With the Singapore government warning of a worsening economy, IT administrator Ismarini Ismail is praying the recession won’t upset her wedding plans for December.
“I pray harder in times of economic downturn, although my job is not affected this time,” the 25-year-old Singaporean said as the city-state’s unemployment rose to the highest in over three years in the first quarter of the year.
“I’m praying for my fiance that his job is safe,” she said.
Ismail is not alone. As companies shed jobs and governments inject funds to stimulate economies, recession-hit Asians from Taiwan to Thailand are flocking to temples, churches and mosques to seek solace in religion — and pray for a quick economic recovery.
Analysts say religion is a good refuge for people suffering from an economic downturn.
“People might experience depression and socio-psychological problems as they worry about jobs in a recession. It is through such worries that they turn to religion,” said Alexius Pereira, sociologist at the National University of Singapore.
While some may seek supranatural power for help, others look to relieve their stress through meditation, said Tay Sin Wee, a meditation course administrator.
“With the economy in such bad shape, people are finding an avenue to find peace and calm,” he said, adding he saw a 20 percent rise in participants in classes at Singapore’s Amitabha Buddhist Center this year.
Others echo his views.
“The recession is a wake-up call to remind us to trust in God and not in money,” said Timothy Teo, a board member at Singapore’s Bartley Christian church, which has raised nearly S$16 million (US$11 million) to fund its new church facility in the midst of a recession.
In Taiwan, which saw a record economic contraction of 10.24 percent in the first quarter of the year, Taipei’s Hsing Tien Kung (行天宮) temple has seen a massive rise in visitors, mostly white-collar workers.
Some 2,000 visitors line up each day at the temple to draw a wooden stick carrying a short poetic prediction for the drawer’s future, a tradition dating back two millennia.
“The phenomenon we see is that they’re asking about work or career because the economy isn’t good,” temple spokesman Lee Chu-hua (李楚華) said.
“The percentage is up,” said Lee, as more than 100 people lined up in the incense-filled temple courtyard to grab sticks.
Whatever the words on the paper say, Lee said: “We give the people some encouragement.”
Taiwan is probably suffering its longest recession with a record seasonally adjusted jobless rate of 5.72 percent in March, compared with 4.14 percent last year and 3.91 percent in 2007, the government said.
While the recession has strengthened people’s faith in many countries, business has slowed for feng shui masters in Hong Kong, with the property sector suffering a severe contraction.
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