Name: Civics Group: 6C

GCE Advanced Level | H1 General Paper

2020 Year 6 Lecture: Religion

Essential Questions
1. What is religion?
2. Why religion?
3. How has religion’s relevance been affected by modern-day trends and other stakeholders?
4. Where do we go from here?

Pop quiz
Without Googling or skipping ahead in the lecture notes, quickly write down the names of as many
religions as you can think of:

Linking it back to myself

Do you currently belong to a religion (if yes, state the religion), or would you consider yourself to
be an atheist, agnostic, spiritual but not religious (SBNR) or are you still exploring?

______________________________________

Note:
Atheist Believes that God does not exist
Agnostic Believes that nothing is known or can be known of the existence or nature of God
SBNR Critical of organised religion and places an emphasis upon the well-being of the
“mind-body-spirit”. Spiritual practices might include astrology, Ouija boards, Tarot
cards, and meditation.

In 2015, the government did a census of people’s religious beliefs, and these were the statistics for
people in Singapore:

Overall, the religious composition in

Singapore has remained fairly stable, but
with a slight increase in those without a
religion.  Why do you think Singapore’s
young are increasingly non-religious?

1. What is religion?

Religion in popular culture

 Religion frequently appears in satires, or in films with the aim of spreading religious views, and
this influences many of our views on what religion is.
 Movies also tap onto the religious narrative that there’s more to life than just the ordinary, that
there’s something much bigger, and humans are a part of it, which partly accounts for their
success

1
Nolan’s trilogy of Batman movies – in which a tortured protagonist struggles as much not to become his nemesis
as to defeat it – is based on Indian god-myths and the teachings of yoga that emphasise the priority of one’s
internal journey while facing the challenges of the outside world.
 However, many of the characters in the movies are growing more complex, with a more than just
religion as part of their identity, reflecting the diminishing place of religion in our lives

Features of Religion
1. Activities: Prayer, pilgrimage, meditation, feasting, fasting, dressing, and ceremonies / rituals
2. Physical aspects: Artefacts, relics, places of worship, holy places
3. Subjective elements: Mystical and emotional aspects, how a believer experiences the religion in
achieving enlightenment or inner peace, and/or establishing a personal relationship with the
divine
4. Ethical elements: Rules of conduct and taboos
5. Worship and education: Sacred texts that articulate central ideals and narrate histories
6. Mythology or narrative: Stories or sophisticated set of scriptures. Often includes a creation
story and a history of gods, saints or prophets, with parables that illustrate and reinforce the
beliefs of the religion

2. Why religion?
 Religion has been ubiquitous, appearing in every culture from prehistory to the modern day, as
evidenced in the cave paintings and elaborate burial customs of our distant ancestors and the
continuing quest for a spiritual goal to life.
 We innately desire to worship something greater than ourselves and we crave meaning in our
existence.

Functions of Religion
Survival Offers explanations to the origins of the world and meaning of existence
Identity and
Preservation of heritage and culture; promotion of particular values
values
Love and
Provision of solace and comfort in community and common identity
belonging
Aspiration and To have individuals work towards spiritual enlightenment or attain the
self-actualisation highest spiritual reward
Regulation and The imbibing of moral values and establishes our accountability to a higher
protection being; means of social or political control.

Is religion a cause worth dying for?

Historically, multitudes of people have been martyred for their religion. Why are they willing to do so?
What compels them to do so?

Examples:
Self-immolation of Buddhist monks | ISIS suicide bombers | Meriam Ibrahim, a Sudanese Christian, was
sentenced to death for apostasy in 2014 after marrying a Christian man. She was jailed at eight months pregnant
and was forced to give birth “shackled to the floor”. She refused to recant her Christian faith in the face of
suffering and a death sentence.
3. How has religion’s relevance been affected by modern-day trends and other
stakeholders?

Pervasiveness of Religion in the Past

 Theocracy - government through divine guidance or by officials who are regarded as divinely
guided

2
 In theocracies, government leaders are members of the clergy, and the state’s legal system is based
on religious law
 Theocratic rule was typical of early civilisations; however, the Enlightenment marked the end of
theocracy in most Western countries
 Contemporary examples of theocratic governing bodies include Saudi Arabia, Iran and the Vatican

Case study: Saudi Arabia, an Islamic theocratic monarchy, has one of the most tightly controlled governments
in the world. The country is also home to two of Islam’s most holy sites, the cities of Mecca and Medina. Since
1932, the land has been ruled exclusively by the House of Saud. The Holy Quran and the Sunni School of Islam
serve as the country’s constitution. Although law does not directly forbid other religions to be practiced in the
country, the practice of religions other than Islam is shunned by many in the Saudis’ Islamic-dominant society.
Anyone in the country caught in an attempt to insult Islam or promoting any other faith there is subjected to
strict punishment, which may go as far as death.

