Religious tolerance and the need for understanding

Benny Susetyo, Jakarta

Indonesia has been independent for 59 years but the religious life of the country has been going for a much longer period. Despite some ups and downs, the nation's religious coexistence has been generally stable.

Nonetheless, this coexistence amid religious diversity has not been without some serious disturbances. There is a fear in some circles that the tolerance we have maintained is only superficial, and is in fact a time bomb that could explode at any moment.

Continued tolerance depends on our attitude toward other religions. In other words, how we perform our religious duties and behave toward other believers is very crucial to the preservation of harmony. The only way to safeguard religious tolerance is to accept religious, ethnic and racial pluralism as a reality.

In this way, understanding pluralism means viewing religions as mediums to guide mankind to achieve common good. This is not the "good" claimed by one group that is detrimental to others.

Viewing religions in their symbolical and formal frameworks tends to make them a means of mutual combat. This only leads to seeing other groups as separate from the rest of the community in the common nation-building effort.

The ebb and tide of the nation's religious coexistence is inseparable from the way we conduct religious worship and view other religions.

In the context of pluralism, what we need to protect is the freedom of worship according to the belief embraced. The public requires the freedom to exercise their most fundamental right -- performing religious duties as guaranteed by the Constitution. Sadly, this seems easier said than done. Something seems to have gone wrong, as religions are only ritually understood, which entails the single interpretation that religious truth merely belongs to a certain creed.

This attitude makes the presence of other religions appear "hostile". Consequently, the potential for conflict increases. Things further worsen when political and economic factors spur this potential. Not surprisingly, such issues as "Christianization" and "Islamization" have been utilized more to serve certain political interests than to indicate some accountable truth.

In fact, "Christianization" and "Islamization" involve how to combine attempts to disseminate common good and enhance tolerance. In the view of Father Magnis-Suseno SJ, tolerance is misunderstood if regarded as creating uniformity, let alone demanding that people consider their beliefs relative. However, it is the capability to respect something different and beyond one's conviction that signifies tolerance.

The fear of Christianization, for instance, is in my view the root of many of the issues facing us. This is because religions are only perceived as political communities or formal organizations, rather than seen in terms of their comprehension.

Religious orientation so far has concerned quantitative claims instead of the quality of faith: Whichever group is the largest will be in control. Such a claim becomes a bargaining tool for the diverse interests of national and local political elites.

In the future, the paradigm of religious life should be based on mutual trust. This trust will grow if believers share the conviction that religions are affairs involving their followers and their God. The fundamental factor is religiosity, which is one's profound faith, rather than mere formal religious rites.

Realizing this, we need to find the reason, for instance, why Christianity has been "feared". It should be understood that the Christian religion has various groups and faces that were born out of different causes and backgrounds. Some denominations are radical, but they have no significant influence.

Reports that Christianization is being spread everywhere through the distribution of basic necessities and under the guise of humanitarian activities are based solely on rumors developed and used to trigger an emotional reaction.

A new paradigm should be introduced that one's faith cannot be exchanged for food. Any attempt to spread a religion under the guise of material donations is an insult to autonomous people.

This is what has become the core of the Universal Church, as indicated by Pope John Paul II in Nostra Aetate No. 4: "With Muslims, many things concerning faith and morality have unified us. For decades, in thousands of cities and villages, our congregations have lived peacefully together up to the present. The Vatican Council II emphasizes that the Church regards Muslims in high esteem. Enmity and dispute of the past should be forgotten and let us strive for mutual understanding. Let us join hands in the struggle to guarantee and cultivate social values and justice."

The orientation of the Catholic Church is obviously to invite its followers to open themselves to true friendship. This was also stressed by the late Soegiopranoto SJ, a national hero, who said that baptism was the Holy Spirit's affair.

The basic problem, in my opinion, is the potential for disharmony created by the bureaucracy through discriminatory regulations. It is this practice that disturbs religious relationships, because the state is intervening too far in religious affairs. In the context of a democracy, the government should facilitate ties between believers, acting only as a communicator.

I can recall how Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid described pluralism to Muslim clerics following riots in Situbondo on Oct. 10, 1996. At the time, the clerics were confused over violence that destroyed 24 churches, as well as a courthouse, schools and orphanages. In his humorous style, Gus Dur likened churches to movie theaters, where people must have tickets to enter, while mosques were compared to markets, requiring no tickets. Here Gus Dur pointed to the many faces of religion, all of which have their own ways of worship.

As a final appeal, let us prevent unfounded fears from taking root and arousing mass fury.

The writer is executive secretary of the Indonesian Bishops Conference.