Buddhist Monk Sceptical Of the Usefulness of Interfaith Dialogue
By Karishma Patel
Christian pastor Rony Tan speaks negatively about Buddhism and Taoism in his Church
Singapore (CHAKRA) — Venerable Dhammika, a Buddhist monk, has expressed his concern about the effectiveness interfaith dialogue, to prevent another Rony Tan mess from taking place.
Venerable Dhammika was born in Australia and has been a Buddhist monk for 32 years. He is the spiritual advisor to the Buddha Dhamma Mandala Society in Singapore.
Lighthouse Evangelism Pastor, Rony Tan was questioned by the Internal Security Department (ISD) last Monday for making negative comments about Buddhism and Taoism during a church session. He was revealed after a video of his session was taped and uploaded onto YouTube.
He has since then apologized to the leaders of Buddhist and Taoist faiths. The government has not taken further action against him, out of fear that the Christian community will respond.
The Straits Times, stated in a report yesterday, that several religious leaders were for an interfaith dialogue so that such misunderstandings can be prevented.
Venerable Dhammika however, was unimpressed by the way interfaith dialogues are held in Singapore and stated his opinion, on his personal blog “Dhamma Musings”, and shared the following:
“I doubt that inter-religious dialogue, at least as it is conducted in Singapore, really brings about a change in how the different religions feel about each other. I have often attended inter-religious gatherings and I have noticed that everyone is friendly, accommodating and open-minded. The participants are already respectful of other faiths. The ones who could do with a bit of tolerance – the bigots, zealots, fundamentalists and the evangelicals, won’t come. Here in Singapore several major denominations have pointedly refused to join the Inter-religious Organization which they see as fratranizing with Satan.”
The Singapore government organized such interfaith dialogues to promote an interaction between religious leaders of various faiths.
The tolerant and respectful are usually the only participants of such dialogues, since attendance is not compulsory. Therefore, Venerable Dhammika has pointed out, “all too often just an exercise in the converted preaching to each other.”
Venerable Dhammika proposed that the government reward tolerant religious leaders so that the intolerant ones are marginalized and forced to participate and become more accepting of others:
“The government should consider something like the Public Service Award, the PBM or the BBM, but to be given for service to interfaith understanding. When such people are looked upon as commendable, socially responsible and worthy, the bigots gradually come to be seen as out-of-step, as a public nuisance, as un-respectable. You can marginalize the intolerant by rewarding and lauding the tolerant.”
The state media has been quick to sweep this whole saga under the carpet but religious criticisms still lurk beneath the “normalcy” in Singapore.
If Rony Tan, had not video-taped his own service and had not uploaded it onto YouTube, his criticisms of other religions would not have come to light.
With such ongoing issues, Singapore will be a place of religious and social tension in years ahead.
