Mixture of Religion, Politics and Economy in the Public Sphere

21989, verse 39, section 2 affirms that “religious education is the conscious effort to prepare student learner in believing, understanding, contemplating and practicing the teachings of religion through activities of mentoring, teaching and or training with attention to respect other religions regarding interreligious harmony in the society in order to realize national unity.” Subsequently, UUSPN No. 202003, Chapter V, verse 12, section 1a mentions that “Every student learner in an education unit reserve the right to religious education in accordance to the religion adhered and it is taught by an educator of the same religion”. Regarding religious education in higher education, it is stated in Chapter III, verse 9 sub b Law No. 221961 on Higher Education as follows: “In Public Higher Education, Religious Education is given as a subject matter with the understanding that students have the right not to partake in by stating their reservations”. Consequently, MPRS Decree XXVIIMPRS1966 Chapter I, Verse 1 states: “Establishing religious education to be a subject matter in public schools from Elementary up to University level.” The regulations above explain the importance of religious education in elementary, intermediate, and higher education. In this writing, the theme on ethics of interreligious interaction in higher education is approach from three aspects, namely: 1 philosophical and theoretical aspects which are the basis of interreligious relations that needs to be introduced to university students, 2 educator lecturer aspect in regards to university students with various religious backgrounds, and 3 education institution aspect in regards to the execution of multi-religious education. Several personal experiences as a university lecturer will be given as illustrations.

11.2 Philosophical and Theoretical Aspects

As one of the efforts in developing ethics of social interaction for higher education students of various religious backgrounds, we need to begin with fundamental questions on our existence and the existence of religious communities different to us in the face of God. Here, it is important to understand the paradigm of exclusivism, inclusivism, and pluralism. This can be explained through the existing religious courses, such as Introduction to Islamic Studies which is an obligatory course to all students of UIN State Islamic University Sunan Kalijaga Yogyakarta, without needing to separately create a new course. Prior to discussing these three paradigms, it is important for us to mutually realize that the use of these terms or labels is definitely not without risk or problem, especially if we were to label it to individuals or groups. Firstly, these labels can be easily interpreted as value judgements; secondly, when we label certain group as exclusive, as an example, we are often led to include several categories that are not entirely theological; thirdly, certain groups we label might not agree with our labelling. Nevertheless, as a paradigm in interreligious interaction, it is important to shed understanding to university students regarding the three theological categories above. Several scholars, including Paul Knitter 1995, Douglas Pratt 2005, and Raimundo Panikkar 1999, have offered theological categories that have similarities between one another although not exactly. However, in the history of my lectures for the course Interreligious Dialog, both at UIN Sunan Kalijaga and the Centre for Religious and Cross-cultural Studies CRCS, Gadjah Mada University, I think Diana Eck’s writing is the most helpful to the students in shedding understanding upon the three paradigms above. In one of her writing titled “Is Our God Listening?” Eck 2005:21 questioned: