Each religion preaches that it is the unique route to “truth” and everyone else is mistaken or misled. It is the religious duty of each of them to protect their followers from the danger of being misled by others.
That is why centers of preaching and symbols of unchallenged existence such as mosques, churches and temples belonging to other beliefs cannot be tolerated. They have always been, and always will be, attacked.
In our schools there is no attempt to teach children about the beliefs of others. They are segregated into separate groups when it comes to “religion” classes.
How can you have tolerance without knowledge and understanding? Instead children are taught that they have the absolute truth and every other sect and religion (including those of their classmates) is wrong.
The state puts each us into one of six religious cages from which we cannot escape except into another cage. The state does not allow Jews or agnostics or people who have worked out their own ideas to officially exist. Intermarriage of people from different beliefs is not allowed. People of no religion are simply not allowed to marry. If people are not allowed to love each other, how can there be tolerance?
The only way there can be true tolerance is when it simply doesn’t matter to the state or to anybody else what anyone believes.
The organs of the state, such as the police, must take seriously their duty to protect all citizens, residents and visitors from aggression. They must do so without discrimination, fear, favor or price.
Time and again they have lamentably failed to do so.
The reason Indonesia was rightly praised for her tolerance in the past was that religion was lightly worn and admixed with traditional beliefs and cultures. No one took it too seriously. When Christian or Muslim traders arrived, the healthy attitude to their new faiths was, “Sure, ok, whateverlah!”
Now, for short term political expediency, young hotheads who firmly believe in the absolute truth and superiority of their own creed are being given free rein and the country is being torn apart.
There is a lot of talk about freedom of religion. What we desperately need is freedom from religion. It is time to abandon the first article of Pancasila and remove the star from the shield. Religion is simply none of the state’s business. Maintenance of the peace and unity of the nation most certainly are.
Rafiq Mahmood
Bogor, West Java
