Blending science education and religious education<\/p>\n
Mochtar Buchori, Educator, Legislator, Jakarta, mbuchori@indo.net.id<\/p>\n
The Islamic schools or madrasah that have opted for the
\ninclusion of science education in their curriculum have
\ncomplained of the difficulty in making science and religious
\neducation blend into one meaningful whole. This difficulty has
\ncome from the habit of looking upon these two programs as being
\nincompatible.<\/p>\n
Education in science has been only associated with merely
\nimplanting into students' minds knowledge about this world,
\nwhereas religious education has been looked upon as primarily
\nconcerned with preparing students for life in the hereafter.<\/p>\n
What has often been forgotten is that both science and
\nreligious education are concerned with guiding students into
\nknowing the laws of life and understanding the meaning of these
\nlaws. Both science and religious education are thus concerned
\nwith the art of living. Here we can find common ground for both
\nscience and religious education.<\/p>\n
It was thought in the beginning that problems arising from the
\ndichotomist view could be solved by regulating the time allotment
\nratio between these two programs. So each of these two programs
\nwas to be allotted 50 percent of school time.<\/p>\n
It was later felt, however, that this policy did not give
\nstudents sufficient command of the materials stipulated for both
\nscience and religion education in the madrasah curriculum.<\/p>\n
The time allocation ratio was later changed -- 70 percent for
\nscience education, and 30 percent for religious education. After
\na while, this policy brought about complaints among teachers in
\ncharge of the various subject matters in the field of religion.<\/p>\n
They have asserted that this time-allocation system has caused
\na drastic deterioration in students' knowledge about religion.
\nThey also contend that in this way madrasah can no longer be
\nconsidered an institution for religious education.<\/p>\n
What must be done to solve this problem?<\/p>\n
To make science and religious education blend or fuse is not a
\nmatter of time allocation. It is primarily a matter of creating
\nan interactive relationship between the two. This means that we
\nmust devise measures that will make some science education
\ncapable of reinforcing some parts of religious education, and
\nvice versa.<\/p>\n
Such an educational strategy, however, can be developed only
\nif we are willing to set limits on what students must learn about
\nreligion and about science. If we just teach religion and science
\nwithout setting their respective limits, these two educational
\nprograms will never meet, and blending or fusion will never take
\nplace. Time for school education is a constant factor, but
\nprogram content is not; it is a variable factor.<\/p>\n
What we can and must do is to set, in a realistic manner, the
\nlimits of materials to be covered in both science and religious
\neducation. And within these time and program limits, we must then
\nlay down the foundation of students' learning capability. It is
\nthis learning capability that will enable students to gain more
\nknowledge later on about science and education on their own, if
\nthey so wish.<\/p>\n
Another principle is the essential difference between science
\neducation and education in religion. Science education is about
\nguiding student into \"knowing\" whereas religious education is
\nabout steering students into \"believing\" or having faith. We need
\nboth in our life.<\/p>\n
To paraphrase Einstein -- or was it another genius? --
\nknowledge without faith is lame, and faith without knowledge is
\nblind. We must believe in what we know, and we must know what we
\nbelieve.<\/p>\n
The question is how to make science education and education
\nabout religion interactive. Some knowledge about the basic
\nfeatures of science and religion will be of great help in this
\ncase.<\/p>\n
Science has taught us that with regard to knowledge or
\nknowing, there are three things in life, \"the known\", the
\n\"unknown\" and \"the unknowable\". The latter is something that we
\ncannot possibly know through our human senses. According to a
\nphysician friend of mine, how dogs communicate with cats is one
\nexample of \"the unknowable\". But that dogs do communicate with
\ncats is a \"known\" fact. Derek Freeman, the great Australian
\nanthropologist, once said that whether there is life after death
\nis \"unknowable\" However, the fact that most people belief in the
\nexistence of life after death is \"known\"; this is \"knowledge\".<\/p>\n
So if we encounter an \"unknowable\" factor what do we do?
\nReligious people would turn to God, and pray, \"Guide me, oh
\nGod ...\" Here is thus an opportunity where a science education
\nteacher can reinforce one's basic teaching in religious
\neducation, i.e. faith, or trust, in God.<\/p>\n
Science education provides opportunities for teachers with
\nreligious minds to reinforce some of students' achievements in
\nreligious education. Conversely, religious education also
\nprovides opportunities for teachers with a scientific mind to
\nmotivate students in their pursuit of knowledge.<\/p>\n
As a child a prayer sustained me in my efforts to know and
\nunderstand something. Two teachers of religion used to lead us
\ninto saying the following prayer, \"Give us knowledge, oh God, and
\nguide us into comprehending that knowledge.\" (Rabbi zidni 'ilman,
\nwar zukni fahman.) This prayer always gave me the power to
\npersist in my efforts to understand what I was learning, no
\nmatter how difficult the topic or subject was.<\/p>\n
The reality of all this is of course more complex; but my
\npoint is in the indivisible role of educating, i.e. to guide the
\nyoung in cultivating or bringing out their innate capacities.<\/p>\n
Science and religious education should not tear apart the
\nsouls of teachers and students alike.<\/p>",
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