Yesterday was Sunday here in sunny Singapore. A day that many use as a day to worship and give many thanks to their respective gods for life health strength and various other things. We started the morning bright and early so we could reach our first two temples on time because there were time restrictions on the visiting hours.

We visited a Hindu temple, a Mosque, a Buddhist temple and a Taoist temple (which was connected to and sharing space with a Buddist temple) . Full of color and grandeur the temples were full of worshipers sending prayers to the heavens, giving sacrifices of food and drink, and making sure they showed their respects before the busy days that lay ahead of them.

All of the temples had  very large beautiful structures that could be seen from quite some distance away and it was the job of four groups to educate the rest of the class on whichever religion they chose for the morning. Overall I’d say that the presentations went well and those who came in with little knowledge about the religion left with at least a few things that they found interesting.

Although many of the world religions look totally different from the outside many discovered that there are in fact many more similarities than most people know or even care to think about. It is interesting the level of respect that Singaporeans have for their fellow man and how each person is truly allowed to worship freely without the taunting or abuse of others who don’t believe. Singapore has something the rest of the world should strive to accomplish, a happy medium of sorts, where all men are actually equal. Although I came as a tourist, the nature of the area is a very welcoming one, and it is certainly one that beckons to foreigners to stay because here respect is a way of lie, not just a word in the dictionary.