Religious education in Indonesia is a failure

Religious education in Indonesia is a failure

Religious-related conflicts have torn apart many areas in the country with no institution, including the government, having an appropriate solution for them. Many are worried that fresh interreligious conflicts could erupt due to the authorities' failure in handling previous clashes. Lecturer Haidar Bagir, who is also the CEO of PT Mizan Publika, an Islamic-oriented publisher based in Bandung, spoke to The Jakarta Post's Soeryo Winoto after an international seminar on Globalization, Religion and the Media on Saturday.

Question: Do you think the country still has potential for religious-related conflicts in the future?

Answer: I have to say yes. It will take more time for the followers of the certain religions here to accept the fact that the existence of other religions is actually a normal thing which is assured by the differences of culture and history and other factors.

I feel, we (Indonesians) are in a state where many religious groups think to have the right to claim that their religions are the best. And if you ask me when the situation will end, I would say after we can develop an educational system which teaches citizens that life is complex. That life is built on a long history of differences in thinking and culture, and therefore, people should be able to see the reality that differences, including religions, are all around us.

Are there any internal factors (from the religious teaching itself) that have played roles or encouraged their followers to commit violence against others?

If people learn and understand the teaching of their religions properly, I believe there would never have been conflicts caused by religions. Such conflicts have emerged due to external stimuli, like economics, political or ethnic background.

My academic field is the philosophy of Islam. The more I study Islam, the more similarities I find with other beliefs. There are many fundamental similarities and also thoughts among the religions. These need to be understood by followers to make them aware that they must not claim that their vision of their religion is the best.

What should the religious followers at the grassroots level do to restrain themselves from violence? At the top level, religious leaders are able to be tolerant, but they obviously fail to inform their members of what they have discussed. What do you think?

I am not that sure that our religious elites have adequate awareness of tolerance and plurality with regard to other religions.

They still need work to improve their acceptance of diversity and differences. After that, the problem is education. We will need much more time to develop a superior quality education system to make religious followers more aware of similarities and universal resources, including religions. It's time consuming.

What about the roles of the media in curtailing religious- related violence, as the media has no definitive policy regarding their handling of such conflicts?

I think the media should become a sort of teaching institution. The media needs to be proactive to promote ideas on pluralism among society. However, the media needs sufficient and appropriate training and education. Let me say that our media is still lacking professionalism. If our media was more professional, meaning that journalists and editors possess a broader horizon of thinking and are better educated (not only on journalistic techniques) the media -- I believe -- would be able to play a significant role in teaching the people how to respect the similarities of their religious roots.

Do you think that the religions in the country, especially Islam and Christianity, have become too politicized?

I would stick to my argument that education is a much more serious problem than politics with regard to religion. It is undisputable that the religions have been politicized, by both domestic and international political entities. But I believe that if the followers of the religions were more educated, more tolerant and more familiar with the opinions voiced by other parties, frankly speaking, political influence -- no matter how strong -- would not be able to provoke people to fight each other.

You mean that education and openness could bring about a built-in resilience among individual of each religion?

Exactly. I see that politics have been disturbing the relations between religions so far because the seeds of openness among religions are still very few.

Do you think that we have adequate religious leaders who are able to promote tolerance among their followers and provide the followers with comfort so as to prevent them from being provoked to fight?

I'm sorry to say that the number of qualified religious leaders is very small. Honestly, I daresay that the religious education in this country has been a failure. Religion is supposed to be taught to promote high morality, including tolerance and understanding of others, and to be self-critical, right? Unfortunately, I see the core of religious teaching has sunk into political, legal or ritual controversies.

I do hope that in the future we will have more religious leaders with broader horizons and an ability to lead their followers to have better understanding among them.