I once had an interesting discussion with my friend, Kiruthika, from India regarding our differences in religious belief. It started out when she remarked that she usually coped with exam stress by praying to her god for strength. This surprised me because most of my friends and I would probably relieve stress by playing sports or hanging out. I figured out that she must be very devoted to Hinduism.
In contrast, I am still confused about my religion. Although it is stated as Taoism on my birth certificate, I must admit that my knowledge is very limited. For instance, I will be dumbfounded if you ask me the difference between Taoism and Buddhism. Some of my friends would gladly claim to be free-thinkers, but it may be because they are simply ignorant about religion. The general lack of interest in religious faith among young Singaporeans had been observed by Kiruthika, to her bewilderment.
According to Kiruthika, Hinduism is an integral part of people’s lives in her hometown in Chennai. There are numerous festivals and rituals commonly celebrated and carried out in every household. She further explained to me how Hinduism had helped her deal with difficulties in life and given her a sense of direction. Having benefitted from her religion, she could not comprehend why so many of my friends are free thinkers.
Throughout the discussion, I showed respect to Kiruthika’s religious belief and practices. Similarly, she was willing to hear my opinions when we broached on sub-topics like Karma and vegetarianism. As a result, it turned out to be an enlightening inter-cultural exchange session.
UCS1001 MME Tri2 2023-24 Dynamic Thinkers
1 week ago
Hi Xiang Min,
ReplyDeleteI think your entry is very relevant. It is rather obvious that there are a more free-thinkers in Singapore compared to the other Asian countries like China, India and Malaysia etc. I am a self-proclaimed free-thinker too, much to the dismay of my parents who has given up trying to convert me to Buddhism. (My birth certificate states my religion as Buddhism.)
Anyway for your entry, I think you can better illustrate the cultural difference if you show how your views on topics like karma and vegetarianism differs from hers. You can also compare those to the views from your friends of other religions. As of now, the difference I see is that the Indians has higher interest in religious faith than Singaporeans. I am not sure if that is what you want to portray.
I am glad that your intercultural exchange turned out well. I have the opinion that it usually end up in arguments.
Cheers,
Chee Siang
Hey there!
ReplyDeleteHmmmm... So based on your post, what exactly is your religion??? Though it is stated Taoism on your birth certificate, are you a free thinker as well?
I do agree with you that in Singapore, there are a lot of free thinkers. I can still remember that back in my secondary school, half of my classmates were actually free thinkers! From my experience, my birth certificate states Buddhism as my religion. (I follow my parents.) However, in actual fact, I was a free thinker all the way until when I was in JC2. My parents influenced me to go to the temple with them to pray for blessings about 4 times a year. It was since then that I told myself I was a true Buddhist until now. =)
Some say that religion is just a set of superstitious beliefs. Perhaps that's why a lot of Singaporeans remain as free thinkers because they do not want to commit to a set of beliefs so fast. However, I think that religion can actually be a form of drive and inspiration. Just like what you mentioned in your post that your friend prays to god whenever she has a lot of exam stress! If that could help her, why not? Hence I feel that religion depends a lot on our own mindset. There's really no right or wrong!
On a side note, I was just thinking that perhaps in your post, especially in your last paragraph, you could explain more to us your opinions and feelings about this issue because throughout your post, you mentioned a lot on how your friend felt about religion but not really on how YOU felt.
Just my thoughts... =) thanks for sharing!
Hi Xiang Min. You have really talked about religious beliefs as mentioned in our last meeting in school. This religious issue is not well-highlighted if you compare only the population in Singapore. Therefore, your Indian friend has helped us to understand that as compared to another country, we are just not as religiously centered as them. However, I have memory of you stating that you see yourself as a free-thinker, so I am assuming that you are still on the way of seeking for that Taoism origin of yours.
ReplyDeleteHere are some suggestions I have for you:
-In the second sentence of the second paragraph, you mentioned “…, I must admit that my knowledge is very limited.” I am a little confused with what knowledge you are talking about.
-Karma and vegetarianism, for which religion are you referring these two issues to? From your sentence, I infer it as with regards to Taoism. Unless, you explicitly state that it is with respect to Hinduism and she is willing to hear your opinions about it.
Religion is a touchy issue in Singapore (If you know what I mean) and as for me, I see religion in a different light. While others will go religion-crazy near release of exam results or 4-D numbers, I tend to have a rather different experience with it. Born a Roman Catholic via baptism, I am not the hardcore believer that will go to church at least twice a week or join all the youth group movements. However, I always have this belief in me that the holy trinity that I am praying to all the time, is watching over me along with their holy men and women. The main thing to me is that through religion, one must be able to feel at ease and develop in moral development. Over-emphasis of gains from the religion will just overturn the true meaning of getting into a religion. This is just my thoughts. Nonetheless, I quite like your post.
Regards,
Ivan
Hi Xiang Min,
ReplyDeleteThis is an interesting post you have here. I actually remember one of my sociology lectures in which a similar situation arose. The lecturer had asked for all Taoist to raise up their hands. Once they had identified themselves, the lecturer asked if any of them could indicate the significance of certain Taoist rituals and some of them were left dumbfounded and changed their stance to free thinkers instead. I don't think you are alone in your confusion towards Taoism as your religion. It is pretty common place here in Singapore.
For me the situation is similar, I was baptised as a Catholic at a very young age and although i claimed my religion as that, i was always unsure of the significances pertaining to certain celebrations and rites during mass. I suppose that is a cultural conflict within itself in some ways?
With regards to the post, I just have a coupole of suggestions. I suppose you could improve on it by describing how you were accepting of her religio-cultural differences despite any disagreement or confusion you had with regards to her faith? That might make the intercultural situation more pronounced.
Like Ivan, i agree that the point of Karma and Vegetarianism was not clearly directed to a specific religion.
Just some thoughts on my part, thank you for sharing with us!
cheers,
aldrich
Thank you, Xiang Min, for introducing a discussion on how, indeed, religion is the basis for much intercultural confusion and, at the same time, discourse.
ReplyDeleteYour descriptive story is clear and concise. Like Aldrich though, I feel that your final analysis could be more in depth if you had explained the principles at work how different religions have different beliefs, norms, and traditions, and that you and your friend were able to transcend those in your discussion. (Please look at the related post by Sherlynn in my Group 7 to see a very fine example of just such an analysis.)
In any case, thank you for sharing this with us.
Hi all,
ReplyDeleteI intentionally restricted myself from discussing too deeply about my personal feelings towards religious beliefs because I didn’t want to sound insensitive or even offensive.
Having said so, I feel I could have done better according to what all of you have suggested. I should have given more analysis on how any of the principles learnt in class was being relevant during my conversation with Kiruthika.
Thanks,
Xiang Min