Religious Identities: Syncretic and Inclusive

Abstract

Religion is a key identity marker not least because almost every tribe or village that has been visited by anthropologists has testified to the fact that religious beliefs and behaviors stand at the core of every civilization. According to Reid (1993: 5) over a thousand faiths based on sacred scripture took hold in Southeast Asia, which eventually led to “an Islamic arc in the south, a Confucian political orthodoxy in Vietnam, a Theravada Buddhist bastion in the rest of the mainland, and a Christian outrider in the Philippines.” In Singapore, mosques, temples, viharas and churches have continued to coexist generally peacefully cheek by jowl.