The three controversial issues that were covered were
1. “Out of the Church, no salvation”
2. “Don’t worship idols!”
3. “My religion is the best!”.

The audience could easily relate to Father’s Bruno dialogue regardless of their religions. He analysed biblical scriptures to present the similarities between Christianity and other religions. He shared his knowledge freely among people of different religions, choosing to refrain from evangelising or preaching.

It was a highly engaging and excitable “Question and Answer” segment. Father Bruno addressed each and every query patiently. The ambience was relaxed as the audience got to interact with Father Bruno while refreshments were served.

This inter-faith dialogue provided a platform for people to gain valuable knowledge about Catholicism and the three issues that many people in today’s society are concerned about. Check our website regularly for updates on the next OPSG-IRO Inter-Faith Dialogue. For any enquiries, kindly contact Ms Heryanti at 6258 6828 or send an email to: heryanti@onepeople.sg.

OnePeople.sg and Inter-Religious Organisation, Singapore, jointly organised their 7th Interfaith Dialogue on 28 January 2010 at OPSG’s Hall of Trust.

Distinguished representatives from various communities - Mr Harbans Singh, the Sikh Representative on IRO’s Executive Council, Ms See Guat Kwee, an Inter-Faith Activist and Mr Mohd Noor Mohd Said, a community leader as well as Jamiyah's Human Resource Manager, shared their expertise on non-violent communication.

OnePeople.sg in partnership with Inter-Religious Organisation (IRO) organised a seminar on “Story of the Soul – From the Baha’i Perspective” on 29 July 2009 at OnePeople.sg.

Mr Kuek Yi Hsing, representative from The Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of Singapore shared his views on the existence of the soul and its relationship with the body and how it serves as a vehicle for the development and growth of the soul. 

The seminar ended with an engaging dialogue with the audience sharing their views of soul, reincarnation and the concept of heaven and earth.

Join our next seminar! Please continue to check our website for updates.

Reflections: Unfolding Faith and Ethnicity brings you on visits to heritage centres and iconic places of workshop to explore and appreciate the unique cultures and practices of a specific faith or ethnicity.

Participants will engage in a dialogue with religious leaders to understand the significance as well as the sensitivities associated with religious or cultural practices.

The 1 day Mediation Course for Community Leaders enables participants to understand the key concepts of mediation and apply the principles in dealing with inter-ethnic conflicts.

Conducted by an experienced trainer Mr Viswa Sadasivan, CEO Strategic Moves, the Mediation Course will engage participants in a series of interactive discussions, hands-on practices, role plays and sharing of views and experiences.

Participants are able to explore the barriers to community engagement and how these affects one's ability to mediate inter-ethnic conflicts. Contents of this course also cover topics such as identifying and addressing fault lines, recognising the need for mediating diverse interests, and understanding the roles of a mediator. The role-play sessions in the course also allow participants to experience the various stages of mediation and at the same time, better understand differing perceptions and positions.

For more information on the course, kindly contact Venkadasan at DID: 6253 3285 or E-mail: Venkadasan@onepeople.sg

The Trust Building Workshop for IRCC members and community leaders is a scenario-based session where participants are involved in discussing strategies to build trust in the event of a religious or ethnic conflict. This is important in ensuring that that community solidarity is not affected due to rising tensions among religious and ethnic communities.

The workshop also aims to facilitate sharing of the approaches to promote inter-ethnic and inter-faith understanding at the community level. As part of the group discussions, participants will be presented with likely scenarios and tasked to brainstorm on actions they would take to restore the levels of trust and understanding in the community. They will also share their views and gain an understanding of the present strengths and gaps in maintaining, building and enhancing TRUST within and among faith and ethnic communities in Singapore.

OnePeople.sg, in collaboration with Ministry of Education (MOE), conducts the Community Engagement Workshop for the schools CEP teams, which includes principals, vice-principals, HODs and admin managers. The workshop aims to facilitate understanding of the sensitivity of race and religious issues within the school context and to equip participants with techniques of sensing ground issues and mediation.

One of the main elements of the workshop involves getting participants into the mindset of Community Engagement – to understand ethnicity and Racial Harmony, where the trainer covers issues such as stereotyping, concerns among educators and their contributions to strengthen racial and religious relations on school grounds. Participants are also alerted of the importance of striking a balance with regard to ethnic/ religious sensitivities through “Ground Sensing”.

Through role-play exercises, participants are able to familiarise themselves with the principles of mediation and application of these skills in resolving conflicts. The hands-on experience provides participants with scenarios and possible solutions which participants can reference and re-enact during critical times. Finally, the session concludes with the participants reflecting on the objectives and engaging new means of incorporating the values to their alma mater.

