Different under God
THE religious landscape in Singapore is a dynamic one. Buddhists, the country's largest religious group, have become proportionately smaller when we compare data between the 2000 and 2010 censuses.
Meanwhile, those who profess Christianity, Taoism, Hinduism and no religion experienced proportionate growth during the same period. This dynamism is evident not only between faith communities, but also within each faith community. The changes within the local Protestant Christian community are a case in point.
Two years ago, we embarked on a major survey of Protestant churchgoers in Singapore. Our sample consisted of approximately 2,800 Christians from some of the mainline churches, such as the Anglican, Methodist and Bible Presbyterian denominations, as well as non-denominational independent churches and megachurches.
The objectives of this study were to capture the socioeconomic profiles of Protestants and to understand their attitudes towards money and finance, politics, sex and sexuality, and perceptions of compatibility with other faith and ethnic communities.
While it is widely recognised that a large proportion of the Protestant Christian community in Singapore is middle-class, the study revealed that its middle- class character is neither unitary nor static.
Our study shows that although the level of education among those attending mainline churches and megachurches is comparable, they do have different socioeconomic backgrounds.
Broadly speaking, those who attend mainline churches have largely inherited their middle-class status, while those who attend megachurches tend to be part of the "new" or aspiring middle-class.
Our data shows that those who go to mainline churches are more likely to have lived in private property and have better-educated, English-proficient parents who are themselves Christians. In contrast, those who go to megachurches are more likely to have lived in public housing and have less-educated, non-English- speaking parents who are non-Christians.
Along with this discovery, we also found a trend in attitudes between mainline and megachurch Christians that we sought to explain with class analysis.
Members of a varied social group like the "middle class" may create social distinctions among themselves through types of education, family background, language proficiency and lifestyle tastes, also known as cultural capital. The effect of these social distinctions is evident in the way different subgroups engage with their social environment.
Our survey found that mainline-church Christians were more likely to participate in civil society. They were more comfortable with expressing their moral or political views through the public sphere. This suggests a sense of confidence consonant with the possession of cultural capital as long-time members of the English-proficient middle class.
Conversely, megachurch Christians were less likely to see civil society or public civic discourse as a means to express their moral or political views. Instead, many preferred to keep their moral and political opinions private among friends and colleagues. For them, private and informal networks were favoured for exercising moral influence.
On the issue of money and finance, we found that megachurch Christians were more likely to see a stronger relationship between the material and the spiritual.
Unlike mainline Christians, congregational and financial growth were seen by megachurch Christians as signs of divine blessing and personal faithfulness.
Market rationality was also extended to church organisation. For example, those who attend megachurches were more likely to agree that full-time church staff should be paid market-competitive salaries.
But why is there such a strong relationship between the material and the spiritual among megachurches?
There is certainly a penchant among megachurches to use quantifiable indicators of "faithfulness" and "blessing". This inclination to express Christianity in the language of market ethos and logic, we argue, converges with and appeals to the economic aspirations and consumer habits of many young, upwardly mobile Singaporeans.
These Singaporeans, in turn, not only find a brand of spirituality that is conducive in capitalist Singapore, but also empathy with fellow Singaporeans undergoing the same class transitions.
There were also other interesting trends with regard to relationships with other ethnic and faith communities. Although we found that all denominations were overwhelmingly in favour of sharing their faith, megachurch Christians differed from mainline Christians in their relationship with other communities.
There are two main differences. First, we found that megachurch Christians were more sensitive to negative reactions from other faiths when proselytising. A possible explanation for this is that megachurch Christians are more likely to have come from non-Christian backgrounds.
This, together with their greater proficiency in Mandarin, may have helped sensitise them to how other faiths view Christian proselytisation.
In this sense, the class-transitional nature of megachurch Christians may have endowed them with a broader sensitivity, as opposed to those who have inherited their class status.
Second, while all denominations were found to be conservative with regard to issues related to sex and sexuality, such as premarital sex, the moral status of homosexuality and abortion, megachurch Christians were more likely to have and have spent time with homosexual friends.
This may be due to the "seeker church" orientation of megachurches, whereby the distance between the church and the secular world is minimised to demonstrate the relevance of Christianity. Seeker churches thus make it a point to extend their reach and perhaps establish a presence in different spheres of contemporary culture, such that the conventional lines between church and society are blurred.
Another class-based explanation may also help shed light. Local studies elsewhere show that Christians and Muslims in Singapore have significantly more negative attitudes and less tolerance than Buddhists and free thinkers do towards homosexuality.
Given the transitional nature of many of our megachurch Christians - both from working- to middle-class, and from non-Christian to Christian beliefs - it is possible that they may have retained some of their tolerance for homosexuality.
