Written by Athanasia Safitri 

Gaoshan Zu is an ethnic minority in Taiwan which is recognized as an official ethnic designation by the Chinese government. Because of the two regimes since 1949 which are the Mainland China and The Taiwan Island, there was alienation of these indigenous people with their Taiwanese family. They could not get back to their hometown and as a result the young generation do not even speak their native language. Their spoken language itself belongs to the Indonesian group of the Malay/Polynesian language family. Their cultural trait deals with songs and dances which are depicted in their social life on holidays but very much declining because of the lost generation up until the 1980’s where the young generation do not even know the tradition and meaning of dancing, singing, and gathering. read more

Written by  Maurisa Zinira

The environmental crisis has reached an alarming stage. In the past 60 years, in particular, carbon dioxide emissions, global warming, ocean acidization, habitat destruction, extinction, and widescale natural resource extraction show remarkable destruction of our natural environment. It is widely accepted that humans have made significant contributions to ecological crisis. The anthropocentric behaviors constantly lead to the emergence of harmful actions, including behaviors observed within the contexts of religion. read more

Written by Johanes Koraag

The World of Pictures

Today we live in a world filled with images. The screens of our gadgets are filled with images, both static and moving. Human eyes have been forced to stare, absorb, and understand the messages behind the thousands of images crammed into communication tools that propagate the messages that certain parties want to convey. It has been proven that photos can evoke stronger reactions than words in the human brain. Images communicate differently than text, as photographs are absorbed more quickly and are generally received more emotionally. Text, it is argued, “requires a linear logic, while visuals elicit a spontaneous emotional response” (Schwalbe & Dougherty, 2015, p. 142). read more

Written by  Maurisa Zinira

In continuation of previous efforts related to the domain of religious freedom, the Indonesian Consortium for Religious Studies (ICRS), in partnership with PUSAD Paramadina and the Council of Churches in Indonesia (PGI), organized a conference that facilitated activists and stakeholders from various institutions to share their concerns on the matter of religious freedom. The conference titled “Reflections on Advocacy on Freedom of Religion or Belief (KBB) in Indonesia 2023” took place at Wisma Pemuda PGI, Cisarua, West Java, August 22-24, 2023, and gathered over 74 attendees representing 26 provinces across Indonesia. The participants shared various narratives pertaining to their experiences in the field, participating in a reflective discourse on the progression of religious freedom advocacy in Indonesia. read more

Written by  Johanes Koraag

Movement of Nature

Living creatures are unique because signs of life can be seen from their movements. We are moving at all times. The act of changing physical position involves movements that can be seen. Even when our bodies are at rest, there are still movements within us that are imperceptible. Our heart pumps, our blood flows, and air continues to flow in and out of our lungs.

But not only living things move. Whether we realize it or not, philosophically speaking, together with the nature in which we live, we never exist in a static state. We are in fact moving along with the planet which is rotating at high speed. The Earth rotates on its own axis once every 24 hours. The Earth has a circumference of 40,070 km, so when we divide the distance by time, we find that the Earth rotates at a speed of 1,670 km/hour. As we are moving along with the spinning Earth, we are also moving along with the Earth around the Sun at a speed of about 110,000 km/hour. This fantastic speed is the result of dividing the distance the Earth travels around the Sun by the length of time it takes the Earth to complete one revolution, which is about 365 days. The solar system, including the Sun and all celestial bodies orbiting it, is also in motion, orbiting around the center of the galaxy. Scientists have determined that the solar system orbits the center of the Milky Way galaxy at about 720,000 km/hour, moving across the universe. This all proves that the universe and living creatures in it continue to move constantly without being physically aware of it. Humans and the universe always move in the gentlest movements up to high speed movements without realizing it, and everything happens in harmony. read more

