Irreligion in Singapore

As of 2015, 18.5% of Singaporeans have no religious affiliation.[2] Non-religious Singaporeans are found in various ethnic groups and all walks of life in Singapore. Singapore's non-religious tend to be atheists, agnostics, humanists, theists, deists or skeptics. Some locals affiliate with no religion, but still choose to practice traditional rituals like ancestor worship, which they do not necessarily regard as religious in essence. The number of non-religious people in Singapore has risen slightly. Census reports show that those who said they have no religion rose from 13% in 1980 to 18.5% in 2015. In recent years, social gatherings of non-religious people have become more popular in Singapore.

Religion in Singapore[1]
religion percent
Buddhism/Taoism
 
 43.2%
Christianity
 
 18.8%
No religion
 
 18.5%
Islam
 
 14%
Hinduism
 
 5.0%
Others
 
 0.6%

Since 2005, informal atheist groups had organised social gatherings to discuss religion and secularism, and popular books on the topic from authors such as Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens. One of the earliest groups was called the Atheist Haven, and was formed by three Singaporeans in 2004.[3]

Humanist Society of Singapore
Main article: Humanist Society of Singapore

In 2008, the Singapore Humanism Meetup was formed as a social network of secular humanists, atheists and agnostics.[4] In October 2010, the Humanist Society (Singapore) became the first humanist group to be gazetted as a society. Many pioneer members of the society met at gatherings organised by the Singapore Humanism Meetup.[5]

Affiliation

Non-religious groups in Singapore are also linked to other non-religious networks in Southeast Asia. The Singapore Humanism Meetup, Singaporean Atheists and Humanist Society (Singapore) are listed on the Southeast Asian Atheists website.[6]

See also

References
  1. Singapore Department of Statistics (2015). "STATISTICS SINGAPORE - Infographic - General Household Survey 2015" (PDF). Singapore Department of Statistics. Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 January 2011. Retrieved 24 June 2019.
  2. "STATISTICS SINGAPORE - Infographic - General Household Survey 2015" (PDF). Singapore Department of Statistics. Retrieved 2019-06-24.
  3. "Singaporean Atheists". YouTube. Retrieved 2013-09-15.
  4. Humanism, Singapore (2010-02-21). "Singapore Humanism Meetup: SHM reported under 'hot' section". Sg-humanism-meetup.blogspot.com. Retrieved 2013-09-15.
  5. "Humanist Society (Singapore)". Humanist.org.sg. Retrieved 2013-09-15.
  6. "Singapore". SEA-Atheists.org. 2013-07-18. Retrieved 2013-09-15.
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