Maintaining Religious Tolerance

If you are a tourist in Jerusalem, the tour guide will say that in this country, followers of three divine religions live side by side.

Kompas/Handining

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If you are a tourist in Jerusalem, the tour guide will say that in this country, followers of three divine religions —Islam, Judaism and Christianity— live side by side. In Bethlehem Church, a chair in the front row was always reserved for Yasser Arafat, chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), who was a Muslim, when the church celebrated Christmas Day.

Therefore, when he delivered his speech at the United Nations, an independent Palestine state that Arafat fought for was not a religious state, but a secular one that guaranteed all people were free to practice their religions. Meanwhile, when we visited the Vatican during a buffet lunch, a priest greeted us in Javanese, "Bapak dahar menapa?" —What do you want to eat, Sir? It turned out that the priest had lived in Surakarta, Central Java.

The two above spiritual experiences are always remembered when in the country the issue of harmony among religious people still frequently becomes a problem. From the problem of religious propagation  (dakwah) to disputes over houses of worship. Even among Muslims there are conflicts over mosque establishment.

In reality, when we were in Washington, the US, we used to do Friday prayers in an Anglican Church. The altar of the church was lent exclusively for Friday prayers. Those performing the prayers were from several countries. Similarly, when visiting Cak Nur (Nurcholish Madjid) in Singapore (2001), our non-Muslim roommate reminded us when it was time to pray. Or when a child of a non-Muslim friend got married to a Muslim girl, he about what to give to her as a dowry.

All of these spiritual experiences always complement our memories, why are the problems of ethnicity, religion, race, and inter-groups (SARA), as well as disharmony of inter-religious life are still encircling our environment?

Roots of the problem

Each religious follower surely believes the religion being embraced is the most truthful, and it is natural if he always tries to encourage others to embrace and practice his religion too. The intention is good, namely to invite people to the correct religion.

However, if it is carried out excessively it can give off the impression of extremism, even radicalism. Not only with people of other religions, but also among fellow believers. Because, in reality, there are people who have embraced other religions, or had different understanding, who have also been convinced by the practice of the religion being embraced.

Therefore, in an effort to invite others to embrace religion (dakwah), someone has to tolerate the feelings of others. It should not been by force, let alone violence. We have to follow the teaching that "my religion, my religion; your religion, your religion". Its difference is mostly related to God (hablum minallah), while in the worldly life, each religion teaches its people to live in harmony without distinguishing their respective religions.

A harmonious life can only be achieved when we understand the ethics of human relations, both written (law) and those that are not, namely values being shared as propriety. Ultimately, it is related to human behavior or characters.

Here is where the role of moral education comes in, which needs to be implanted from the earliest possible time.

People with good morals can appreciate differences. This can be realized when we can also understand the interests of other people in all aspects of life, including their religious life.

Even though in one region, Muslims are the majority, why is that there are more churches than mosques? This cannot be separated from the objective need of Christians, whom require not only Catholic churches but also several Protestant churches. For the common people, this can cause social jealousy. Why are there are no houses of worship that can be borrowed to pray for other religions, like the Anglican Church in Washington, which was used for Friday prayers?  Didn’t Prophet Muhammad  SAW also once allow his Christian guests to worship in mosques?

Interfaith dialogue

Measures to curb inter-religious conflicts are carried out around the world. Indonesia, in this case, gives the impression of being left behind. In Al Hikmah Mosque in New York, after Friday prayers, there used to be get-togethers with speakers of the three religious leaders: Jews (rabbi), Catholic (pastor), beside — of course — the imam of Al Hikmah Mosque, New York, itself. The congregation of the mosque was told how important it was to build a life harmony among fellow believers by respecting each other.

In Indonesia, efforts to foster inter-religious harmony have actually been carried out. There is a Religious Harmony Forum, where the leadership (Islam, Catholic, Protestant, Hindu, Buddha, and Khonghucu) agree to sit together, hold dialogue in a forum and talk about religious problems they are facing.

The experiences of conflict in Maluku in the early 2000s and several other regions can at least be minimized and even addressed. Moreover, there are also legal efforts, for example, in the establishment of a house of worship. A community organization, the Social Society Interaction Body  (Bisma), where the religious figures sit together in one organization which is determined to realize harmonious inter-religious life, was once established. However, now the voices of the organization are no longer heard.

Therefore, when recently the SARA issues —especially religions— appear again, it is time for the religious figures to promote tolerance among their followers  both in behavior/role models or in sermons in the houses of worship of all religions. It is not easy because of the dominance of political aspects, the Regional Elections in 2018 and Presidential Elections in 2019, accompanies the SARA issue which emerges lately.  Therefore, the same stance needs to be carried out by the political elite and state organizers to prevent the spread of the seeds of conflicts originating from religions, namely by livening up Pancasila which has jointly been agreed as a common ideology of the state. Only by doing so, religious issues will not stain tolerance among fellow believers.

SULASTOMO

General Chairman of the Association of Islamic Students (HMI) 1963-1966