Cultivating Respect for Religious Diversity: A Case Study of Civic Education in Manado

Abstract

Civic education is often aptly considered an important arena for cultivating the character of youth and instilling the importance of respect for fellow citizens. To address a growing concern regarding religious intolerance, civic education programs in Indonesia have increasingly stressed material about respect for diversity and inter-religious tolerance. In order to understand how the topic of religious diversity is addressed in civic education courses at the high school level, ethnographic data were collected over the course of 16 months at three different high schools (sekolah menengah atas) in Manado: a public high school (sekolah negeri), public madrasah (madrasah aliyah negeri), and a private high school (sekolah swasta) with Catholic affiliation. Interviews were also conducted with teachers, students, and school administrators. This study espouses a multi-centered understanding of education, which the researchers have operationalized via their examination of the implementation of the civic education in the classroom in addition to school policies, extracurricular activities, informal interactions, and local and national political debates that also shape frameworks for understanding religious diversity. Two major findings emerge from the study. First, although each of the schools is implementing the same national curriculum, each holds a different understanding of the role of the school, of religious education, and of civic education, in contributing to respect for religious diversity. These differences ultimately shape the delivery of the curriculum in each school. Second, at all schools, discussions of religious diversity alternate between collective and individual understandings of tolerance, which has significant ramifications for how tolerance is understood and enacted.

Strengthening Religious Moderation through the Role of Civics Teachers

“…The first is Civic Education in Manado: A Case Study on Promoting Respect for Religious Differences. (Larson, E. M., Pasandaran, S., & Katuuk, 2020) The study explains that students at MAN Model Manado spend significantly more time in religious education classes. It is because the learning policy of their teachers refers to the 2013 Curriculum, which defines religion as the only foundation or source of students' moral character.…”

Religious Tolerance Base on Local Wisdom in Indonesia

“…Tolerance in religion carried out by the people of Lombok in achieving this religious harmony, there have been several studies including, by Ahmad Tohri, et al, regarding the Index of Inter-Religious Tolerance in East Lombok Regency, with the results of the research namely tolerance being carried out is a dynamic thing in social reality, tolerance practiced by religious people is the result of the influence of the times and social development, which does not have an emic dimension but also has an ethical dimension. (Learson, 2019) Gazi Saloom, on the dynamics of relations between Muslims and Hindus on the island of Lombok , with the results of his research namely the relationship between Muslims and Hindus on the island of Lombok, especially in the city of Mataram, is full of dynamics and experiences ups and downs from time to time. Both in the dynamics of inter-religious conflict as well as regarding social inequality carried out by law enforcement.…”