Wednesday Forum, April 28, 2021. Speaker: Paul Hedges, Associate Professor in the Interreligious Relations in Plural Societies Programme, RSIS, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.
Wednesday Forum, 17 March 2021. Speaker: Claire-Marie Hefner, a postdoctoral scholar of Islamic studies in the Department of Religion at Florida State University.
Wednesday Forum, March 3, 2021, with Daniel Majchrowicz, Assistant Professor of South Asian Literature and Culture at Northwestern University in Evanston, IL, USA.
This presentation will argue for the need for a paradigm shift in the understanding of Islam from a religion oriented to law (nomos) to one oriented to love (eros), from prioritizing orthodoxy to orthopraxy.
The architectural form is one indicator that reflects religious practices evolve over long periods of time. There are scholars who do not accept that religions and religious architecture have a history. These scholars prefer to believe that religious practices emerge fully formed and that they are static (i.e. they do not change). Most scholars, however, view the practice of religion as an evolving phenomenon based upon cultural symbolism. Furthermore, religious practices can be influenced by contact with external groups and often reflect shared histories between different religions. This is an idea that is frequently in conflict with political sensitivities, but may also offer opportunities for inter-faith dialogue.
In the late-15th to mid-16th century, Europe experienced three revolutions: a geographical revolution (“voyages of discovery” and colonial expansion); a religious revolution (the Protestant Reformation) and a Scientific Revolution. Within the religion and science discourse, the relationship between two of these revolutions—the Protestant Reformation and the Scientific Revolution—has been much studied, while the third revolution has been ignored. As a result, the ghosts of colonialism still haunt us. This presentation will explore the ways considerations of the third revolution—and postcolonial perspectives—broaden out understanding and expand the discourse, with special attention to the contributions of postcolonial Science Fictions.
Anang G Alfian| CRCS |Wednesday Forum Report As a product of the globalized world, social media have created a virtual space of communication and interaction. Many people use it with enthusiasm as it helps humans build communication and connectivity much faster than ever before. On the other hand, many consider this phenomenon a challenge for living ethically and productively.
Dealing with this topic, Wednesday Forum on February 9th 2017 held a discussion on “wefies” (group self-portraits posted on social media) in relation to the Islamic concept of riya’ (showing off piety). The two speakers, Fatimah Husein, currently teaching at CRCS/ICRS as well as UIN Sunan Kalijaga, and Martin Slama of the Institute for Social Anthropology at the Austrian Academy of Sciences, presented the emerging phenomenon of online piety in Indonesia, especially on how Muslims rethink riya’ in today’s popular “wefie” culture. The presentation was based on Husein’s article titled “The Revival of Riya’: Displaying Muslim Piety Online in Indonesia” which has been submitted for a virtual issue of American Ethnologist and Slama’s research project on “Islamic (Inter)Faces of the Internet: Emerging Socialities and Forms of Piety in Indonesia” funded by the Austrian Science Fund.
Fatimah Husein and Martin Slama observed that media are central to the articulation of Indonesian Muslims’ pious life. They further gave examples of online communities such as ODOJ (One Day One Juz) and wefies practices among Muslims during religious rituals, traveling, or pengajian (religious gathering). This phenomenon, they argued, requires Muslims to deal with the riya’ question, because during the last two decades showing off one’s Islamic piety mediated by smartphones and the Internet has become widespread.
