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Your letters: Religion and tolerance
Call to prayer: A muezzin (right) makes the call to prayer, while the congregation prays at Cut Meutia Mosque in Central Jakarta on June 24
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Call to prayer: A muezzin (right) makes the call to prayer, while the congregation prays at Cut Meutia Mosque in Central Jakarta on June 24.(JP/Awo) (right) makes the call to prayer, while the congregation prays at Cut Meutia Mosque in Central Jakarta on June 24.(JP/Awo)
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span class="inline inline-center">Call to prayer: A muezzin (right) makes the call to prayer, while the congregation prays at Cut Meutia Mosque in Central Jakarta on June 24.(JP/Awo)
This refers to an article titled 'Indonesia in new bid to hush noisy mosques' (The Jakarta Post Online/AFP, June 25).
The external byproducts of each of our individual religious convictions are grace, tolerance, kindness, high moral standards, integrity, a developed sense of responsibility and of care and love for those less fortunate, those in need and even those resentful of us.
Religion entails peace, hope and solutions, not animosity, tension and arrogance. The external forms of religious piety, how much we give to the poor, to the church or mosques or charity, how many times we visit the holy land on religious pilgrimage, how low we bow in our prayers, how loud we praise God ' all this is not enough if our inner hearts are not right.
Religion is about how you treat the person next to you, regardless of his or her faith, ethnic origin or sexual orientation.
Born in a rural part of Central Java, I grew up accepting the amplified call to prayer. Turning down the amplification is a welcome practical step.
Our diversity is our national strength; seeing our Muslim brothers faithfully pray and worship God every day has become a natural visual and auditory landscape of this beautiful land of ours. May each of our faiths invoke the best of our inner selves.
James Waworoendeng
Jakarta
