Please keep religion out of partisan politics

Singapore must remember the discipline that has kept its multi-religious compact intact.

- Mathew Mathews and Melvin Tay

Singapore’s success in managing the complexities of a multi-religious society rests on a clear commitment: the secular state protects freedom of religion, while keeping partisan politics free of sectarian mobilisation.

This commitment is not abstract. It is a practical guardrail that prevents political competition from becoming a religious or ethnic tug-of-war. It also warrants reaffirming, especially after the recent general election where questions of religious identity surfaced and reminded us why the secular foundations of our politics must remain firm.

A recent parliamentary debate reaffirmed a longstanding tenet of Singapore’s governance: political actors should not mix religion or race with electioneering. Parties should not campaign on religious grounds, appoint faith champions, or draw on clerical authority for partisan gain. Race, too, should not be drafted into political contests.

Foreign influence that plays on these identities should be rejected, and coded appeals that stoke communal sentiment, even while professing multiracial ideals, have no place in responsible politics.

ESCHEWING THE MIX OF RELIGION AND POLITICS

To see why these boundaries matter, it helps to recall how the separation of faith and state first took shape.

The modern distinction between religion and politics took shape in the 17th century, when governance was redefined as a nonreligious domain, and religion was separated from state power.

This separation was forged in the trauma of Europe's protracted wars of religion. Hard experience taught that lasting peace between rival religious persuasions and genuine freedom of belief required keeping institutions of faith and state distinct.