Abstract
Until 1935, the Dutch Protestant mission (zending) in Indonesia was officially run by male missionaries. Women were considered to be supplementary rather than essential actors. Despite the fact that there is only limited information available about them, women were involved in the Dutch Protestant mission from the early nineteenth century. This talk presents a study about the experience and role of Dutch women in the Protestant mission, with particular reference to the existing letters written between 1855 and 1931 by four missionary wives who lived in Sulawesi and North Sumatra. The letters of the four women reveal their domestic and social activities, as well as their perceptions of their role in the mission and the society in which they lived. This talk explores gendered notions in missionary practices and points out the lack of attention to the study of women in Christian missions within the broader framework of Indonesian colonial history. Speaker
Maria Ingrid Nabubhoga is now a Ph.D. candidate at the Faculty of Philosophy, Theology and Religious Studies at Radboud University Nijmegen, the Netherlands, in the project ‘Indonesia Mirrors’, jointly organized by Radboud University Nijmegen, The Nijmegen Institute for Mission Studies Radboud University and Duta Wacana Christian University (UKDW). Her Ph.D. project explores the perception of contemporary Indonesian immigrants on religion and modernity in the Netherlands, in continuity with the Dutch colonial past in Indonesia.
Meta Ose Ginting | CRCS | WedForum Report Going to the cinema is a new social practice in modern society. To some extent it can also be perceived as a spiritual practice. Dr Nacim Pak-Shiraz, the Head of Persian Studies and a Senior Lecturer in Persian and Film Studies at the University of Edinburgh and guest speaker at the Wednesday Forum on February 9th, studies this paradox in the dynamics of Iranian cinema. She began by noting that there has been only a little academic attention to the movies based on Quranic epics, in contrast to what has happened with Biblical epics from Hollywood.
For a long time, the study of the Quran has been focused on the text and its interpretation. Pak-Shiraz explained that movies lead us to cultural contexts and deeper understanding of Islamic arts. Therefore, more attention should be given to the dynamics of Quran and its representation in the creative industry.
Meta Ose Ginting | CRCS | WedForum Report Jonathan Zilberg, a cultural anthropologist whose research and advocacy focuses on museum ethnography, argued that Indonesian museums face such problems as performance, transparency and accountability, but they have the potential power to promote pluralism to the public. In his February 1st Wednesday forum presentation, he raised questions as to how Indonesian museums can be a strong bond to serve Indonesia’s diversity.
Based on his research in National Museum of Indonesia in Central Jakarta, Zilberg argued that museums are an extension of culture and identity. He conducted his research by closely examining the activities of visitors of National Museum. He took photos from different angles and then reflected on how visitors interact with the objects on display. He stressed that a museum that functions well should be a place to learn and display democracy. Different people come to the museum with various interests. These differences can lead them to learn about pluralism in comfortable ways.
Akhmad Akbar Susamto, active lecturer in in the Graduate School of Universitas Gadjah Mada (UGM) started his presentation in Wednesday Forum about Islamic and Western economics by explaining the background behind the academic discipline of Islamic economics. Islamic economics has been developed based on a belief that Islam’s worldview differs from that of Western capitalism. Islamic economics has its own perspectives and values related to how decisions are made. According to Susanto, the boundaries of Islamic economics as a social science or a discipline are closer to economics than to theology or to fiqh.
Abstract
Acknowledged by UNESCO in 2009 as a Masterpiece of Oral and Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, batik is produced through an introspective creative process in which the artist uncovers a truth and presents local wisdom and beauty. In this way, it can be an effective means to communicate symbols, ideas and messages about peace, respect and interreligious tolerance in order to counter the growing radicalism in Indonesian society. Aniek Handajani will present her new book Batik Antiterorisme Sebagai Media Komunikasi Upaya Kontra – Radikalisasi Melalui Pendidikan dan Budaya (co-written with Eri Ratmanto and published by UGM Press, 2016) as well as several works of batik she has commissioned in order to encourage public discussion about terrorism and peace. Speaker
Aniek Handajani is a staff at the East Java provincial office of the Ministry of Education and an English lecturer at the Faculty of Education, Islamic University, Lamongan. She earned her Masters in Education at Flinders University in Australia and is an educator and activist for inter-religious peace. Currently, she is a Ph.D. candidate at Inter-Religious Studies (ICRS), UGM, researching terrorism and deradicalization.
