TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Religion must uphold common values: Interfaith leaders
Tapestry of faith: Dozens of religious scholars and experts huddle for a “family photo” on the sidelines of the Towards United Human Values gathering, an interfaith event hosted by the Omani mission in Jakarta on Saturday
Change Size
T
apestry of faith: Dozens of religious scholars and experts huddle for a “family photo” on the sidelines of the Towards United Human Values gathering, an interfaith event hosted by the Omani mission in Jakarta on Saturday. (JP/Apriza Pinandita)
In a world where people are divided by hatred and intolerance and where religious extremism has found a growing following, “peacemakers” of different faiths and beliefs insist it is high time to band together and uphold universal human values.
About 60 religious stakeholders comprising scholars, officials and activists from around the world gathered in Jakarta over the weekend to promote peaceful coexistence in an event convened by the Omani mission in Jakarta as part of a new initiative on religious tolerance.
"Towards United Human Values" is a project led by Oman to spark discussion among religious scholars and experts in hopes of addressing pertinent issues faced by the world’s faithful.
Among the participants of Saturday’s event was Justin Meyers, an American pastor who has been living in Oman’s capital Muscat for the past seven years. As a Christian missionary living in an Arab Muslim country, Meyers said his religious values lined up surprisingly well with those of his Muslim neighbors, especially in their shared concern to uphold world peace.
“For me, it’s what I experienced every day in Oman [...] It’s not surprising that [a country like] Oman would have this initiative, said Meyers, the associate director of Al Amana Center — a Muscat-based organization advocating for the mutual understanding of religions and cultures.
In his line of work, Meyers said he had to regularly contend with the novelty of being an American Christian pastor. He recalled one time while traveling into Oman through Dubai in the United Arab Emirates how he struck up a conversation with an impressionable young border guard.
“You’re not what I expected a Christian to be. You are not what I expect an American to be,” Meyers said, mimicking what people have said to him.
The pastor said he thought it was very important to challenge such stereotypes, noting that many people mischaracterize people whom they never have even met in person.
One remedy he offered was to introduce different people to each other in real life, especially among the youth, as online media had a tendency to distort things. “People can [then] know each other for who we are, not as we’re told we should be,” Meyers said.
Jesslyn Metta, a 22-year-old college student from Indonesia, can attest to the dangers of the internet and how the digital era has helped shape communities.
“I use social media a lot, and you get to see a lot of [religious] extremism and hate portrayed by the people [there],” said Jesslyn, who is a member of the Union of Indonesian Buddhist Students. “I think it’s peculiar, because when I see my neighbors in real life, we’re doing fine.” Similar to Meyers, Jesslyn said she believed that a lot of people — and especially the youth — were less physically connected nowadays.
One possible solution, she said, would be to have religious education that is more inclusive, so as to promote interreligious understanding. “It’s not [enough] that you’re a Muslim and you just learn Islamic teachings and Buddhists just Buddhism,” Jesslyn told The Jakarta Post.
The Omani Embassy held Saturday’s discussions in commemoration of International Day for Tolerance, which falls on Nov. 16 every year. The mission partnered with the Network for Religious and Traditional Peacemakers (NRTP) and kicked off the festivities with an exhibition in collaboration with Indonesia’s National Library.
“Oman has been working on building tolerance and understanding for over a decade. Based on their experience, they came up with a new initiative [that is inclusive of] united human values and [disregards] religion, race, ethnicity and language,” said Mohamed El Sanousi, executive director of the NRTP. These values include love, compassion, mercy, peaceful coexistence and collaboration.
El Sanousi said the organizer had choses Indonesia not only because it was the country with the largest Muslim population, but also because Indonesia was considered an example of how six official religions could coexist.
Omani Ambassador to Indonesia Al Sayyed Nazar Al Said said his government was proud to have launched the initiative in Indonesia, as the two countries shared many values on this front. (tjs)
