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| Introduction to Cross-Cultural Religious Literacy (Photo: Special) |
To equip preachers, religious scholars, and educators across Indonesia with religious literacy, the Faculty of Education and Teacher Training (FKIP) at Muhammadiyah University of Malang (UMM) conducted an international certification program. Collaborating with Leimena Institute and Templeton Religion Trust, FKIP UMM introduced cross-cultural religious literacy. A total of 738 participants took part in the program held from March 4th to 8th.
The Executive Director of Leimena Institute, Matius Ho, described cross-cultural religious literacy as an initiative and best practice in the educational approach from Indonesia. It aims primarily to address intolerance issues and build better relations among followers of different religions.
"In less than 2.5 years, Leimena Institute has partnered with 25 collaborating institutions to train over 7,000 educators in 34 provinces in Indonesia on this cross-cultural religious literacy," he said.
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The program aims to strengthen the existence and peaceful collaboration among religions in Indonesia by introducing cross-cultural religious literacy to teachers and religious educators. There are three competencies developed in this program: personal competence, comparative competence, and collaborative competence. Personal competence refers to the ability to understand oneself and the values that guide your engagement with others.
Comparative competence refers to the ability to understand others as they understand themselves and the values that guide their engagement with themselves. Meanwhile, collaborative competence refers to the ability to understand the potential for collaboration among actors of different beliefs.
In the context of Indonesia, according to Dr. Nurbani Yusuf, violence and conflicts caused by differences still frequently occur. In fact, data shows that 422 violations of religious freedom occurred in Indonesia during 2020. In response to this, participants are invited to revisit the teachings of Islam. "We must realize that Islam is a source of peace and non-violence. We can see this, for example, in Quranic verses such as Al-Maidah 32, Al-Baqarah 256 and 62, and the exemplary behaviour demonstrated by Prophet Muhammad (PBUH)," said the senior lecturer of Pancasila and Citizenship Education.
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He also explained that handling religious conflicts can be addressed through peacebuilding, peacekeeping, and peacemaking approaches. Peacebuilding involves building trust to reduce misperceptions and stereotypes related to fundamental issues to break the chain of conflict and violence. "Meanwhile, peacekeeping involves the use of state instruments such as the military, and peacemaking involves concrete actions and commitments to reject direct or structural violence in any form," said the founder of the Padang Makhsyar community.
Furthermore, Prof. Dr. Abdulkadir Rahardjanto, M.Sc., in his presentation, stated that social-religious tolerance is key to addressing these conflicts. The concept of social-religious harmony includes interfaith cooperation, peaceful coexistence, and religious freedom. Its implementation is realized through multicultural learning that teaches diversity, provides a better understanding of culture and religion, and increases sensitivity to differences.
"Equally important, the curriculum must integrate cultural diversity, religion, and social life into learning. Extracurricular activities should also accommodate interfaith dialogue and cultural exchanges," concluded Kadir. (wil/fajr)
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