Abstract
The establishment of Islamic economics as an academic discipline has been motivated by a belief that the Islamic worldview differs from the worldview of Western capitalism. This premise seems to put Islamic economics in total opposition to conventional, or Western, economics. In the coming presentation, the speaker will argue that such an impression is wrong: although the Islamic worldview does differ from the worldview of Western capitalism, Islamic economics as an academic discipline was established to realize the Islamic worldview and can stand together with conventional economics established in the West Arguing that each can benefit from the other. The speaker will introduce a new framework for Islamic economic analysis that lays a foundation for the complementarity between Islamic and conventional or Western economics. This new framework can resolve the dilemma faced by Muslim economists and help to establish Islamic academic disciplines alongside their Western peers. Speaker
Akhmad Akbar Susamto is a lecturer at the Departemen of Economics and a faculty member at the master program specialize in Islamic Economics, Graduate School, UGM. In additional to conventional [Western] Economics education background, he has a strong interest in Islamic Political Economy, Islamic Economics and Islamic Finance. He earns his bachelor, master’s and PhD degrees in Economics from UGM, Monash University and Australia Nasional University respectively.
Abstract
Tony Albert is a politically-minded artist provoked by stereotypical representations of Aboriginal people and the colonial history that attempts to define him, and what Aboriginality is, in the present. Interrogating contemporary legacies of colonialism that have impacted the lives of Aboriginal peoples in his homeland of Australia, he mines popular culture imagery and art historical source material while drawing upon personal and collective histories. His talk will explore Australian politics in relation to his own art practice. Examining the legacy of racial and cultural misrepresentation, particularly of Australia’s Aboriginal people, Albert has developed a universal language that seeks to rewrite historical mistruths and injustice. Speaker
Tony Albert has spent the majority of his life in Brisbane, but has strong family connections further north to the Girramay and Kuku Yalanji people of the rainforest region of Australia. In 2004 he completed a degree in Visual Arts, majoring in Contemporary Australian Indigenous Art, at Griffith University. His work has been exhibited and collected by major institutions throughout Australia and he is currently artist-in- residence at Cemeti Art House, Yogyakarta.
Abstract
Who has the authority to end the discrimination and violence religious minority groups continue to face despite protections promised in Indonesia’s constitution? This talk examines three recent cases—the Ahmadiyya in West Java, Shi’a in East Java, and two HKBP churches also in West Java—to show how the three kinds of authority (legal-rational, traditional, and charismatic) identified by Max Weber are all used to legitimate extremism and violence in the face of contradictory actions by the government, including religious leaders with institutional authority inside it. Unless the actors in the government recognize that they must use their authority responsibly, extremist religious leaders who seek to mobilize hate against others, especially minorities, will continue to be able to do so and Indonesian society will remain immature. Speaker
Imanuel Geovasky is graduated from School of Public Policy and Social Research International Christian University, Tokyo, Japan. He got Japan ICU Foundation Scholarship (JICUF) (New York based) and United Board for Higher Education in Asia (UBCHEA) (New York and Hongkong based) Faculty Development Scholarship for Master Degree in Peace Studies at International Christian University, Tokyo, Japan, from September 2013 – July 2015. His focus research on Religious-based violence and discrimation against minorities in Indonesia society, Human security and Peace building.
