Christian identities in Singapore

Religion, race and culture between state controls and transnational flows

Dados Bibliográficos

ID12145366
AutoresRobbie B H Goh (National University of Singapore, autor correspondente), Robbie B H Goh∗
Ano2009
Volume26
Fascículo1
Páginas1-23
Data de publicação2009-02-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessNão
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoJournal of Cultural Geography (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0887-3631 • E-ISSN: 1940-6320
EditoraTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/08873630802617135
OpenAlexW2058529205
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas10
Referências citadas11

Christianity in Singapore is caught between the horns of a dilemma: on the one hand it is compelled (like all other religions practised in Singapore) to conform to the state's controls (most obviously in the form of the ‘Maintenance of Religious Harmony Act’, but also implicitly or explicitly spelt out in various policies on religious space and practices, multiculturalism, and even matters of financial governance and accountability). On the other hand, Christianity (unlike religions with a traditional racial association such as Islam with the Malays, and Buddhism, Taoism and traditional Chinese practices with the Chinese) is also seen as a religion associated with ‘outside’ or ‘Western’ cultural influences, one which is obliged to grow its community of adherents at the expense of one of the other race-based religions. This positioning obliges Christianity in Singapore to constantly rationalize and adapt its processes on two fronts, simultaneously to locate itself within the nation as a rooted aspect of the national community, and also to capitalize on its global networks and its affinities to capitalist modernity. In this sense, it constantly has to undergo a version of what Aihwa Ong calls a ‘flexible’ positioning, creating (or at least appearing to create) a “modernity without deracination” (1999, p. 52). This paper examines some of the key characteristics of this positioning, particularly Christianity's establishment of the discourses and practices of national ‘values’ such as the Asian family, interfaith dialogue and concerned social development

Buddhism · Christianity · Dilemma · Epistemology · Harmony (color · Islam · Modernity · Multiculturalism · Political science · Sociology · State (computer science · Taoism · Theology · Gender Studies · Islamic Finance and Banking Studies · Law · Philosophy · Religious studies · Religious Tourism and Spaces · Socioeconomic Development in Asia