Disruptions to Religion in the Modern World

A. Modern Values
B. Science & Technology
C. Social Media
D. Extremism
E. Capitalism/Money

A. Religion and modern values

 Increasing significance of individualism, liberalism, consumerism, mass literacy,
secularisation and rationalisation
o Humanism is a philosophical and ethical stance that emphasises the value and agency of
humans, and prefers critical thinking and evidence over acceptance of dogma or superstition
Sunday Assembly is an Atheist Church that does not extol a deity and does not have doctrine. They substitute of
hymn singing with singing secular songs, testimonies with moving stories and the preaching of a religious text
with a passionate speech or stand-up comedy. Their mission is to celebrate life and be inclusive.
 Threatens religion’s role in preserving traditional heritage and culture / forming one’s identity

 Religion is merely one aspect of one’s identity (or not at all). One’s identity is much more
complex today, as we derive our identity and values through many other sources.
 Gigi Hadid was criticised for giving religious offence when she appeared on Vogue in a jewel-encrusted veil,
for cultural appropriation and for using her Palestinian roots as a ‘fashion gimmick’. Fashion today caters
to women who want to combine their faith with contemporary style, and this is still new and controversial.
Being fashionable has become equally or more important than adhering to religious regulations.
 Nike’s invention of the hi-tech hijab for Muslim female athletes allows the amalgamation of religious beliefs
and practices with fashion and modern lifestyle.

 Using modern fads to fill people’s ‘God-shaped hole’

o We constantly try to fill this ‘emptiness’ with things outside of ourselves
o Examples: Pursuing healthy living and exercise as a ‘religion’; celebrity worship

Ponder: How have some religions adapted to remain relevant and suit
changing identities and values?

B. Religion and Science & Technology

 With science, we are now able to use reason and logic to explain the many causal
relationships and explanations of what happens in the world. The role of religion has thus
taken a beating, with science taking on many of the roles that were once reserved for a higher
power.

3
 We are no longer as reliant on religion to provide us with answers or to solve our problems
as in the past. Technology enables us to live a modern lifestyle and be in control of our life.
Science Religion
Mankind is in control Mankind is not in control
Study of the natural and material world Concerned with the non-material world
Based upon hypotheses, theories and laws Based upon dogma/doctrine, received
knowledge and inherited culture
Evidential, empirical Evidential (holy texts)
Testable (double-blind test), falsifiable Untestable and unfalsifiable

 Impact of the internet on religion

o Challenges the control that leaders once had over doctrine and their flocks due to the
information that is available online
o The web has helped proliferate different interpretations of religions leading to the emergence
of new communities and faiths
o Individuals now have a much more autonomous role in deciding whom to
approach as a source - those with official, traditional credentials or Rabbi Google

 However, while technology has offered solutions to some of our problems, some hold that:
o Science and technology do not have an answer or solution to human evil, human
suffering, and death.
o Science also does not equate to morality, and only seeks to answer scientific questions.
o While religion does not solve these problems above, religion provides us with an
explanation, gives us peace, meaning in life, identity and hope for the future.

 Also, if we regard religion as an organised set of beliefs and science as a systematic study of the
physical and material world, could both demonstrate a form of belief, merely in different
systems? After all, both science and religion are discrete forms of inquiry or knowledge.

 In order to remain relevant, religion also incorporates technology in

ways that facilitate our practice:
o Contactless collection for tithing, donations and other payments
o The Catholic confession mobile applications – to walk sinners through confession, providing
push notifications when it is time for the next shriving (and a handy “sin checklist” to remind
you of whether you’ve been naughty or nice)
o Webcast rites – live streaming of Christian funeral services in the UK
o Kiblah mobile applications for Muslims to pinpoint the direction of the Kabah, which Muslims
use as a focal point for prayers.
o Electric joss stick incense burner

Are all scientists really averse to the notion of religion and spirituality?
 Scientists such as Christopher Hitchens and Richard Dawkins have popularised the notion of
science and religion as mutually exclusive concepts.
 While popular culture may appear to enforce such a one-dimensional perspective, the science
community is in actuality a richly diverse one. In fact, scientists lie across the broad
spectrum of agnosticism, belief and atheism.