Abstract
Indonesian Islam connotes a pluralistic form of faith that is open and deeply engages local-specific cultures that concurrently emphasize a rigorous pursuit of social justice and equality for all. Despite the voluminous scholarship on Indonesian Islam, its correlation with Muhammadiyah’s “Islam Berkemajuan” and Nahdhatul Ulama’s “Islam Nusantara”—each having its own vision for a good society—remains woefully unexplained. This paper explores the interplay between Indonesian Islam and the praxis of democracy within the historical context of overcoming an apparent inferiority complex suffered by some segments of the Muslim community. The authors argue that as much as Indonesian Islam may have proven itself to be distinct from ‘the other Islams’, commonly found in its birthplace in the Middle East, there is still much to be desired for in terms of how to confidently overcome the historical baggage as a once colonized people. Using Said and Foucault’s analytical frameworks, the paper argues for a less humble attitude toward the propagation of Indonesian Islam to the outside world, given the protracted period of instability in the Middle East, ongoing terror attacks in different parts of the world and the politics surrounding Islamophobia. Speaker
Breanna Bradley is an undergraduate student at Georgetown University’s Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service located in Washington, District of Columbia, USA. Bradley’s studies focus on the relationship between culture and politics in Southeast Asia. She is currently a research assistant at the Indonesian Consortium for Religious Studies (ICRS), a Ph.D. program in Inter-Religious Studies located at Universitas Gadjah Mada, Yogyakarta, Indonesia. She has previously held positions as an undergraduate research fellow at Georgetown University’s Berkley Center for Religion, Peace and World Affairs and as a program coordinator for Georgetown University’s D.C. School’s Project, a program aimed to provide English language access for the immigrant community of the Washington DC area. She is interested in the role that Indonesian Islam plays in Indonesian culture and politics and is currently assisting with research surrounding the Tabot festival, a festival with its roots in Shia Islam celebrated by a majority Sunni community every year in Bengkulu, Sumatra.
Abstract
Rumors about head-hunting and construction sacrifices have been recorded in Southeast Asia since the beginning of 20th century. My focus is on the present-day form of these rumors on the island Sumba, Eastern Indonesia. First directed especially at the Dutch colonizers, stories about foreigners seeking for body parts have continually absorbed new features. In 1990’s, they focussed on new technologies that were imagined as electronic phantasms. Nowadays they target tourists and immigrants as well as people deviating from social norms. Following Jean-Nöel Kapferer, who defined rumors as one of the defense mechanisms by which members of communities try to preserve their old ways, I interpret Sumbanese rumors as a way for Sumbanese to define themselves in opposition to outside forces and as a tool for maintaining norms in society. Speaker
Adriana Kábová earned her Master’s degree in Ethnology from the Charles University in Prague, Czech Republic. She is a PhD candidate in Anthropology, also at the Charles University in Prague, and is currently on an internship in the Pusat Studi Pariwisata at UGM. Her research interests include tourism and contemporary legends in Southeast Asia.
Abstract
In many Muslim-majority societies,the widely accepted Islamic doctrine that men are to act as the ‘imam’ or leaders of the family lies at the bedrock of Muslim masculinity and male religious identity, but its meaning changes for Muslim men who live as a minority in liberal and increasingly secular societies such as Australia. Based on a sociological study of the issues and challenges facing Southeast Asian Muslim men living in Melbourne, I argue that the family does serve as a secure zone for preserving and exercising Islamic-associated practices of masculinity, but also that men are pressed to redefine the meaning and continually negotiate practices of leadership to cope with the demand for individual freedom and autonomy in the family as fits the much different social context. Finally, I call for more attention to the importance of masculinity as an analytical framework in religious studies. Speaker
Rachmad Hidayat is a fellow and Project Director in the Kalijaga Institute for Justice, State Islamic University Sunan Kalijaga, a research associate at the Asia Institute, the University of Melbourne and previously was a visiting scholar at the Institute for Politics, Religions and Society, the Australian Catholic University. He earned a PhD in 2016 and MA in 2010 both at Monash University. Rachmad had worked at the State Islamic University Sunan Kalijaga as a project officer and research officer for programs fostering gender mainstreaming in religious contexts. His academic interests focus on how the discourse of masculinities and femininities sociologically shape and are shaped by dominant imbalance power relationship in families, institutions, academia, and religion. He has published
