?
I'm not a church-goer. In many ways, I am not even what you would call a typical God-fearing Protestant. However, the results of the poll simply reinforces my belief that my conscious decision not to go to church was the right one. How can our religious leaders, supposedly people of high enlightenment and staunch faith, be so wary and reluctant to engage people from other faiths?
Far from compromising their beliefs, constructive dialogue with leaders from other religions ought to have a reinforcing effect on one's faith. To be able to understand in-depth, the beliefs and traditions of other faiths is one very good way to reinforce one's own stance towards his religion. To adopt an exclusivist stance towards other religions is akin to an ostrich hiding its head in the sand: ignoring another religion will not make the religion go away.
Far from reinforcing one's own beliefs, exclusionist attitudes leads to ignorance, division, and eventually strife; consequences which are fundamentally opposing to the tenets of Christianity itself. In the same article, a poll of 2,700 youths, three-quarters of whom held religious beliefs of some sort, found that while they were overall highly tolerant of people of other faiths, this stemmed more from a "let's not talk about it" stance rather than from genuine understanding.
Isn't this the same as just ignoring the issue?
I am proud to say that I have friends from all major religions found in Singapore: Christian, Buddhist, Taoist, Muslim and Hindu, amongst others. In the same breath, I am also ashamed to say that I probably do not know as much about their respective religions as I ought to. However, I will not adopt a "Holier Than Thou" attitude, which the newspaper article is alluding to. This would be the surest way to deepen inter-religious divisions.
To our religious leaders, who have been anointed by divine providence to lead the flock: we need you to be enlightened and understanding, to clear our doubts and to reinforce our beliefs. How are we going to do that if you are going to be ostriches with heads hidden in the sand?
posted by ekkie at 10:30 am
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home