The atheist:
 Believes fully that ‘salvation’ is achieved by science and science alone, with Darwin’s Theory of
Evolution standing in place of holy texts.
 Primarily hinges on the theory of evolution.

Faithful scientists:
 Confident that while science gives knowledge of the world, religion provides meaning.
 Universe viewed through the lens of their religious texts.
The middle ground believers:
 Posit that it is misleading to define the debate between Reason and Faith as a dichotomy.
 One can use a sense of reason to uncover the secrets of the universe because faith is founded on
God-given reason and God-ordained revelation.

4
 Science is Man’s most reliable way of understanding the natural world but is powerless to answer
questions on meaning and purpose of the way the natural world works.

The agnostic scientist:

 A cynic who believes it is intellectually arrogant to proclaim either that there is absolutely no God
or that there was a specific God to believe in.
 Many physicists believe in a “God” that is more of an abstract principle or order and harmony and
a set of mathematical equations or physical laws rather than God with personhood and
motivations.

Spiritual scientists:
 Dissociation from being labelled as religious because of their distaste for organised religion.

Reflection: How far do you agree that science/technology are complementary with religion?

C. Religion and the Media / Social Media

 The public image of social groups and institutions depends heavily on their portrayal in the
news media, which collectively shape and mould public perspectives.
 Over decades, the mass media has skewed public perspectives on religion.
Research done on 30 years of news coverage in The New York Times and The Washington Post revealed that
American media outlets tended to portray Muslim societies as distinctly sexist and misogynistic, even when
similarly compared to non-Muslim countries with poor women’s rights records.

Reflect: What’s the situation like in Singapore?

Social media as a disruptor – Me, Myself & God

 Increasingly, social media and the pervasive nature of the Internet is changing the ways in which
religion is perceived among adherents themselves, influencing how many believers worship, and
even what it means to be religious.
 The rise of social media comes alongside the decentralisation of religious activity – religion,
which has always been inherently communal, is now becoming increasingly individualised.
In the US, 1 in 5 people who identify as Catholics and 1 in 4 Protestants seldom or never attend organised
services.

 Mobile applications and social media accounts tweeting out religious verses allow for a private
expression of faith that takes place between the individual and the phone screen.
This ability to pick and choose means they can avoid doctrine that does not appeal to them.
 Faiths are adopting online technologies to make it easier for people to communicate ideas and
worship online.
o But these very technologies have shaped religious people themselves and changed
their behaviour.
 The BBC reported in 2017 that studies have shown that text read on screens is generally taken
more literally than text read in books. Aesthetic features of a text, such as its broader themes and
emotional content, are also more likely to be drawn out when it is read as a book. But in a

5
 religious text, the distinction can be crucial. Some researchers think that overly literal
interpretations of religious texts can lead to fundamentalism.
The Bible app YouVersion has been downloaded and installed more than 260 million times worldwide since its
launch in 2008. The Bible as a book is quite large and complicated, but readers are still aware of the order of
reading the text. With a digital version, there is little differentiation and boundaries between these books, and no
sense of what came before and after.

In 2005, following a survey of the religious beliefs of American teenagers, sociologists Smith and Denton coined
the term for a form of “mutated Christian belief system”: moralistic therapeutic deism, a form of belief that is
focused more on the charitable and moral side of the Bible, which are the underlying tenets of religion, rather
than the notion that the Universe was created by an all-seeing, powerful leader. Since then, this distilled belief
system has seen an uptake due to the proliferation of the internet and social media.

 It is now easier than ever to subscribe to an individualised faith, challenging the authority,
and even relevance, of these long-standing religious institutions.

Ponder: How have the value and importance of religion changed in Singapore as a result of social
media?

Case study: The Guardian reported in 2014 that the spread of the Internet in America not only coincided with a
great drop in American religiosity (from 8 to 18 % between 2000 and 2010) but partially caused it.

 And yet, in spite of these developments, organised faiths have adapted to

remain relevant to the masses (and especially young people) without
compromising on their core beliefs and practices.
In the book Digital Hinduism, the essay “Mirabai Sings on YouTube: The Transmission of a Poet-Saint in the Age
of Digital Devotion,” shows that websites like YouTube have provided a platform for the consumption of
devotional songs in abundance. This allows for practice and interpretation to flourish.

