ABSTRACT
Religious practice in Singapore is governed by a fundamental contradiction, consisting in the fact that while it is “constitutionally . . . a secular society” with “no official religion,” at the same time it is far from being an “irreligious or an anti-religious society” (Sheares 1974: 3), with a vibrant and pluralistic religious life. In a preliminary report from the 2000 population census, 85 percent of the population professed faith in one religion or another, the religions with the largest followings being Buddhism (43 percent), Christianity (15 percent), and Islam (15 percent; Leow 2000: H7). While this flourishing of (multiple) religions is seen as offering a “richness to individual life” capable of creating a “better citizen,” on the other hand it is also seen as posing a potential threat to social unity and harmony, an anxiety reflected in the passing of the Religious Harmony Act in November 1990, an Act which makes it an offense to “cause ill-feelings between different religious groups” (Ministry of Information and the Arts 1992: 1). Religious harmony is governed by guidelines which, rather than defining the legality/illegality of precise acts per se, speak to the “feelings” and attitudes (“tolerance and understanding” of other religions, avoiding “ridiculing,” “persuasive” manners), which are supposed to guide the interaction of the different races on religious matters (Jayakumar 1987: 6).
