the church who were of Chinese ethnicity socialracial aspect. The Islamic hard liner militant group religious aspect threatened to attack
and burn the church violence. Subsequently, the city mayor political aspect, pressurized by economic interest and the religious radical group,
revoked the permit to use the church building religious aspect and urged them to move to another location. The church leader did not agree
and brought the case to court politicallegal aspect. After a lengthy and expensive economic aspect legal process, the case was finally brought
to the Supreme Court where GKI Yasmin won and was afforded the right to use the building. However, the Mayor of Bogor does not agree
and still, to this day, utilize the police political violence to close down the church building. This case shows how religion, economy, and
politics are mixed in the public sphere.
10.3.3 Public Spheres as Locations to Distribute Social Goods
According to Michael Walzer, the public sphere consists of many spaces Walzer, 1983. There isn’t just one sphere but many. Every
sphere is a location where social goods are distributed in accordance to differing rules. As an example, in the public sphere of university, the
social goods distributed include among other things: academic positions, registration of accepted students, academic titles and knowledge. These
proper social goods are distributed based on scientific proof and accountability in fulfilling academic obligations, such as: taking exams,
present in lectures, writing articlespapers, reading scientific papers, and so forth. In the academic “field” or “sphere”, the system is fair, as long
as the rules and academic procedures are followed. This doesn’t mean the academic “sphere” is entirely separate from economy, politics,
religion, et cetera, but these other fields are not allowed to control the field of education by neglecting academic values and regulations.
The same applies in the public sphere of market economy. The social goods distributed are services or products that can be purchased with
money. The economic sphere, for instance, is a store located in a mall