Sermons for Christians and Muslims are live-streamed on YouTube and live-Tweeted for congregants to follow at
their own convenience. Bite-sized religious nuggets are also available on Pinterest, Instagram and Snapchat.

Sacred figures & memes: StoryTimeJesus, which makes use of religious iconography overlaid with colloquial text
to describe religious verses.

D. Religion and Extremism

Religious conflict as a quest for power

 Religious conflicts are just like any other conflict – fought over power and resources. Similar
conflicts have also been fought over nationalism, racial superiority and imperialism.
 Religious conflicts are centred or seemingly centred on ideological beliefs that lie at the core of
value systems of believers, which can rouse stirring emotions when assaulted, but are
nonetheless simply battles for power.

What, or rather, who, is a fundamentalist?

 According to the Oxford dictionary, this is a person who believes in the strict, literal
interpretation of scripture in a religion.
 Religious fundamentalism is essentially a 20th century movement, with some clear patterns:
o They often emerge as a response to a perceived crisis.
o They are engaged in conflict with ‘enemies’ whose secularist policies and beliefs seem
inimical to religion itself.
o Fundamentalists do not regard this battle as a conventional political struggle, but
experience it as a cosmic war between the forces of good and evil.

6
 o They fear annihilation, and try to fortify their threatened identity by means of a
selective retrieval of certain doctrines and practices of the past.
o For some, such fears manifest in the distortion and intransigence of religion, giving rise
to extremism.
Some examples: Ma Ba Tha and 969 movement (hard-line religious nationalist groups fronted by Buddhist
monks), Jewish fundamentalists in Israel and the US, Sikh fundamentalism in the UK.  

Decentralisation disrupting organised religions and amplifying religious deviances

 The rise of social media and the increasing privatisation of worship has led to the morphing
of religious fundamentalism and by extension, extremism.
 The volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous (VUCA) nature of the world today has left many
facing discrimination and disenfranchisement, leaving them yearning for some form of
belonging and a warped desire for excitement and adventure.
 In the murky depths of the interwebs, they find something to belong and aspire to.
ISIS used social media to recruit jihadists from around the world to fight in Iraq and Syria, as well as to inspire
terrorist attacks overseas. And in a report in British newspaper The Independent revealed that many ISIS fighters
who were self-radicalised had only a basic understanding of the religion.

Similarly, the Bastille Day attacker who ploughed a truck into a crowd in France, was described by family and
neighbours as indifferent to religion, volatile and prone to drinking sprees, with a penchant for salsa dancing and
a reported male lover – far removed from the core tenets of Islam.

 Terrorist organisations prey on the disenfranchisement and vulnerability of young minds,

using social media accounts to get close to and offer a version of the religion that appeals to
them.
 Oftentimes, hateful, dangerous ideas are propagated in silos without counter-narratives due to
the isolating nature of social media, where consumers and pick and choose which sources of
information they want to receive.
 The political hype and media amplification of terrorism, combined with the
personalised targeting of recruiters has led to the unpredictable, sporadic trend of lone-
wolf terrorism.
 Violent extremism thus represents not the resurgence of traditional cultures, but their collapse,
as young people struggling to find themselves search for a social identity with personal
significance.
Twitter reported that in the first half of 2017 alone, it suspended 300,000 terrorism-related accounts.

 The multi-faceted nature of extremism thus demands a multi-pronged

approach:
o The media moving away from dangerous stereotypes and the amplification of such
attacks
o Audiences, particularly younger ones, learning how to recognise and deconstruct
propaganda and to become critical consumers of information
o Ban Ki-Moon, the former secretary-general of the United Nations, realised that the role
of religious actors and institutions is underutilised, and called for a mechanism to
further engage religious actors in countering violent extremism. In cases of prevention,
religious leaders may have more space to develop relationships and provide resources that
could stop extremist ideology from taking root.

Case study: Saudi Arabia

The primary Saudi strategy is to confront thoughts with thoughts, and to confront the appeal of extremist
ideologies by presenting the “true interpretation of shariah principles”, and by promoting the “true values of the
Islamic faith” and the importance of tolerance. In order to combat radical ideology, government officials adopted
a series of “soft” counterterrorism measures aimed at undermining extremist views and disrupting
the activities of those who promote violent extremism: a counselling program, a religious-authority
campaign, a media campaign, the development of public education, the monitoring of preaching, Internet
filtering, anti-terrorism legislation and increased international cooperation.

