Building Awareness on Religious Plurality

Abstract

This article discusses the building awareness on religious plurality especially in educational institutions. In Indonesian context, the author found that the domination of educators plays such important role at the kindergarten until senior high school including part of university. Educators act as a powerful subject who is knowledgeable and has rights to do and ask anything to student as a powerless object who depend their “fate” unto the educators. Good Corporation between educator, government, students and family-parents really could make a better process of education, holistically. The curriculum must be extended also by including the introduction of others religions consist of general lessons such as the prophet, holy house, holy book, holy day etc., also the special lessons such as the belief, the core principal, values and so on that are able to taught to others. That way could make students become aware to other existences and tries to build relationship that full of willingness to respect each other, tolerance and openness to have a dialogue that enrich one another. Moreover, the socio issue around the society, for instance the disaster, national-international human tragedy, religious tragedy and so forth, also put into the religious curriculum in order to maintain their empathy of humanity. A set of curriculum that put into the plurality of religions and socio humanistic matters is helpful for the educational partakers to see the real context and able to interpret the materials of religious education appropriate to the context.