Written by Athanasia Safitri

Amidst the problematic issues of waste disposal in the Special Region of Yogyakarta which have taken place since last July, Yayasan Lembaga Kajian Islam dan Sosial (LKiS) an independent and non-profit organization focusing on more tolerable and transformative social thoughts, hosted a discussion entitled ‘Mengkaji Sampah dan Lingkungan dalam Perspektif Penghayat Kepercayaan’. Streamed online via LKiS Youtube link on July 27, 2023, the event was part of the Forum Kamisan Daring – an online Thursday Forum which is regularly held by Intersectoral Collaboration for Indigenous Religions (ICIR). The discussion confers the social problems that appear as a result of the closing of Regional Landfill TPA Piyungan by the local government from 23 July until 5 September 2023. read more

Written by  Maurisa Zinira

The 2023 International Conference on Religious Moderation (ICROM),[1] held on 24-26 August 2023, was vibrant with the presence of scholars, stakeholders, researchers, and practitioners from universities and relevant institutions. The participants included Ph.D. students from the Indonesian Consortium for Religious Studies (ICRS). In this second ICROM hosted in Yogyakarta, three students and one staf from ICRS, Fardan Mahmudatul Imamah, Usman, Anna Amalia, and Hendrikus Paulus Kaunang presented their research and made valuable contributions to discussions around the intricate dynamics of religious life in Indonesia. The students delivered a presentation on their research findings pertaining to religious management practices in Indonesia, along with the seminar’s overarching theme of “Managing Religious Diversity in the Public Sphere.” read more

Written By Maurisa Zinira

The diversity of religions and cultures that have become the ancestral heritage of the Indonesian nation is on the verge of fading. Although this diversity continues to be glorified as the treasure of the Indonesian nation, the facts on the ground show otherwise. Adherents of the ancestral (indigenous) religions continue to face persecution and threats even though the Administration and Population Laws have been revised to recognize the adherents administratively.

In Minahasa, a land known for its religious tolerance, the LAROMA (Lalang Rondor Malesung), a community organization, which adheres to the Malesung ancestral religion, is still being persecuted. Since 2016, hate speech  has been heard in churches, government events, and even at weddings. This hatred continued to heat up leading to the demolition of Wale Paliusan (a place of worship) by surrounding residents. Now, a year after the tragedy of the persecution, Iswan Sual, the chairman of LAROMA, who spoke at the ICIR (Intersectoral Collaboration for Indigenous Religion) #15 monthly discussion on Thursday, July 13, 2023, noted that discrimination still exists in many forms.  Along with two other presenters, Febriani Sumual and Mary Silvita, he discussed the experiences and challenges faced by the community amid the diversity of Minahasa society. read more

Written by Athanasia Safitri

Started as a dissertation for his doctorate, Akhmad  Siddiq transforms the writing into a book entitled “Kristen Madura: Agama, Identitas, dan Pergulatan Sosial” for more people to understand about the existence of Madurese Christians and their social struggle in society. He realises that there has been a stigma stating that Madurese are all Muslims and it shapes not only their religion but also their cultural identity, which roots in Islam. This is one of the reasons of discomfort that Madurese Christians experience, to the extent that they are reluctant in revealing their religion to their community to avoid tension from the majority. For the time being, however, the growing number of non-Muslim Madurese, both on Madura Island and in other parts in East Java, has made assimilation inevitable and interreligious interaction even more unpreventable. read more

Written by Johanes Koraag

Yogyakarta was once known as a city with a high level of tolerance, because, as a city of education, every year it receives students from various regions with diverse backgrounds. However, this situation has recently undergone a significant change. Events such as the refusal of non-Muslims to live in Muslim neighborhoods in Bantul, the destruction of Christian graves in Sleman, and the rise of exclusive boarding houses that only accept tenants with certain religions show that there has been a decline in the level of tolerance among the people of the Special Region of Yogyakarta. This certainly needs to be scrutinized, given special attention, and solutions sought in order to restore the image of Yogyakarta as a tolerant city. read more