SecretAgentMan's Dossier

Something Good to Read

Kenny, who maintains the Sleepless Eye blog, has a very interesting post about Catholic life in Singapore. Here are some selections:

. . . apologetical conversations with Protestants are easier because we share a few similar beliefs already, but it gets tough when you're dialoguing with Buddhists or Muslims. often, we'll get to read about inter-religious dialogues or prayers in the local Catholic newspaper sold in churches . . .

. . . in church you get to meet all sorts of people, from Chinese to Indians to Eurasians to Peranakans to people who are unsure of what blood they have in them. your friends or colleagues can be of any religion or no religion at all, and your relatives may be practising a very different faith from yours . . .

. . . . let me talk a bit more about the religious state between my family and me. my family are Taoists, though not really staunch ones. they just happen to be brought up that way. so they normally offer incense and fruits to their gods and ancestors; ancestral worship appears to be a standard practise amongst Chinese.

Check it out. It's fascinating. I hope Kenny posts more about it. For example, what's the difference between ancestral worship and veneration of saints? Is the experience different? How? Has the tone of Singapore's Muslim community changed since 9/11 and the invasion of Iraq? I really look forward to more.