Religious Pluralism, Build Tolerance between Religious Communities

In Indonesia, violence in the name of religion often occurs, and the number is quite increasing. The burning of worship places, the prohibition on the construction of worship places, and others, indicate a picture of the disharmonious relationship between religious communities in social life. 

The reason is the pattern of religious relations that holds exclusivism, namely the truth claim that his religion is the most correct and considers the others are wrong.

Later, the issue of religion became frightening and worrying. Religion that is supposed to spread the peace should shows hospitality, tolerance, compassion, the spirit of togetherness to build a nation instead shows a face that seems to eliminate its friendliness. 

Thus, in recent years, many cases of intolerance have occurred in the form of conflict and violence in the name of beliefs and religions in various regions. Thus, this context builds a narrative that religion is a source of problems and chaos in the world.

As one aspect of social institutions, it is not wise when we talk about religion gives birth only to conflict, because in the history of civilization humanity has contributed to human being. 

Thus, religion has a positive role in life. Religion becomes a divider when it is manipulated for practical political purposes, because it will affect feelings, emotions and subjective internalization, because people will not use rational reasoning when it is related to religion.

In fact, religion, like coin, has a side that can make it a destructive factor, and can also make it a unifying factor. The unifying factor of religion does not mean uniformity, because religion is a human interpretation of how he relates to his Lord. 

But religion unites with the spirit of inclusiveness, egalitarianism, humanization, religious diversity and inclusive. So that religion is not something that is only ukhrawi (heaven world), but build civil relations.

Generally the international world, including Indonesia, sees the United States (USA) as a country that does not care about religion. This view arises because the USA's policy on foreign affairs colors the world more than domestic policies and people's lives. But diversity in the USA is very acceptable and religious freedom is protected by the constitution there. 

According to data we received from the US Consulate General in Surabaya, that 76% of the people there have a religion, with around 3000 religious groups. Historically, the USA was founded by immigrants who avoided religious violence, so the founders of the American nation established a state by guaranteeing religious freedom there.

We conclude, the tolerance built in the USA is a result of the spirit of pluralism. Pluralism is a state that exists not to be merged into one way of view, but still to allow that difference as a form of strength in the dynamics of human life. In the view of pluralism, only God is esoteric and mutually truthful. Meanwhile, religion is the way to reach God is an exoteric and relative truth. 

Thus, pluralism becomes a solid view of democratic life in the USA, with the opportunity to think freely, respect for minorities, the presence of conflict in society can be resolved with peace to avoid violence, political participation, and constitutional guarantees of religious freedom there.

Regarding pluralism, the reality is that people in Indonesia still lack of understanding about this problem. This discourse on pluralism has become a national topic, and only a few of people speak up. 

Nurcholish Madjid (1999), explained that pluralism is a view that not only accepts the fact that society is pluralistic, but it is more fundamental that there must be a sincere attitude that this plurality is a gift from God to humans, because pluralism enriches dynamic cultural interactions, and diverse cultural exchanges. So that our nation's culture becomes rich in this plurality. Thus, pluralism is something that protects humanity and must exist in life.

Pluralism must be guarded with a spirit of tolerance. Tolerance is the attitude of accepting, respecting, and valuing differences. This trait will appear consciously when pluralism is lived in social life. Yusuf al-Qardawi (1993) said that tolerance is applied through association, a gentle attitude, affection, grace and do good to people of different religions. 

For Nurcholish Madjid (1996), tolerance is one of the principles of civil society. It means we must fight for it seriously, because religious pluralism and tolerance in its practice lead us to peace, within the framework of a civil society, the society we aspire to. So, it becomes a challenge that must be answered, namely to grow the understanding of pluralism with a tolerant attitude towards differences.