Between Religion Education and Tolerance
In Indonesia, religion subjects play an important role in promoting students to next level education. But, our education is too dogmatist and idealistic.
When I was at six graders, my religion teacher would scold pupils who do not go to church on the weekend. She would appraise to know the reason why we don’t do the weekly prayer.
Us? Yeap. As a child in a not very religious family, I never go to church. My parents never forced me to believe in one of the six religion that accepted in Indonesia. They just want me to become a person who can tolerate the difference in others.
So, one day I tried to rebel and asked back my religion teacher.
“Ms, why I need to go to church?” I asked
“Because God is good, and He loves you. So you should give the love back.”
“Okay, they why I need to go to church? I can show my love without going to church.”
“No, you can’t do that. God just loves kids who go to church every weekend.”
Then she leaves me.
Since that time, I never asked her why I should go to church. Because I know that I will never get that answer. Since that day until my first Catechumen day (Baptism preparation in Catholic religion), I don’t hate the religion but I really hate religion subject.
Why did we need to talk about this?
There are three things that I really don’t like in religious subjects. First, they are too dogmatist. Second, they too idealize. Third, they don’t teach tolerance to students.
For me, it’s really important to teach them about these three things. Indonesia is a religious country where religions play significant roles in many aspects (Parker,2010). It can be seen from Pancasila (the state ideology of Indonesia) first principle that state all Indonesian should believe in God. Also in politics, religion plays in sectarian politics on 2017 Jakarta Gubernatorial Election (Sari,2017).
Sadly, there are the uprising of tensions among religion in Indonesia, which also increase in tolerance (Hodge & Rayda, 2018). Intolerance not only affects social relation among believers but also several key factors such as economics. After Governer DKI Jakarta 2017 elections, the growth of foreign direct investment in Indonesia is slowing. Investors are terrified with radical Islam group that gain many tractions since the election. (Suzuki,2017)
So, what is the correlation between intolerance and education?
Research from UNESCO (2014) proves that education is the most powerful weapon in preventing intolerance. Moore (2007) also stated that religious literacy contributes to encouraging students to become tolerant among differences. Religious literacy can be defined as an ability to perceive and analyze the differences between religion and social/political/cultural life through multiple lenses (Asani,2015). And, religious literacy can be taught in religion subject/curriculum in Indonesia.
Okay, since you know why it’s important. So lets we talk about the three things, I don’t like from religion subjects in Indonesia.
The PROBLEMS
Religion subject in Indonesia is too dogmatic. In 2003, UGM (Gajah Mada University) published a report stated that religious education in Indonesia is becoming more dogmatic, exclusive and rigid. It also can be proved based on my experience as a student in one of the Catholic Public schools in Indonesia.
Teaching religion in Indonesia usually work in a one-way direction. Student only heard what the teacher say but when they try to criticize them, the teacher tends to reject their ideas since there is a belief that age made the experience.
But religion education is unique, as a religious country, most Indonesians learn their religions also from their parents and society which means, that the basic knowledge comes from many sources with different perspectives.
Religion education in Indonesia is also very idealistic. (For this section, it mostly based on my pure opinion). I remember when my teacher always said that human is a really good creature and we should become good people that help everybody without differentiating others and any intentions.
But sometimes, reality doesn’t work like what religion told. When I was 15 years old, I joined the Catholic community on my neighbor. We discuss how to develop inner heart voice in a good and positive way in society, especially for those unlucky people such as beggar and scavenger.
On the discussion, one of my friends asked about the reason why people need to give money to those unlucky people when most of them are fake. (This statement are correlated with news about Jakarta Beggar who has a big house and independent income from their hometown). That statement makes the discussion become more fun. Some people believe that it’s okay we give the money, because “giving” are the crucial point. We don’t need to care about what will happen to the money and how they will use it. But for some people, it’s better to not give because they don’t want those people to use the kindness of others. At the end of the discussion, we agree that it’s better to give money to NGOs or orphanage that already been legalized from the government.
On the other hand, our religious education sometimes forgot how the darkness of our society itself. They teach us to become a good person, but they forgot to define the meaning of “ good person”. I actually support the statement that we need to become good people. But, don’t make the “good” word become opportunities for others to utilize yourself.
In the ends, our religious education forgot to teach tolerance between other believers. Although the main objective of the religion curriculum is to make students become tolerant and to guard harmony in personal as well as social life. (Parker, 2010)
Tolerance cannot be said to receive much attention in religion classes. In three years Islamic education in senior high school, tolerance only gets a mention in once in the year 12 curriculum. The “tolerance” subject also not appear in Protestant education in senior high. (Parker, 2010). So, the fact that our education tends to focus on deepening the religion but not tolerance.
Religion Education In Government Perspective
In Indonesia, religious education is supervised by law 20/2003, where religious education should be taught with the teacher who has the same religion. Also, school (private or public) should prepare teacher with the same religions for students. The subjective is also mandatory for a student who wants to pass and go to the next educational level (Parker,2010).
There are two objectives for organizing religion education in Indonesia. First, to make the student become more saleh or good. Second, to create tolerance and life balance in society. In the end, religion subject helps the student develop their interpersonal skills inside and outside. (Haederi, 2015)
But, delivering religion education as similar to what law 20/2003 stated are really strenuous. Few schools, most of them are from religion background, couldn’t provide religion teacher besides from their own religion value. There is some reason why the school couldn’t provide minorities religion, teacher. First, it’s hard to find them. Second, a student who has a minority religion are really few, so school tends to mix them in one big class and teach about religion as a whole. (Sofanudin,2018)
Also 20/2003 statement “every student has a right to receive religious education in his/her own faith from a teacher of that faith” is a controversial one. Some minorities student can’t pursue their education in their dream place because of religions. Schools mostly reject minorities not because they want, but they try to respect the Law. (Elihami,2016)
SOLUTIONS
From the problem stated in front of the passage, there are several solutions that might be significant in ending those problems.
- Religion education must emphasize on discussion than one direction learning. It is important because religion knowledge gained not only in school or class but also from their own family and religion leader, that can make every student has their own perspective about religion. Discussion helps them to see the similarities among others and respect the difference. Discussion inter-religion helps the student to become open-minded and appreciate differences between others (De Leon, 2015).
- Creating an event that can increase “tolerance” among differences. (Ex: Iftar (Ramadan Dinner) celebration with Christian peoples). Indonesia is a religious country with a multicultural society. There are six religions in Indonesia (Islam, Catholic, Christian, Buddhist, Hindu, and Kong Hu Cu [Traditional Chinese Religion]). Tolerance will be so much important for social coherence and harmonies in our society.
- Revise Law 20/2003 by giving liberalization (not forcing) for kids to choose religious education based on their family decision. This solution is made based on two issues, the applications are still a burden, especially on a rural and remote area, and student who learns other religion can increase their tolerance among others.
In the end, it’s not about the religions and beliefs, but it’s about how to educate them in better ways to increase tolerance among differences.
References will be updated soon.