7
E. Religion and Money
 Religion and money are and have always been intricately intertwined.
 Many of the world’s great religions enjoin humankind to eschew the material luxuries of the
world, which are but temporary distractions from lives of purpose and meaning.
 Money is instead to be spent doing good, be it through alms-giving and tithing, or donations to
the poor and needy, among others.

Affluence
 The relative stability of a country means that for many, there is less incentive to look to
religion for divine intervention or for security.
Baltimore-based paleontologist Gregory Paul created a “Successful Societies Scale” that compared 25
socioeconomic indicators against statistics on religious belief and practice in 17 developed nations, and concluded
in a 2009 study that “religion is most able to thrive in seriously dysfunctional societies.” Poorer nations have the
highest proportion of people who identify as religious.

Commercialisation of religion… or simply a tangible expression of faith?

 Today, the prevalence of religious music, religious fashion and other related services on offer puts
devotees in a dilemma – are the pious paying for such products and services as a genuine
expression of faith, or are they paying simply for the commoditisation of their
spirituality?

Religion as a business
Pilgrimages
 The pilgrimage is a journey in search of moral and spiritual significance. It often
encompasses a journey to a location of importance to a person’s beliefs and faith.
 The World Tourism Organisation estimates that about 300 million tourists visit the world’s key
religious sites every year, making spiritual tourism a significant part of both domestic and
international tourism.
Faith-based tourism in the Middle Eastern region dates back to medieval times, where Venetian traders took
Europeans on trips to the Holy Land (an area stretching from Egypt to Syria), which holds spiritual significance
to three of the world’s major faiths: Judaism, Islam and Christianity.

The Haj, which all Muslims aspire to do at least once in their lives, now brings in $16.5 bil, around 3% of Saudi
GDP. In Singapore, a Haj package can easily set you back $15,000. Also available are 5-star hotels, multi-course
cuisines, air-conditioned tents and the ferrying of pilgrims from one destination to the next in Mercedes buses –
far removed from the austerity typically associated with this spiritual journey.

Most popular pilgrimage sites in the world No of visitors

The Ganges river, which runs from the Himalayas to the Bay of Bengal, representing life, 20 mil yearly
purity and the goddess Ganga to Hindu worshippers

Our Lady of Guadalupe Basilica, Mexico, the most popular Marian shrine in the world, and 20 mil yearly
the second most visited Catholic church in the world

Mecca, part of the Haj pilgrimage, a mandatory religious journey to be undertaken by all 13 mil yearly
Muslims who are physically and financially able to do so

Jerusalem, which holds multiple holy sites for worshippers of Judaism, Islam and 2 mil yearly
Christianity

Bethlehem, Jesus’ birthplace and an important visiting site for Christians 1.4 mil yearly

The Piety Market

 Religious expression goes beyond practising the rites and rituals associated with a religion, and
markets have emerged catering to the various modes of religious expression. Many now
thus question the impact of commercialisation on the sanctity of religion.
 Crucially, religious institutions bank on the compassionate and dedicated donations of
congregants, who in turn trust that these funds donated will be put to good use.

8
 However, high-profile failures of institutional religions to uphold their credibility may have
turned some people away from religion.

Examples
 Religious conferences: religious organisations bring in influential and renowned religious
speakers to address audiences for a fee, sometimes mimicking the set-up of pop concerts, with
spectacular use of lights and sounds.
 The publishing industry is also booming, with myriad titles offering guidebooks and serving as an
additional mode of instruction, beyond scriptural texts, for the spiritual growth of the individual.
In 2016, books with religious and inspirational themes from religious presses and trade publishers
were among the best-selling books in America, generating US$455 million dollars in revenue.
 Religious behaviour and norms (including dress, symbols, rites and rituals which do not form the
essential core of the religious practice itself) have also been commoditised as identity markers for
the religious – subscribing to religious TV channels, owning the latest fashion items and spending
on religious-themed music.

Recent developments show a proliferation of approaches by manufacturers and service providers to attract
Muslims, to buy or subscribe to their offerings by using the “Islam” label. This is part of a growing range of goods
aimed at winning over pious Islamic consumers in a global market estimated to be worth US$2 trillion a year. But
a worry is that Muslims are buying these products simply because of the halal stamp, without asking whether a
computer mouse, a bottle of water or that colourful headscarf needs the label in the first place.

