Religion
Main article: Religion in SingaporeSingapore generally allows religious freedom, although some religious sects are restricted or banned, such as Jehovah's Witness, due to its opposition of National Service. The majority of Malays are Muslim, the plurality of Chinese practise Buddhism and syncretic Chinese folk traditions. Christianity is growing among the Chinese, having overtaken Taoism as second most important religion among this ethnic group. Indians are mostly Hindus though many others are Muslims, Sikhs, Buddhists and Christians. People who practice no religion form the third largest group in Singapore.
Religion | 1980 | 1990 | 2000 | 2010 |
---|---|---|---|---|
Buddhism | 27.0 | 31.2 | 42.5 | 33.3 |
Christianity | 10.1 | 12.7 | 14.6 | 18.3 |
No religion | 13.0 | 14.1 | 14.8 | 17.0 |
Islam | 15.7 | 15.3 | 14.9 | 14.7 |
Taoism/Chinese traditional beliefs | 30.0 | 22.4 | 8.5 | 10.9 |
Hinduism | 3.6 | 3.7 | 4.0 | 5.1 |
Other religions | 0.5 | 0.6 | 0.6 | 0.7 |
Religions of the main ethnic groups (2000):
Source: Census 2000.
Read more about this topic: Demographics Of Singapore
Famous quotes containing the word religion:
“As soon as a religion comes to dominate, it has as its opponents all those who would have been its earliest disciples.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (18441900)
“We have just enough religion to make us hate, but not enough to make us love one another.”
—Jonathan Swift (16671745)
“That, upon the whole, we may conclude that the Christian religion not only was at first attended with miracles, but even at this day cannot be believed by any reasonable person without one. Mere reason is insufficient to convince us of its veracity: And whoever is moved by Faith to assent to it, is conscious of a continued miracle in his own person, which subverts all the principles of his understanding, and gives him a determination to believe what is most contrary to custom and experience.”
—David Hume (17111776)