In summary, our study demonstrated that the Protestant Christian community in Singapore is complex, dynamic and differentiated. It is not unreasonable to assume the same of other faith communities in Singapore.
As such, any accurate analysis of the religious landscape in Singapore will have to take into account the social and cultural distinctions within respective faith communities.
The authors are senior fellows at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies. The report - Different Under God: A Survey Of Church-going Protestants In Singapore - is available at major bookshops at $29.90.
The Straits Times
Published on Jan 14, 2013
WHO ARE SINGAPORE'S MEGACHURCH MEMBERS?
Many from working class: Study
In contrast, members of mainline churches tend to be from middle class
By Leonard Lim
MEMBERS of megachurches tend to be from working-class or lower middle-class backgrounds, a large-scale study of Christians here suggests.
It found that younger members of these churches, those aged 29 and below, tend to come from less privileged and non-English-speaking backgrounds, and live in public housing.
Megachurches in Singapore are commonly understood to comprise New Creation, City Harvest, Faith Community Baptist Church and The Lighthouse.
In contrast, members of mainline Anglican and Methodist churches, as well as independent churches, tend to have middle-class backgrounds.
Responses from some 2,660 Christians across 24 churches were analysed for the study.
Researchers Terence Chong and Hui Yew-Foong of the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies have written up their findings in a book entitled Different Under God.
They said the findings suggest respondents from the mainline denominations and independent churches are part of the "established English-proficient middle class", while those from megachurches constitute part of the "emergent middle class".
The study was motivated by the rise of megachurches in Singapore. In the past decade, they have catapulted into public consciousness, complete with images of their rock concert-like worship services and charismatic pastors. Their congregations have swelled from a few thousand to as much as over 30,000.
The study was done through questionnaires and covered Christians' attitudes towards issues such as money, politics and sexuality. It was conducted from December 2009 to January 2011.
Just over a third of respondents were aged between 18 and 29, with the authors accepting that this group was overrepresented compared to those aged in their 30s, 40s (about 20 per cent each), 50s (16 per cent) and 60s (7.1 per cent).
Of the respondents, 21.7 per cent were from the Methodist Church, 22.9 per cent from the Anglican Church, 16.5 per cent from independent churches, and 36.4 per cent from megachurches.
Another finding was that megachurch respondents were more likely to see numerical and financial growth as signs of divine blessing and personal faithfulness.
This, said the authors, also suggests that megachurches articulate Christianity in the language of market ethos and logic, thus "converging with and appealing to the economic aspirations and consumer habits of many young, upwardly mobile Singaporeans".
Civil servant Michelle Toh, who has attended New Creation for four years, said the findings largely matched the background of most of her church friends.
"Many of us, including me, are first-generation Christians," the 25-year-old who lives in public housing said.
"But within my cell group of 40, there is a good mix of those living in flats, condominiums and landed homes."
Sociologist Daniel Goh, who has studied megachurches for more than a decade, said that their theology resonates with young people from the working and lower middle classes as they aspire very much to be upwardly mobile in terms of socio-economic status.
But he disagreed with the authors' conclusion that these Christians had achieved upward mobility, saying instead they "are finding their aspirations blocked in the secular realm", as evidenced by the widening income inequality.
"The extra spiritual push from megachurch membership is helping them overcome the obstacles to achieving upward mobility," the National University of Singapore don added.
Copyright © 2013 Singapore Press Holdings. All rights reserved.
The Straits Times
Published on Jan 14, 2013
WHO ARE SINGAPORE'S MEGACHURCH MEMBERS?
Less likely to support activism
CHRISTIANS from megachurches were found to be less likely to support public interventions in policy matters, the study found.
Only a third of those surveyed agreed with the statement "Christians should collectively express their views on public policy issues in public".
That was lower than the figure for independents (49.2 per cent), Anglicans (52.1 per cent) and Methodists (56.7 per cent).
Sociologist Daniel Goh said the findings confirm his own qualitative research. He said: "The comparisons should not be interpreted merely as a snapshot in time, but in the light of the history of political conservatism of megachurches and the history of social action of the Anglican and Methodist churches."
Despite their conservative outlook towards speaking out in public, megachurch respondents were as likely as their counterparts from other denominations to allow religious values to influence their views on public policies.
Those from megachurches (87.9 per cent) were most likely to agree that their Christian values influence their views on public policy issues such as casinos and abortion.
The corresponding figures for the other denominations were between 83.6 and 87.2 per cent.
LEONARD LIM
Copyright © 2013 Singapore Press Holdings. All rights reserved.
The findings suggest that many members of the mainline Anglican Church - some of whom worship at St Andrew's Cathedral (above) - and Methodist Church are part of the "established English-proficient middle class". -- ST FILE PHOTO
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