On 6 April 2008 , the Central Singapore CDC and OnePeople.sg, together with the FreeKicks partners, namely Mendaki, Sinda, Associations of Muslim Professionals (AMP) and Chinese Development Assistance Council (CDAC) held their Partnership Accord Ceremony at the Jalan Besar Stadium to launch the programme.

The weekly FreeKicks football programme aims to inculcate racial harmony values by building friendships through football and nurturing ideals of racial harmony by organising programmes for the participants  to embrace, understand and appreciate our multi-ethnic and multi-cultural environment . FreeKicks offers an excellent opportunity for children from different ethnic and socio-economic backgrounds to interact with one another through meaningful sporting activities.

For more information about Freekicks please contact James at 6258 6828 or send an email to: james@onepeople.sg.

The Inter-Religious Organisation (IRO) in partnership with OnePeople.sg organised a seminar on “Distortions and Facts: Women in Islam” on 12 November 2008 at OnePeople.sg.

Many of the prevalent distortions about Islam revolve around the issue of the status of the female in Islam. In this insightful and thought-provoking seminar, Dr Bibijan Mohd Ayyub, BBM provided her explanation from the Quran and the Hadith.

She touched on the issues of limited polygyny in Islam, divorce procedures, rights to inheritance, leadership role of women by having recourse to the facts as plainly laid out in the Quran and the Hadith, particularly the Quran which is the very immutable Constitution of Islam  accepted by all schools of Islamic thought and law.

Many from the audience also shared their views and thoughts about the subject during the Q&A session.

Click here to read the translation of the 25 November article in Berita Harian about the seminar.

Join our next seminar! Please continue to check our website for updates.

In the spirit of racial and religious harmony, the Inter-Religious Organisation, Singapore (IRO) organises inter-faith seminars in partnership with OnePeople.sg to promote inter-faith understanding among youth, ethnic, religious and community groups. Two Seminars are held for each religion - Hinduism, Judaism, Zoroastrianism, Buddhism, Taoism, Jainism, Christianity, Islam, Sikhism and Bahai Faith. The seminar held on 23 April 2008 focused on the theme of ‘Christians and Peace'.

Father Bruno shared his experiences in Sri Lanka and India and spoke about how Christians can work towards peace and harmony in Singapore 's multi-racial and multi-faith society. This gave the audiences a fresh perspective on the meaningful opportunities for Christians to bond and to help others from different faiths even while they pursue their own.

Ms See Guat Kwee also shared her journey of peacemaking and her experiences in inter-faith dialogue in other countries . The audiences were certainly moved by the account of her journey of conviction and passion to promote peace and harmony among people of different faiths.

These seminars cover different aspects of each religion, with a common objective to share the good work that each religion does to support peace and goodwill within our multi-racial and multi-religious communities.

Be part of the movement! Join our next seminar! Please continue to check our website for updates.

New slogan! New Logo! Moving Forward! Dr Vivian Balakrishnan, Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports (MCYS), and Mrs Yu-Foo Yee, Minister of State Community Development, Youth and Sports joined hands with members of the National Steering Committee (NSC) on Racial and Religious Harmony to launch the IRCC logo and slogan, at the National Inter-Racial and Religious Confidence Circle (IRCC) Workshop 2008 on 5 April 2008 organised by MCYS. 200 participants from the IRCCs attended the event.

With the launch of the new IRCC logo and slogan, it was timely to review the IRCCs' progress since its formation in 2002. OnePeople.sg (OPSG) worked closely with MCYS to facilitate a workshop on the IRCCs' challenges, strengths and future plans in strengthening racial and religious harmony at the community level.

24 of OPSGs trained volunteer facilitators, most of them from our Explorations in Ethnicity (EiE) programme, carried out the discussions and brought great ideas to the table. The members expressed that having dialogues and visits to religious institutions was important in promoting inter-faith understanding at the ground level. They were pleased with the dialogue sessions, heritage visits and workshops organised by OPSG and wanted more of such programmes as part of their learning journey. Some felt that IRCCs should pool resources at a GRC level for some of the emergency preparedness exercises. Others felt an IRCC website will enable them to access information and programmes. One thing was for certain, all unanimously felt that a new slogan and logo was an excellent move and they were literally geared for it. Each member walked home in high spirits with their very own IRCC T-shirt.

As for our facilitators, it was a great hands-on experience because they were able to practice what they had learnt form our EiE Facilitators programme. They had the opportunity to share their thoughts and exchange views on community bonding.

Click here to download the media release on the Launch of the IRCC logo and slogan at the National Inter-Racial and Religious Confidence Circle (IRCC) Workshop 2008.