Reflections on Faith & Globalisation Student Conference 2010

I’ve been to a number of youth conferences before, but few were as fascinating and relevant as the Faith and Globalisation Student Conference held at NUS from 31 Jul to 1 Aug 2010: it was a real eye-opener. Given the complexity and seriousness of the issues concerning the place of religion in our globalised world, I think that the conference dealt with problems particularly pertinent today. With multiple attacks on places of worship, conflict between different religious communities, and the rise of extremist religious voices on the Internet, it’s easy to regard faith as part of the problem and not the solution. Yet, despite the bad press that religion has received, it remains crucial to the well-being of humanity in its provision of purpose and meaning. Despite the changing nature of the modern era, religion is still at the heart of our lives.

I think that the conference provided a good platform to examine such inter-faith issues, and the activities were particularly meaningful. For instance, we visited religious sites, with my group going to the heartlands of Yishun. We went to a Catholic church (Church of Our Lady Star of the Sea), a mosque (Masjid Darul Makmur), and a Taoist temple (Chu Siang Wah Sua Temple). As a Singaporean, I’m used to observing religious diversity and harmony, but I still had much to learn about our religious communities and how they interacted in society. For example, I was pleasantly surprised by the extent to which the management of the mosque employed social media like Facebook to reach out to younger members of the Muslim community.

More can be done though, I think, to improve inter-faith relations in Singapore. Youths are in danger of radicalisation through exposure to extremist religious sentiments on the Web: last month, a 20-year-old Singaporean was detained by the authorities for attempting to join a terrorist network after accessing extremist websites. To counter such radicalisation, more inter-faith dialogue and multi-faith action is needed at the grassroots level. I can’t help but feel that, currently, such action is instituted from the top-down, and apathy about religion is pervasive amongst youths in Singapore. I think that youths should take up the lead; on my part, I’m working with the NUS Interfaith Society and the NUS Buddhist Society to implement programmes that will raise awareness and dispel misconceptions about the different religions. It’s albeit a small effort, but as Mr Tony Blair noted during his address to us, we all have to start somewhere before we can build.

I’m also heartened by the enthusiasm about inter-faith efforts shown by my fellow students from the other universities, and I hope that such enthusiasm can have a multiplier effect on campuses around the world. Credit goes to the staff of the NUS University Scholars Programme and the Tony Blair Faith Foundation for all their hard work in organising the conference, and I’m confident that their efforts will serve as a catalyst to spark even more inter-faith dialogue and action in future.

Contributed by : Ow Yeong Wai Kit, Faith and Globalisation student at the National University of Singapore