Racial & Religious harmony, often misunderstood themes

Okay since today is racial & religious harmony day, I'd like to blog some of my thoughts and feelings about it. Now I am aware that this is a sensitive subject and discussing it is like skating on thin ice but don't worry, I don't intend to be arrested or to start a riot or to get my tagbox being filled up with curses therefore, I won't say anything that may be offensive.

Okay, I'll start off by saying that I cannot begin to express how important racial and religious harmony and tolerance is in a society. why do I say these two themes are often misunderstood you may ask. Simply because, many Singaporeans think that racial and religious harmony is one and the same thing. While it is true that in Singapore, most of the adherents of a certain religion are mostly from one of the major racial groups (e.g. Chinese and Taoism/Buddhism, Malay and Islam), it is not true that the entire race is of that religion.

For example, I know a Chinese man who happens to be Islam and quite happy to be so; and there are other examples too but I will not state them here. The strange thing about racial harmony is that racism takes place even within the confines of a religion, for example the racism that happened previously in the Christian church of the west where, the blacks are segregated from the whites. Remember the Chinese man I spoke about earlier? I heard that when he attends the mosque, while most adherents are friendly towards him, some still look at him in bewilderment as to what a Chinese man is doing in a Malay majority place.

As the races in Singapore become more and more united, such things will definitely occur and we must be ready for it. More people will be interested in the other religions and may decide to even join them, although I doubt any major conflict of racism within a religion will arise here. So we should really take off the stereotype that a religion is designated only to a certain race.

I too have experienced this stereotype. Because I take Malay as my second language despite being Chinese, some people mistakenly think I was Islam. Although it gets tiring explaining the reason as to why I take Malay despite my race, I must admit it is fun watching people's bewildered expressions.

Moving on to a deeper misunderstanding that unsettles me though, there is something I must say. This next line may or may not offend you but if it does, before you release a zoo into my inbox and call the cops on me, please read my explanation first.

Religious harmony is important, Religious integration is a joke.
What I mean by this is that yes, while it is important having the adherents of different religions living side-by-side in harmony, there is no need to bring it a step as far as integrating the religions. I have heard of some people and organizations which try to merge all the major religions and create a universal doctrine or religion.

This is a flawed concept as anyone who puts weight into their religion knows that it is not possible to merge their own doctrine with that of another religion because that would involve perverting and compromising the authority and integrity of the doctrine. A similar problem is in saying that all religions actually worship the same God/s but in a different form or in different ways. This is untrue because the perception of God/s in the different major religions are often too different to be reconciled and integrating the dieties of the different religion will also involve perverting the religion.

This is true for all major belief system making them mutually exclusive. In other words one cannot say, "I belief in Jesus' teachings but I also belief in Buddha's teachings" at the same time because both their teachings are essentially different from the other. You can't have your cake and eat it.

Now don't get me wrong here, I'm not trying to say who's wrong or who's right.

It is similar to an arithmatic question, you can't decide to have two solutions to the same question; you have to choose one and stick with it, unless of course, you change your mind.

However, just because we have different beliefs does not mean we can't respect one another. The key is to be understanding and patient with one another, forgiving a person if he unintentionally does something that is offensive against your belief. We also have to make a concious effort to learn about the religion of others' and respect them for what they believe in, afterall, we are all human and no one is inferior or superior just because of what they believe in.

Love, the universal principle
All major religions teaches love and the other basic human morals. Love is the universal principle. Anything that teaches otherwise, that is to teach one to hate another human, are false and are destructive and potentially deadly. Maybe a good example would be the Sarin gas terrorist attack in Tokyo. Love is the only principle where all major beliefs can find common ground.

Therefore, let us honour our own beliefs by loving each other and living in peace with each other.

Happy Racial and Religious Harmony Day=D