Speech of Khamid Anik Khamim Tohari

 

Today, long after the era of St. Francis of Assisi, history is repeating itself. The world is driven by misunderstandings and conflicts, giving rise to new wars in their various forms. The idea of a peaceful world order has evolved to a great extent. But the methods and strategies of waging war have also evolved endlessly.

On another level, discrimination, persecution and majoritarianism still characterize life and relations between religions, especially in countries where religion is still highly valued as a very important element of life.

On September 5th, 2024, Pope Francis met with one of our Islamic leader, Nusaruddin Umar, the Grand Imam of Jakarta's Istiqlal Mosque, to promote religious harmony for the sake of humanity, signed a declaration to combat religious violence and to protect the environment, and issued a joint call for interfaith friendship and common cause.

The declaration states that the global phenomenon of dehumanization is characterized by widespread violence and conflict, often resulting in an alarming number of casualties. It is of particular concern that religion is often instrumentalized in this context, causing suffering to many, especially women, children and the elderly. The role of religion, however, should include the promotion and protection of the dignity of every human life.

Where, then, should we place religions today to play their role in building peace? In addressing human problems and needs?

Look at the Gallup Poll surveys over the years that measure the importance of religion in a society. How ironic it is to see that countries where religion is an important element in their lives are also countries where discrimination and injustice are rife. Meanwhile, countries that are considered "far from religion" are countries where people live in peace, security, and happiness.

Of course, ideally, peace would be a just peace, not merely a symptom or image of peace. It would not be a false stability that harbors inequality.

As many world leaders have said, peace without justice is absurd.

Religious circles, both religious elites and ordinary people who see religion as a source of true peace, have an amazing opportunity to build a bridge of just peace! All they have to do is give full attention to at least five things, five prerequisites.

 

First, a more open and down-to-earth way of practicing religion.

Almost every religion has justifications and historical precedents for being exclusive and negating groups outside its religion. It is this exclusivism that has historically contributed greatly to various uprisings, conflicts, and clashes between religions. 

The openness of our way of religion will encourage everyone's acceptance of the religious while eliminating cynicism and antipathy toward religion as a peacemaking entity.

Our way of religion must also be rooted in and directly related to the real problems of people and society. Religion must be able to adapt and respond to contemporary problems and not be distant from reality.

Second, fully acceptance of all forms of difference.

As stated in the Querida Amazonia document, the Ecuadorian Bishops have demanded the creation of a "new social and cultural system that gives a privileged place to fraternal relations, in an atmosphere of recognition and respect for different cultures and ecosystems, capable of resisting every form of discrimination and oppression among human beings."

It's so sad to see how many of our religious movements have been too focused on universalism and togetherness. This has led to differences being overlooked and ignored. As a result, these differences have been allowed to grow and fester, waiting for a trigger to become a source of conflict.

Hiding differences only leads to misunderstanding, prejudice, labeling, and generalization.

I believe tolerance is about accepting differences. And the best way to do that is to acknowledge them and celebrate them in a friendly atmosphere. We shouldn't avoid or keep differences in narrow spaces. We should talk about them. And we should have conversations about our differences and learn how to handle them in positive ways.

Discussing differences is essential for fostering constructive dialogue and learning how to handle them effectively.

Third, inclusive and equitable encountering spaces.

Interreligious or interfaith dialogue has a long history. Each of us has practiced and struggled with it for a long time. In many ways it has resolved disputes among us, without a doubt. But the important question is, does it engage the more conflict-prone segments of society out there? Is the luxury of this kind of dialogue also experienced by the grassroots communities that need it more than we do?

Furthermore, in countries where religious people are divided into quantitative numbers: majorities and minorities, interfaith dialogue is often just a normative agenda without meaning. There is no equality between majority and minority. Equality only becomes political jargon to show that the majority has good intentions to embrace the minority.

Fourth, the protection of minorities and marginalized groups.

Historically, the major religions have a dark history of marriage between religion and politics. As a legacy, majoritarianism and the politicization of religion are symptoms that are difficult to avoid. The privilege of large religious groups has the potential to lead to discrimination and exclusion of smaller groups.

Therefore, a protective orientation toward minority and marginalized groups is an important basis for preventing religious groups from experiencing symptoms of majoritarianism and politicization. Pope Francis has demonstrated this very well. This footprint must be continued by all of us. Each one of us.

Fifth, recognize the right to religious freedom.

One of the great ambiguities of religion is fearness and feeling threatened. We're worried that our religious establishment will be disrupted by a small group of people who have a different interpretation than the established one. We're also afraid that one of our believers will be attracted to another religion and leave our religion. 

We celebrate with excitement when someone switches from another religion to ours, as if religion were a political entity fighting for voters with other religions as competitors.

Recognizing the right to religious freedom is a basic attitude that shows the exaltation of the most basic individual rights. It is precisely this attitude that has become the original spirit of religion: the protection of human dignity.

Thus, with the above five conditions, the peace we seek will be based on the nobility of human dignity. In Fratelli Tutti, it is said that by recognizing the dignity of every human person, we can revive among all of us the universal aspiration for fraternity. Therefore, the peace we are talking about in this forum is not an elitist peace, not a political peace, and not a dreamy peace.

Therefore, through this important forum, I invite all of you, I invite Sant'Egidio in every country, to engage more, to embrace more, and to celebrate more religious differences. And of course, to work together for common goods. 

Let's take a wider step, set our feet together with the grassroots, marginalized communities, and the younger generation out there. 

It would be so wonderful if we could find more mobilizers to help spread the basic spirit of religions to become the mainstream and perspective of all religious communities!

The Indonesian Conference on Religion and Peace has been working for more than two decades to do just that, in the world's largest muslim population. There are still many challenges, both at the level of religious leaders and at the grassroots level, but we can do it together! []