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refer to an article titled '€œGovt upgrades Islamic-based education, (The Jakarta Post, Dec. 20, p.4). Historically, religious education has not equaled fundamentalism '€” unless one first assumes fundamentalism is equal to believing in a religion. For centuries, education in the West has been primarily Christian.

Indeed, universities originated from the Christians who saw the universe as ordered (as opposed to based on the whims of the pagan gods at war with each other) and to have knowledge '€” in any and all subjects '€” was to reflect the nature of God.

Besides, and I speak from personal experience, good theological training, dealing with cause and effect, inference and access to sources, is a great way to teach analytical skills and critical reasoning.
I accept that Islam, certainly Arabic Islam, can be identified as a special case but I also accept local Indonesians'€™ claim to a brand of '€œIndo-Islam'€, which is grounded in tolerance.

All that is needed for moderate Islam to win out in Indonesia in the schools is a general consensus held by the public and a clear definition of extremism.

Extremism is far easier to define than moderation. The US does not go around defining, for example, what moderate Mormonism or moderate Hinduism is, or what moderate Catholicism must be.

Until recently, the US just defined extremism. If you are violent, you will go to prison. Now, alas, the state is seeing fit to tell the religions what they are allowed to believe and not believe. The record on this kind of policy is not good.

My point is, let Muslims have their education centers and give Christians access to their churches.

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