Pluralism : Easy to say, but hard to implement

Yani Prasatya, Jakarta

"Yani, read this please," my grandmother once showed me a piece of her writing that had been published in the Ahmadiyah newsletter. I reluctantly read it for the sake of being polite. It was titled Finally I found it. It was about her spiritual journey that ended blissfully after she became a member of the Ahmadiyah sect. The whole family disapproved of her converting but she stubbornly persisted with her beliefs.

Behind her back, we jokingly twisted the title of her piece into Finally I found my lost purse. To the disappointment of many in the family, she passed away as a devout Ahmadiyah.

That was twenty-five years ago. Recently to my horror, I read a report in The Jakarta Post saying that the government is considering banning the Ahmadiyah organization on the grounds that it had sparked public disorder.

I remember my grandma. Lucky that she did not have to go through this ordeal as I cannot imagine how she would feel to be treated as a criminal and locked in a filthy cell. Despite the cold response she received from the family, at least she could live in peace and not be attacked by a mob.

I, personally, have evolved. I really believe in pluralism now. I truly believe that if we want to survive in this century we have no other choice but to acknowledge diversity and pluralism. "We" means us as people, humankind. Upholding pluralism means being open-minded and tolerant toward others. Serve others equally.

To do this, we have to change our beliefs. This does not mean that we have to change our religion but rather we need to expand it. We have to dare to challenge the religious exclusivism that has been taught since our childhoods, i.e., that we are the true believers, and others who are not will go to hell.

Most people claim that they are tolerant, but are they? They do not say "Merry Christmas" to their neighbors (often they wait until New Year when it is "safe" to say Happy New Year instead of Merry Christmas). They mock Christians for believing that Isa (Jesus Christ) was born on Dec. 25. They despise them for believing that God has a son. They cannot help feeling disgusted seeing their Christian neighbors eating pork. They are against the building of church.

They are not radicals or fundamentalists who like to commit violence. They claim to be moderate Muslims, and society generally agrees with them. They are ordinary people walking down the street, your colleagues, your next-door neighbors, and even your brothers and sisters.

Instead of asking the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) to revoke its edict, as hoped by many, the government is considering banning the Ahmadiyah sect. If this happens, people will see that violence does work. Others will be led to believe that all the talk about pluralism is just lip service from the government. And who will be next? If you do not like the Liberal Islam Network, just gather ten thousand people and attack them! And the next day it will be banned by the government.

Ah, I miss my grandmother. Now I feel so sorry for her; it must have been so hard for her to stand up for her beliefs against all the family. I should have understood her better. I should have shown more empathy for her. God, please forgive me. I was only a child back then. What I can do now is to educate my children to become genuinely tolerant people.

I remember what Neale Donald Walsch said in his book: "You teach your children to believe in an intolerant God, and thus condone for them their own behaviors of intolerance. You teach your children to believe in an angry God, and thus condone for them their own behaviors of anger. You teach your children to believe in a vengeful God, and thus condone for them their own behaviors of vengeance."

The writer is an Independent Human Resources Consultant. She can be reached at yanipras@yahoo.com.