Elder D. Todd Christofferson, of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, presented 50 wheelchairs to the patients of the Jamiyah Nursing Home in Singapore on 22 August 2017.
The donation of the wheelchairs marked another milestone of partnership and cooperation between The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and Jamiyah Singapore, a Muslim Missionary Society, founded in 1932 whose mission is to serve the community and provide welfare services to the less privileged and disadvantaged of all races and faiths. The Church had donated wheelchairs to the nursing home on two previous occasions.
- Christofferson Keynote
- Group Picture
- Wheelchair Donation
- Wheelchair recipients
- Parliament Member Patrick Tay
- Elder Woo
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Fine example of interreligious respect and harmony
Mr. Patrick Tay, Member of Parliament and the Guest of Honour, said the donation of the wheelchairs by the Church to Jamiyah Singapore was a fine example of interreligious respect and harmony for promoting unity and goodwill among the people of different faiths.
Honour to have interfaith partnership to help the needy
Dr. H.M. Saleem, Chairman of the Jamiyah Nursing Home, thanked the Church and its support. Elder Christofferson said it was an honour for the Church to have an ongoing relationship with Jamiyah Singapore in an interfaith partnership to help the needy.
Religious people are more charitable
Elder Christofferson in his address said, "Religious people and institutions are a powerful source of humanitarian assistance. Where they are free to exercise their faith, religious people give voluntary community service at much higher rates than those without religion. By one estimate, people of faith are 40 percent more likely than non-religious people to give money to charities and more than twice as likely to volunteer their services to community organizations. Highly religious people are more likely to volunteer not only for religious causes but also for secular ones. And religious people are three times more likely than the secular to contribute to charities and to volunteer each month."
Importance of religious freedom
He further added, "Research has shown that protecting religious freedom promotes societal harmony. This happens because religious freedom facilitates other types of freedom and correlates with positive social and economic outcomes - ranging from better health care to higher incomes for women. Hard experience powerfully establishes, by contrast, that abridging religious freedom leads to conflict. Studies have shown that societal restrictions on religion increase intra-state conflict, religiously motivated violence, political corruption and overall levels of strife and national unrest. Indeed, studies show that government restrictions on religious freedom are the strongest predictor of religious violence and conflict, even when other factors are eliminated."
