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Who wouldn’t want to agree with president Susilo Bambang Yushoyono when he said the Prophet demanded a practice of harmony and tolerance in a diverse society.
Unfortunately there often is a gap between idealistic theory and muddy reality.
In a secular state one would expect it to be absolutely neutral in religious matters. Which amongst other issues means public schools either abstain from lessons on religion or observe a curriculum dedicating the same number of lessons on all religions c.a. Schools exclusively founded and exclusively funded by specific religious communities should be entitled to add teachings of their own religion to the official curriculum though. Unless they choose themselves to provide extra-curriculum lessons on other religions to serve pupils or students from other religious communities attending their school (s) as well.
Reality in RI is slightly different indeed.
In Blitar a local decree demands Muslims students to be able to read and write Koranic verses. Taking into account it’s officially a secular office, that is a remarkable rule.
Anyhow, two Roman Catholic Foundations governing six schools, in spite of their considerable number of Muslim students, refused to provide Islamic teachings in their classes and on their premises. They refered to the Education Law claiming it guarantees their authority to implement a curriculum following their own religious, social and cultural norms. On the other hand the local officials also refered to the Law on the National Education System. They said religiously based schools should provide lessons in the religion of other denominations if the number of pupils or students who practice that religion exceeds 15%.
This rule looks much more even handed at first glance than it actually is. In a country where 90% – at least formally – is Muslim, it’s clear it specifically targets Christian schools. Firstly because Islamic schools are ( much) less likely to admit non-Muslim students. Moreover Christian schools accidentally often also happen to provide better formal education on average and therefore are attractive to non-Christians also.
So a conflict was born. The foundations didn’t want to comply and Religious Affairs Ministry’s office in Blitar, which clearly is partisan, recommended closure of the six schools.
Actually the Foundations gave in ultimately; Muslim students will be provided with Islamic lessons, be it outside the school.
Yet it’s not a nice example of the practice of harmony and tolerance in a diverse society. It rather is an example of competition between two actively proselyting religions. Better leave that to the competitors in my opinion. It’s not state business. Yet, a curriculum revision does exactly the opposite by reducing science and expending religion at schools.
It would be so much to the benefit of formal education if religion would be left at the doorsteps of the schools.
* Picture from here.
Hi Colson,
You described the actual situation in Indonesia.
Although our constitution implicitly stated that we are a secular state, but in reality many thing here should be based on religion (of the majority ie. Islam).
If the government wants to be involved it should be limited to just be middleman without taking sides, otherwise there would be a gap or even conflicts (like in Poso, Maluku) among disciples of the different religions.
@ Harry: In my opinion you’re right. If all Indonesians, whatever creed of religion, were equal under the law, the state should be impartial and if necessary be middleman. And an (independent) judiciary should occasionally act as referee. However explicitly religion based and oriented legislation is not a characteristic of a secular state.
in my old catholic school I heard they dont teach religion anymore but teaching ethic and morality. that being said I remember back in the days we had two religion teachers,one focuses on catholicism which at one point I scored only 4 out of 10, the other one focuses more into comparative religion study which at one point I scored 9. my teacher who gave me a 4 once asked my opinion on learning her religion, I said I just memorized it as ‘fact’ for the exam and I take with me what it is not conflicting with my believe, such as ‘loving others’ is good whatever your religion is, but if she asked me about trinity I answered it as what she told me because I dont believe in it.
At other school the religion teacher kept bashing other religions and I hate his guts, later I found out he was a convert.. I guess he needed to do that to psych himself that he chose the right religion, huh? what I hate about religion study is it is a breeding ground for hatred in some schools. of course it depends on the teacher.
@ triesti: Ethics and morality in stead of religion, to me seems to be a real big step forward
. If only all schools could follow that school’s lead. Study of the world’s main philosophical and spiritual movements and organizations may well be rewarding subject of study; sociological, psychological, historical, whatever. But I really think indoctrinating lessons on religion and politics ( interesting as they may be) don’t belong in such educational institutes.
As I attended a Protestant elementary school and HBS ( junior+senior high school) I recognize your experiences to some extent. At the time I was not very interested (I was on my way out of the Church from the moment I left elementary school). In retrospection I think the presumptuous teaching of the one and only absolute truth of this specific religion without a shred of evidence and leaving no room for doubt at the same time, was too much contradicting the rest of the curriculum, to buy it from a mediocre theologian. That pretentious attitude which breeds absolutism and intolerance is, I’m afraid, at the roots of all religions ( and ideologies).
By the way in High school (HBS) the Trinitas was one of the insurmountable barriers to (Christian) faith for me too
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Whats interesting for me is that my education up to 13 involved religion and rather learn about Jesus and stuff we learnt about religious harmony and the main faiths in England other than Christian faith. So by the time I was 12 I knew about Islam and the Sabbath and how typical muslim and jewish families lived.
It is a shame that so many schools do not offer a general introduction to world religion as I sure the students would find it interesting and stimulating and how they all interact with one another in a positive way and it could help them understand more about the role in their faith and in society.
@ Luke: You’ve been lucky. And you definitely have a point ( several points actually) by proposing ‘a general introduction to world religions’. It could and should replace the usual religious indoctrination.