Christian Education 2011
RELIGION & POLITICS IN SINGAPORE:
A CHRISTIAN
REFLECTION
Speaker
Dr Roland Chia
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Course
Synopsis:
(The talk was held on 3 May 2011.)
In his 2009 National Day Rally Speech Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong used the
biblical imagery of the Garden of Eden to describe multi-religious Singapore.
Reminding his audience of just how fragile harmony between the different
religious communities can be, PM Lee warned that ‘if you leave the Garden of
Eden, you cannot get back again’. In this speech, PM Lee also reiterated the
risks that the crafters of the Maintenance of Religious Harmony Act identified
20 years ago. The White Paper that preceded this Act argues that one of the ways
in which religious harmony may be maintained in Singapore is for religion and
politics to be ‘rigorously separated’ and for the government to remain secular.
This position is reiterated recently by a number of politicians and ministers.
In this talk we examine what the separation of religion and politics entails and
how should Christians respond to this fundamental stance of the government. This
talk will discuss the following:
- The different forms
of secularism
- The meanings of
secular government
- The relationship
between Church and State
- The Singapore
separatist model
- The political role
of Christians in Singapore :
About the Speaker
Dr Roland Chia is Chew Hock Hin Professor of Christian Doctrine and Dean of the
School of Postgraduate Studies at Trinity Theological College.