A CNN report in 2010 showed that mega churches across the United States brought in billions of dollars of profits
from self-help books to CDs and DVDs, with the average income of such churches running into $6.5 million
dollars.

In Singapore, the City Harvest Church courted controversy when its pastor Kong Hee and six others were
convicted of misappropriating $24 million in CHC’s building funds through sham bond investments; they then
misused a further $26 million to cover up the initial crime. These bonds were used to fund the Crossover Project,
a church mission to spread the Gospel through the secular music career of Mr Kong’s wife, pop singer Ho Yeow
Sun.

Taoists who offer paper burnings to their ancestors have seen an expansion of choice, with the commercialisation
of a fast-fading trade, where iPads, iPhones, a 42-inch LCD TV, classic snacks, and pet animals are among a
plethora of options now available for purchase.

Free response: Is religion linked too closely to money these days?

5. Where do we go from here?

Time to say goodbye…

 Given that science and technology has largely taken over some of the original functions of religion,
shouldn’t religion be nearing its end of days?

According to a Gallup International survey of more than 50,000 people in 57 countries, the number of individuals
claiming to be religious fell from 77% to 68% between 2005 and 2011, while those who self-identified as atheist
rose by 3% – bringing the world’s estimated proportion of non-believers to 13%.

 Capitalism, access to technology and education also seems to correlate with a corrosion of
religiosity in some populations. Nations that report the highest rates of atheism tend to be those
that provide their citizens with relatively high economic, political and existential stability.

9
Japan, the UK, Canada, South Korea, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Germany, France and
Uruguay (where the majority of citizens have European roots) are all places where religion was important just a
century or so ago, but that now report some of the lowest belief rates in the world. These countries feature strong
educational and social security systems, low inequality and are all relatively wealthy.
But wait a minute…
 Scholars are still trying to unpack the complex factors that drive an individual or a nation toward
atheism, but there are a few commonalities.
 Part of religion’s appeal is that it offers security in an uncertain world.
 Why, even with advancements in science and the proliferation of social media and the internet,
does religion continue to thrive?  

The percentage of individuals with no affiliations, interestingly, is predicted to drop as a share of the world’s
population from 16% in 2010 to 13% in 2050.

 As writer Voltaire says, if God did not exist, it would be necessary to create Him. Even if the
world’s troubles were miraculously solved and we all led peaceful lives, it is likely religion would
probably still be around. This is because a “god-shaped hole” seems to exist in the human
neuropsychology.
 As mentioned in Section Two, human beings naturally want to believe that they are a part of
something bigger, that life is not completely futile. Our minds crave purpose and explanation.
 There are also some simple mathematics behind religion’s knack for prevailing – across
cultures, people who are more religious also tend to have more children than people who are not.
 Religion is also intimately and intricately tied with many people’s cultures and traditions – it
is hard to distinguish religion from culture at times.

 For all of these reasons – psychological, neurological, historical, cultural and logistical
– experts guess that religion will probably never go away.
 Regardless of your point of view, the impact of religion and religious thinking on human
functioning and evolution is a captivating intellectual debate that shows no sign of ending.
Religion, whether it’s maintained through fear or love, is here to stay.

Writer Pascal-Emmanuel Gobry puts it this way:

“Human beings are spiritual beings first, with a natural orientation toward transcendent realities. More
prosaically, to state the obvious, human beings make decisions partly based on how we understand our
self-interest, yes, but also based on our worldviews, on our vision of what is true and good and
beautiful. Religion has been the most intense worldview-shaping phenomenon in history, and it will
continue to be the most important worldview-shaping phenomenon of the 21st century.”

For your reflections

10
 Further practice
A-level essay questions:
1. ‘Science and religion will always conflict.’ Discuss. (2002)
2. Discuss the importance of religion in society today. (2004)
3. Do myths and legends still have a role to play in Singapore? (2006)
4. Can a belief in the supernatural be sustained in our modern world? (2007)
5. ‘The more science advances, the more religion will decline.’ To what extent do you agree? (2008)
6. How far should religion influence political decisions? (2009)
7. ‘Human actions should be based on scientific fact, not religious faith.’ How far do you agree with
this statement? (2015)

11