Efforts by Leimena Institute to Build Religious Literacy in Indonesia Received Positively

Director of the International Center for Law and Religion Studies at Brigham Young University, Brett Scharffs, delivers his formal greetings during the opening of the CCRL International Conference on November 13, 2023.

IL News 007/2023

Jakarta, LI News – The efforts of Leimena Institute together with various partners from within and outside the country to build religious literacy on a massive scale in Indonesia received a positive response. Director of the International Center for Law and Religion Studies (ICLRS) at Brigham Young University, Brett Scharffs, and President of the International Religious Freedom (IRF) Secretariat, Nadine Maenza, appreciated the role of Leimena Institute in the cross-cultural religious literacy education for teachers and religious instructors from all over Indonesia.

According to Brett Scharffs, one thing that can be learned from Leimena Institute is the strength found in efforts to build cross-cultural religious literacy. They have done this on a massive scale, focusing on training that has aready involved nearly 6,000 teachers.

“One of the remarkable aspects of their training is that they ask Muslims to share about Islam, Christians to share about Christianity, as well as Jews to share about Judaism,” Scharffs stated during the opening session of the Cross-Cultural Religious Literacy (CCRL) International Conference on November 13, 2023.

Scharffs expressed that the international conference is a significant achievement, especially in these difficult and challenging times. In a polarized world, it is meaningful to bring together such a broad and diverse group of people. Specifically, in a world where religion is all too often a weapon rather than a tool of peace, it is hard to exaggerate how important basic religious and cross-cultural literacy is.

Scharffs further said that this conference was also held to commemorate the 75th Human Rights Day on December 10, when the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) was adopted by the United Nations (UN). This is in line with the conference theme which is carefully chosen and extremely important.

“Human Dignity is not only the foundational principle of the UDHR but also a principle that made the human rights movement possible, and can help open doors, build bridges, and find common ground in our world today. By promoting the law state, we demonstrate our commitment to the supremacy of law, thus creating a peaceful and inclusive society,” Scharffs expressed.

Scharffs added that Indonesia is a global leader in promoting a peaceful and inclusive society. “We all have much to learn, including importantly from Indonesia, which is a global leader in creating and sustaining ideals and mechanisms that help promote peaceful and inclusive societies,” stressed Brett Scharffs.

President of International Religious Freedom (IRF) Secretariat, Nadine Maenza.

The Success of the CCRL Program

In a similar fashion, Nadine Maenza, stated that she was impressed with the success of the CCRL program held by Leimena Institute, as well as its involvement with the Ministry of Law and Human Rights of the Republic of Indonesia.

“I’m impressed with how they have come together to make a difference. It’s amazing to learn that 6,000 teachers from 34 provinces have already been trained in cross-cultural religious literacy,” Maenza said.

Maenza expressed that CCRL plays a key role in fostering mutual understanding of each other and not being afraid of differences. “Equal and inclusive citizenship is the cure for so much of the instability and violence we see around the world today,” she added.

Maenza is inspired by the new approaches carried out by the IRF Secretariat, Templeton Religion Trust, ICLRS Brigham Young University, Leimena Institute, and others in bringing people together to engage and learn from each other, and work together to build multi-religious relationships, social cohesion, security, peace and prosperity.

She explained IRF Secretariat had initiated IRF Roundtables in several countries, which is a round table meeting consisting of individuals from non-government organizations who gather regularly to discuss international religious freedom issues. The IRF Roundtable serves as a safe space where participants can speak freely to share ideas and information, as well as propose joint advocacy actions to address specific international religious freedom issues and problems.

Maenza said the most visible impact of the IRF Roundtable is that governments, religious communities and civil society could work together to build a society with the awareness of respecting human dignity regardless of religion, ethnicity, gender or social status.

The IRF Roundtable in the United States meets every three months in the US Capitol which is also attended by the staff of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the US Commission on International Religious Freedom, the Helsinki Commission, the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, the International Religious Freedom Caucus, congress members, and foreign embassies.

“This is how we aim to enhance religious freedom globally and in the long run,” she stated.

Senior Fellow of Leimena Institute and Special Envoy of the President of the Republic of Indonesia for the Middle East and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation from 2016-2019, Alwi Shihab.

The Dangers of Religious Extremism

Meanwhile, Senior Fellow of Leimena Institute, Alwi Shihab, stated that diversity is part of God’s design that needs to be respected and accepted by all of us. Harmony in diversity within a country or society shows maturity in thinking and a civil society.

“The further we are from accepting diversity, the closer we get to an unwanted cancer, namely religious extremism which has been proven many times to be highly toxic and dangerous,” Alwi said.

However, Alwi expressed, this fact has recently been challenged by religious groups who ironically perceive themselves as the only ones who are pure and true. The emergence of radicalism gives rise to extremism in terms of internal thinking, nurturing the seeds of conflict and violence.

“This unpleasant phenomenon is starkly contradictory to the core values espoused by major religions, namely coexistence and harmony,” he continued.

Alwi, who is also the main resource person for the CCRL program, mentioned that dialogue and tolerance are fundamental necessities for human harmony in today’s divided world. Major religions such as Islam, Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, and other religious teachings, in terms of theology, share a commonality, namely teaching love, compassion, submission to the Almighty, and mutual respect for each other.

Alwi stresses that despite being lengthy and winding, efforts to develop models of peace and understanding among religious communities must continue to be implemented. “This is where intercultural dialogue can play a significant role. All the elements mentioned above are crucial pillars and the fundamental basis of the program we are pursuing and working on, that is, cross-cultural religious literacy,” he stated.

The lineup of topics and speakers at the International Conference on Cross-Cultural Religious Literacy attracts media coverage for said conference, which will be held on July 10-11.

“In particular, the conference will also highlight the important role of education in building multi-faith collaboration. This conference follows the success of Cross-Cultural Religious Literacy training in Indonesia, which has trained more than 8,500 teachers in less than two and a half years, and has involved 25 educational and religious institutions,” Daniel stated.

The international conference will be attended by approximately 200 invited participants including government officials from ministries and agencies both at home and abroad, several ambassadors from friendly countries, academics, civil society leaders, as well as CCRL training alumni consisting of madrasa and schoolteachers.

The implementation of the International Conference on CCRL is made possible through partnerships with the Indonesian Ministry of Law and Human Rights, the International Center for Law and Religion Studies at Brigham Young University Law School, and the Templeton Religion Trust.