A Halal School Canteen?

Are you fucking kidding me?? This is happening in Singapore??? (See Straits Times report below)

Many a times, when I try to discuss religion with my religious friends, and because the fact that I am an agnostic, and whenever I try to bring up the possibility that there might not be a god, the biggest reaction that I get from most (but not all, to be fair) friends was that I was being rude and disrespectful to their religion. Even though sometimes I think some of the questions that I bring up are quite legitimate (e.g., if you had to choose between feeding a starving man with 'forbidden meat' or letting him starve to death, which will you choose?), I am still labeled as the 'disrespectful atheist' with 'no spirituality' and in one instance, was yelled at for 'trying to be funny'. 

However, I do think these are legitimate questions, and if the newspaper report below is true, then the question is where the hell do we draw the line between what is religious insensitivity? Or to put it another way, how much illogical and irrational beliefs can we hide behind the guise of 'religion' before the society as a whole say 'enough is enough?'

Singapore has always been quite a secular state, at least in terms of her official policies. This is something that I am very glad for, and used to but will never again take for granted. Trust me, if this incident had happened in another country where the religion in question is the religion of the majority in that country, the government officials would have used this as political token to manipulate people's sentiment. Don't believe me? Look the useless debates they are having in the United States over the simple phrase 'One Nation Under God'.

Is making a 'Halal school canteen' inappropriate? How about stoning to death anybody who works on Sunday? Or burning papers money that increases greenhouse gas emission and pollution? Or sewing up or mutilating women's private parts? Or not allowing blood transfusion for an injured person even though this might be the only way to save his or her life? Or killing someone just because he or her does not believe in your god (read the bible, both old and new testament, or the koran if you think I am making this up)? I could go on and on and on (like the Energizer bunny), but I think you get my point. Within every religion there are a whole lot of irrational and sometimes very cruel rituals or beliefs that just will scare the shit out of us, and I think we are particular lucky that we live in a secular society, that these rituals doesn't get carried out to the letter of the law. Hey, as Richard Dawkins and Sam Harris has argued, and I am paraphrasing here, since we are cherry-picking the 'laws' of each religion anyway, why don't we just throw the whole damn thing out and make up our own laws... I am almost certain that they will be more humane and more rational than the ones that most religions have anyway....

I have gone off-track here... time to stop...

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School's 'halal zone' ruling causes stir

Parents upset; MOE says school's decision wrong; principal reverses his position

By Sandra Davie

A PRIMARY school in Jurong West that upset non-Muslim parents by insisting that only halal food could
be eaten or taken into its canteen will now overturn its policy.

The Ministry of Education (MOE) told The Straits Times yesterday that Boon Lay Garden Primary had
made a mistake, and would let its pupils' parents know.

In a letter to all parents last Friday, principal Wan Imran Woojdy said that since the school canteen had
been certified halal, children would not be allowed to bring non-halal food onto the premises.
The school security guard and discipline master had also been checking lunch boxes since last week to
ensure pupils complied.

About 20 per cent of the school's 1,700 pupils are Muslims.

Halal refers to what is permissible for consumption by Muslims. A product is not halal if it contains, for
example, pork or alcohol, both forbidden to Muslims.

Boon Lay Garden Primary's move to declare its canteen a halal zone left some non-Muslim parents
unhappy.

Three who spoke to The Straits Times said they did not mind that the school canteen sold only halal
food, but they felt the ban on taking in non-halal food amounted to discrimination.

Madam Esther Chia, 36, who has two daughters in the school, said one of them resorted to hiding a pork
floss bun in her pocket last week to avoid being caught for flouting the new rule.

Another parent, Mr Edward Ang, said: 'I have nothing against the school stalls selling only halal food, but
they shouldn't restrict kids from eating non-halal food.'

When contacted earlier yesterday, principal Imran said the rule forbidding non-halal food in the canteen
had been in place since 2002, when all eight food stalls were certified halal by the Islamic Religious
Council of Singapore (Muis).

He said that the school decided to enforce the rule as it had a new canteen contractor and had to get
recertified by Muis.

'We decided to make the whole canteen halal to provide a common eating space for all our children, 

whatever their race,' he said.

'Our stalls provide all the different types of food - Chinese, Indian, Malay and Western.'

He said that four parents had called to complain about the ruling.

When contacted, the MOE said the school had made an error and regretted the concern caused to
parents.

Its spokesman added: 'Schools will continue to ensure the preservation of common space for all pupils,
and educate them on the multiracial and multi-religious nature of Singapore.'

Last night, Mr Imran called The Straits Times to say he regretted that an error had been made, and that
he would be sending a letter to all parents today.

A spokesman for Muis clarified yesterday that the council certifies only the food stalls in a school canteen,
not the premises as a whole.

'Once a stallholder has obtained his halal certificate, non-halal foods cannot be brought in or out of that
halal-certified stall,' the spokesman said.

'As for the dining area in the canteen, it is up to the school to decide whether to allow non-halal foods to
be brought in.'

The council's records show that only one other school, Millenia Institute, has all eight canteen stalls
certified halal, but the school said there is no ban on bringing in non-halal food.