THE Singapore Government has unveiled the Declaration on Religious Harmony after months of consultations and discussions.
In finalising the Declaration, the Working Committee had met several religious organisations, including the National Council of Churches of Singapore (NCCS), for views and suggestions.
The committee’s Chairman, Mr Chan Soo Sen, has written to Bishop Dr Robert Solomon, who is the President of NCCS, extending his appreciation to NCCS “for its support and valuable feedback”.
Mr Chan is the Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office and Minister of State for Community Development and Sports.
The Declaration on Religious Harmony reads:
“We, the people in Singapore, declare that religious harmony is vital for peace, progress and prosperity in our multi-racial and multi-religious Nation.
We resolve to strengthen religious harmony through mutual tolerance, confidence, respect and understanding.
We shall always
Recognise the secular nature of our State,
Promote cohesion within our society,
Respect each other’s freedom of religion,
Grow our common space while respecting our diversity,
Foster inter-religious communications,
and thereby ensure that religion will not be abused to create conflict and disharmony in Singapore.”