Fostering religious tolerance

A Chaedar Alwasilah, Dean, Faculty of Language and Arts Education, Indonesian University of Education (UPI), Bandung, chaedar@bdg.centrin.net.id

Indonesia takes pride in being a multicultural, multilingual, and multireligious country. The motto Bhineka Tunggal Ika (unity in diversity) is preserved as an inseparable and fundamental part of the state emblem of the Republic. In international forums, politicians and political leaders used to overvalue the diversity, tacitly promoting it as a good model for other nations to emulate.

However, in the last four years that collective pride seems to have waned. Admittedly, the prevailing conflicts in Aceh, Kalimantan and Maluku have religious overtones. Some even believe that religious fanaticism is indeed behind the conflicts and has fueled the hostility and made the opposing parties almost irreconcilable.

As a result, religion as a divine institution tends to be erroneously interpreted as a set of teachings that propagate excessive and blind bigotry, hatred, prejudice and intolerance.

The 1945 Constitution guarantees that all Indonesian citizens shall exercise their religious freedom. There should not be any fear, anxiety or suspicion to practice religious obligations at home, in schools, offices or public places -- a phenomenon that does not exist in the United States. Religious education in American public schools is politically unacceptable; therefore, it rarely surfaces in curriculum discussions.

This suggests that compared to the U.S., Indonesia recognizes religious freedom individually and politically, as well as collectively. Ironically though, religious tolerance in Indonesia is not any better than that in the U.S. -- at least at present. There have been misinterpretations and distortions of religious teachings in Indonesia.

In multicultural, multireligious and multiethnic settings, the following are a good reminder to bear in mind.

Choosing a particular religion is a personal right and privilege, hence forcing others change their established faith is a sheer violation of human rights. Even God the Almighty does not expect all humans to believe in the same religion, otherwise all would have been converted into the same religion as God has the unlimited might to do so.

All religions teach their followers to respect other religions, suggesting that forcing others to change their religion is a transgression against religious wisdom. However, on a critical analysis and comparative examination one may voluntarily change his or her religion.

Religious faith is to be materialized in three domains, i.e., belief, utterances and actions. True believers strive to be consistent in the three domains, while inconsistency is a sign of hypocrisy. Any religious groups provoking hatred, enmity, conflict, instability or disorder are not practicing religious teachings, thus they are hypocrites.

The three principles above constitute the essence of religious intelligence, namely ability to hold an unshakable belief in the existence of the Almighty and consistently exercise His teachings in belief, utterance and action.

Religious intelligence has two dimensions: vertical and horizontal. The vertical dimension implies man's direct responsibility to God as evidenced through worship, while the horizontal dimension suggests man's social interaction with others. The current social conflict -- when motivated by religious conviction -- reflects man's inability to strike a balance between the two dimensions. Instead, they create the social conflict on behalf of religious teachings.

From the premise above, it is evident that the present religious education in public schools needs to be reviewed and redefined to meet the present challenges. Modern educational practices are governed by the principle that learning should be meaningful. The present religious education seems to be deficient in meaning for the great majority of students.

To be meaningful, religious education should be redesigned using the following guidelines.

Depending on how you see it, religion could be either abstract or practical. The most fundamental ideas are usually high abstractions that are not appropriate until students have reached a certain level of understanding in a variety of other areas.

The less thorough religious teachings are, the more easily they can be understood by beginning students. To be meaningful, religious education should begin with the most practical aspects, namely how religious teachings are applied in daily life such as tolerance, mutual respect and cooperation -- regardless of religion, ethnicity or social status.

The less fundamental religious teachings are, the more universal they become. By providing students with universal teachings such as tolerance, mutual respect, cleanliness, order and cooperation, students are led to an understanding of comparative religions, which is the surest way of establishing religious tolerance.

Religious teachers should keep in mind that they are tasked with developing students to practice religious teachings, not necessarily training them to be expert theologians from day one. Performing religious rituals have a social function, i.e., to foster collective participation.

It is necessary to develop awareness of other existing religions at as early a level of education as possible. Having students observe and report upon others' religious rituals will develop religious tolerance and understanding of other religions.

From the foregoing discussions, it can be hypothesized that to foster religious intelligence among students, religious education should focus first and foremost on exercising ethical codes, namely behavior addressed toward other believers.

Gradually, the focus is on ritual practices and eventually on belief patterns. Thus, the canon to be held by religion teachers is the same as that to be held by other teachers, namely, one goes from real to abstract, from worldly to spiritual and from simple to complex.