Countries
Singapore
Also Known As Singaporean
Asia
Citation Formats
General Reference
APA Style
BibTeX
Singapore is among the most religiously plural societies in the world for its size, with no group holding a majority: Buddhists, Christians, Muslims, Taoists, Hindus and the religiously unaffiliated all form substantial blocs, distributed roughly along the Chinese, Malay and Indian communal lines of the population. That plurality is managed rather than left to itself. The Maintenance of Religious Harmony Act of 1990 empowers the government to issue restraining orders against religious leaders who mix religion with politics or stir hostility between groups, and it sits alongside sedition law and rules on public speech. Chinese temples combining Buddhist and Taoist practice, the Sultan Mosque in Kampong Glam, the Sri Mariamman temple and the Armenian church all predate independence, and religious buildings are treated as national heritage as much as places of worship.
Facts
Law and State
Establishment StatusNo established church; the Maintenance of Religious Harmony Act of 1990 empowers the government to restrain religious leaders who mix religion with politics or stir hostility between groups. State Funding MechanismSingapore funds Muslim religious life through a compulsory payroll deduction, the Mosque Building and Mendaki Fund, first established in 1975 as the Mosque Building Fund and merged with the Mendaki Foundation's fund in 1984. Employers deduct it monthly from every working Muslim in the country regardless of race or nationality, including permanent residents and foreign workers, on a wage tiered scale from 3 dollars to 26 dollars, and remit it through the Central Provident Fund system to finance mosque construction and upgrading, religious education and Mendaki's Malay and Muslim community programs. 4 Apostasy or Blasphemy LawSection 298 of Singapore's Penal Code punishes uttering a word, making a sound or gesture, or showing an object with the deliberate intention of wounding a person's religious or racial feelings, with imprisonment of up to three years, a fine, or both. Neither offense to a deity nor actual offense taken is required; deliberate intent to wound feelings is sufficient on its own. 3 Registration or Recognition RegimeA religious body typically incorporates first as a society under the Societies Act or as a company limited by guarantee, then registers separately with the Commissioner of Charities to gain income and property tax exemption. A further Institution of a Public Character status, open only to a charity serving the community broadly rather than one religion or group, lets it issue tax deductible donation receipts. The Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth applies its own fundraising and governance requirements on top of this layered structure. 3 Ban or Official WatchlistJehovah's Witnesses and the Unification Church remain deregistered under the Maintenance of Religious Harmony Act framework and predecessor measures. 3 Geography
LatitudeApproximate reference point, rounded to one decimal place; a country's extent has no single center, so this coordinate is conventional, not a survey measurement. LongitudeApproximate reference point, rounded to one decimal place; a country's extent has no single center, so this coordinate is conventional, not a survey measurement. Status
Legal StatusThe Maintenance of Religious Harmony Act of 1990 empowers the government to restrain religious leaders who mix religion with politics or stir hostility between groups; Jehovah's Witnesses and the Unification Church remain deregistered. 3 Demographics
Religious CompositionNo group holds a majority: roughly 31 per cent Buddhist, 19 per cent Christian, 16 per cent unaffiliated, 15 per cent Muslim, 9 per cent Taoist and 5 per cent Hindu (Pew Research Center, Religious Composition of the World, 2010-2020; Singapore Department of Statistics). 1 Government
Government Type Sovereignty StatusSovereign UN member state 2 Established Year9 August 1965 (from Malaysian Federation) Location
Learn More
Religion and History in Singapore
Singapore's religious plurality is a direct product of how it was populated. The colonial port drew Hokkien, Teochew and Cantonese migrants who brought temple worship of Guan Yin, Mazu and lineage deities; Malay and Bugis communities who were already Muslim; Tamil labourers and merchants who built Hindu temples; Sikhs recruited into the police; Armenian, Jewish and Arab trading families; and Christian missions that founded many of the country's oldest schools.
Within a few streets of the colonial centre stand the Thian Hock Keng temple built by Hokkien seafarers, the Sultan Mosque of the Malay quarter, the Sri Mariamman temple with its gopuram, and the Armenian Church, which is the oldest church in the country. That density is now presented as national heritage, and several of these buildings are national monuments. The independent state inherited a memory of communal violence, including the Maria Hertogh riots of 1950, which began in a custody dispute over a girl raised Muslim by a foster mother and claimed by Catholic parents, and the racial riots of 1964.
Religious harmony in Singapore is consequently treated as a security question and not only a civic virtue. The state also treats religious buildings as heritage, gazetting the Thian Hock Keng temple, the Sultan Mosque and the Sri Mariamman temple as national monuments, so that conservation law and religious practice apply to the same walls.
Managing Religious Harmony by Statute
The Maintenance of Religious Harmony Act was passed in 1990 and gives the minister power to issue a restraining order against a religious leader or member who causes ill will between groups, promotes a political cause under cover of religion, or carries out subversive activity. An order can bar a person from addressing congregations or publishing, and for its first three decades no order was ever issued, which the government treats as evidence that it works and critics treat as evidence that it is unnecessary. Amendments in 2019 added powers to require the removal of online content quickly and to compel religious organisations to disclose foreign donations and foreign affiliations.
The framework does not stand alone. Sedition law was used in 2015 against a teenage blogger for remarks about Christianity, restrictions on public assembly apply to religious gatherings as to any other, and two groups remain deregistered: Jehovah's Witnesses, banned in 1972 because refusal of national service was judged incompatible with conscription, and the Unification Church, deregistered in 1982.
Muslim affairs are administered separately through the Islamic Religious Council under the Administration of Muslim Law Act, which governs mosques, halal certification, the collection of zakat and a Sharia court for family matters. The state's position is that plural societies do not stay peaceful on their own, and that argument is made openly rather than implied.
Cross-Tradition Connections
Associated With
This source names Singapore directly: "page, and the Asian Film Archive (Singapore) featured the film in its own Asian Cinema Digest."
About 31 per cent of the population, the largest single group in a society where none holds a majority.
About 19 per cent of the population, across Catholic, Anglican and independent evangelical congregations.
This source names Singapore directly: "dollars, from every working Muslim in Singapore regardless of race or nationality including permanent residents and foreign workers, remitted through the Central Provident Fund system, and states..."
About 5 per cent of the population, centred on temples such as Sri Mariamman, the oldest Hindu temple in the country.
About 15 per cent of the population, chiefly the Malay community served by mosques administered under the Islamic Religious Council.
This source names Singapore directly: "regional names: pontianak in Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei, and kuntilanak in Indonesia, especially Java."
This source names Singapore directly: "by the Asian Civilisations Museum in Singapore in 2014, documents the reliquary treasures, including a finger bone relic attributed to the Buddha, discovered when the collapsed Famen Temple pagoda..."
About 9 per cent identify as Taoist, though Chinese temple practice commonly combines Taoist and Buddhist elements.
This source names Singapore directly: "featured by the Asian Film Archive in Singapore."
This source names Singapore directly: "by the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute in Singapore in 2017, is an academic study of the Thaipusam festival as practiced by Malaysia's Tamil Hindu community, including the kavadi burden bearing and body..."
This source names Singapore directly: "Marek Zalewski, already nuncio to Singapore, as the representative later appointed that December."
Sources
Reader Challenges (0 open reader challenges)
No disputes yet. Spotted an error or a better source? Open the first one.
Sign in to dispute this or suggest a correction.
View At A Past Year
Choose a year to see this entry's facts and connections as the atlas records them at that moment: what it held then, what it held instead, and what it had not yet adopted. Choose Present for the current record.