Lecture and Symposium Details:

The SRP Programme offered by the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Nanyang Technological University, was inaugurated by President Tony Tan on 6 June 2014. The Programme’s First Distinguished Lecture was held in conjunction with the inaugural and Sheikh Dr Ali Gomaa, the former Grand Mufti of Egypt and the current Chairman of Misr Al Khayr Foundation was invited to deliver the lecture.

Prof Julius Lipner, Emeritus Professor of Hinduism and the Study of Comparative Religion from the University of Cambridge and a visiting scholar of the SRP Programme, will deliver the 2nd SRP Distinguished Lecture on 19 Jan at 4 pm.  Prof Lipner’s lecture titled “Religion, Public Space and the Common Good: How They Can Work Together in Plural Societies” will also set the tone for the symposium.

The full-day symposium on 20 Jan, which will start at 10 am, will feature the Archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Singapore and the Mufti of Singapore as keynote speakers. The Most Rev Archbishop William Goh and Mufti of Singapore, Dr Mohamed Fatris Bakaram, will respectively speak about how teachings from their religious traditions can be used as religious resources to guide living in multi-ethnic and multi-religious Singapore.

The SRP Programme will also present preliminary findings from the research on local religious leaders’ views concerning the common space. Local religious scholars have been invited to respond to our findings by sharing their views on how to expand the common space from the Buddhist, Hindu and Daoist perspectives.

All the speakers will come together for a panel discussion and dialogue with the audience and Professor Abdullah Saeed (Advisor to SRP, Peter Lim Visiting Professor of Peace Studies, RSIS and Sultan of Oman Professor of Arab & Islamic Studies, University of Melbourne) will round up the seminar.

Overview:

Can people with different worldviews live together peacefully? What resources do religious and non-religious traditions have to promote social harmony and peaceful co-existence? These and other questions will be asked and discussed over the two days of this symposium. Bringing together engaged scholars and religious leaders from Singapore and around the globe, we will discuss what religions in Singapore are doing to promote harmony and co-existence, as well as seeing what obstacles may lay in their way. The discussions will be placed in the context of political realities and existing social conditions. Findings of research on Singapore’s religious communities (Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, and Taoism) will be presented. This will emphasise practical tools they have for expanding common space as well as methods and suggestions for developing the way each tradition may live harmoniously alongside others. This should enhance the religious traditions’ understanding of their resources for expanding common space, as well as addressing any potential challenges.

This event is the Second Studies in Inter-Religious Relations in Plural Societies (SRP) Annual Symposium.

Objectives:

• To examine how religious resources can become catalysts for expanding common space.
• To share initial research findings by SRP on religious resources in the context of common space in Singapore.
• To promote in-depth discussions on the role of religion to expand common space.

Intended Audience:

The event is intended for anyone interested in the harmonious co-existence of communities in plural societies. This includes:

• scholars, leaders and key activists from religious communities;
• members of civic society, religious or non-religious;
• officials and professionals working in government, NGOs, and faith/inter-faith organisations;

Attendee Benefits:

• Awareness of the resources of religious traditions related to common space.
• A greater knowledge of religious traditions other than your own.
• A deeper understanding of your own religious tradition and its resources.
• An understanding of the way religions are working together to create common space.

1. SRP DISTINGUISHED LECTURE – by Professor Julius Lipner,Professor Emeritus, University of Cambridge and Visiting Professor, SRP Programme –“Religion, Common Space and the Public Good: How They Can Work Together in Plural Societies”
   
2. KEYNOTE LECTURE I – by His Grace William Goh Seng Chye, Archbishop of Singapore –“Nostra Aetate as a Religious Resource for Common Space”
   
3. KEYNOTE LECTURE II – by Dr Mohamed Fatris Bakaram, Honourable Mufti of Singapore –“Islamic Resources to Expand Common Space”

For further enquiries, please contact Miss. Akanksha Narain at [email protected] or Mr. Salim Mohamed Nasir at [email protected].