Religion & Ecology
July 2010
Banner photo: Alpine Flowers and Cloud Reflection, Colorado [© Carr Clifton]
Interfaith Dialogue in Singapore
Interfaith representatives at the Tampines West Community Club [SSA Times]
Singapore Soka Association (SSA) youth members attended an interfaith forum titled "Religious Boundaries and Common Space," organized by the Tampines West Inter-Racial and Religious Confidence Circle (IRCC), at the Tampines West Community Club on February 6.
Attendees included Senior Parliamentary Secretary for Education and Home Affairs Masagos Zulkifli, staff from Jamiyah Home for the Aged, members of Darul Ghufran Mosque and students and educators from schools in Tampines West.
As a spokesperson from the Buddhist community, SSA Young Men's Leader Tan Wei Lan discussed the Buddhist principle of respect for the dignity of life and his conviction that actions based on this principle will engender a constructive platform for interfaith dialogues and exchanges. Laurence Wee Yoke Thong, executive director of Presbyterian Community Services, and Muhammad Saiful Alam Shah, executive officer from the Office of the Mufti, shared Christian and Muslim perspectives.
In other interfaith activities, SSA representatives met with Habib Syed Hassan Al-Attas, the imam and head of the Masjid Ba'alwi (Ba'alwi Mosque) on February 10, and Sister Theresa Seow, chair of the Archdiocesan Council for Inter-religious and Ecumenical Dialogue, on February 11. Sister Seow stated that "intra-religious dialogue can sometimes be even more challenging than interreligious dialogue." The SSA members affirmed their determination to redouble their efforts to promote such dialogue within their communities.