Abstract Scientists say that we have entered the Anthropocene, the era in which the influence of humankind on the many disasters on our earth is decisive. But ancient societies already understood disasters as a very complex and subtle interaction between the mood of man and the movement of nature. This is what we are reminded of by the Javanese tale Babad Ngalor-Ngidul, the title of which comes from a word we no longer understand: ngalor-ngidul. Composed of two Javanese words– lor for north and kidul for south plus the prefix ng that marks a back and forth movement–, ngalor-ngidul must have originally meant “from north to south and from south to north, in an endless burst of reciprocity and interdependence,” but now only means to talk nonsense. In the tale, the fates of the two villages, one in the south near the sea and one in the north near the volcano, are bound together as the former, destroyed by an earthquake, rebuilds itself, body and soul, while the latter becomes mentally corrupted before being devastated by a volcanic eruption. The tale is told in restore among the survivors the clarity of the “eye of the heart” that allowed the guardian of the volcano to “read” the mother-mountain and it reminds us that we must learn again to listen to the water of the ocean and to the sand of the volcano, the last speakers of a “primal” language that has existed since long before humankind. Speaker Elizabeth D. Inandiak is a writer, translator and community activist. Since the age of nineteen, she has traveled the world as a reporter for various French magazines and radio broadcasters. In 1989, she settled in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. She has translated and recreated into French, Indonesian and English the great epic of Java: The Book of Centhini, published in Indonesian by Gramedia (Centhini – Kekasih yang Tersembunyi). Her new book Babad Ngalor Ngidul, (Gramedia) is a tale about the earthquake and the volcanic eruption in Yogyakarta. She is currently working on a book about Muara Jambi together with the young villagers of the site.
Abstract
Love and intimacy are complex parts of our lives which bring together the realms of emotion, personal needs and desires, and religious and social expectations, but the practice of intimacy is socially constructed and has changed over time, particularly now as divorce rates are rising and definitions of marriage are in flux. This talk examines the phenomenon of extradyadic or non-monogamous relationships which are increasingly widespread in urban areas of Indonesia. Their emergence can be seen on a practical level as a rebellion against the structure and social fabric of Indonesian society but at the same time as part of an ongoing shift of ideological values and norms. Very little is understood about these extradyadic relationships, especially due to stereotypes and moral judgments on such practices in relation to heterosexual and monogamous norms in society. This talk is based on research which seeks to understand the practice and the concept of love in extradyadic relationships as an on-going phenomena in Indonesia through the eyes of extradyadic individuals. Using the concept originated by Deleuze and Guattari of the schizophrenic society, it explores how such intimacies intertwine in creating a revolutionary change of social life through what they called schizo subjects.
Speaker
Dian Arymami is a Cultural and Media Studies graduate and currently active as a lecturer in Department of Communication, Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, UGM since 2009. Having had her childhood in a constant move in Africa, she had found keen interest in culture and cultural communications, along with issues concerning empowerment, sexuality, and social criticism. Some of her writings can be found in Perempuan Bicara Kretek (2012), CSR Indonesia (2013), Satu Dekade Wajah Film Indonesia (2014). Currently, she is working on her dissertation on Redefining Intimacy. She can be contacted through d.arymami@gmail.com or www.arymami.com.
Abstract
Corruption is a problem of civilization which, by extension, is a problem of culture. This must be confronted by reviving the cultural values of anti-corruption. Learning from local traditions which combat corruption can be a powerful instrument to fix corrupt tendencies in a state. Strong beliefs in local cultural values can become the base of these efforts. In other words, the culture will create the people, and the people will create the civilization. Presenter try to offer an overview of Mambagi Jambar (Sharing Pieces of Meat) activity as representative of the cultural activities which combat corruption. By basing on ethnographic interviews and analysis of related texts, the presenter will describe this discussion in a systematic matter. The first part introduces global corruption and, furthermore, the issue of corruption in Indonesia. The second part describes the activities of padalan jambar juhut in Toba Batak culture. The last part then discusses these activities and their contributions in an effort to revive anti-corrupt cultural practices. Speaker
Subandri Simbolon is Public education Staf at CRCS-UGM. His research, focused on culture and populer issue, has been published in globethic.net journal. He finished his BA at Sekolah Tinggi Filsafat dan Teologi (STFT) Widya Sasana Malang where he majored in Christian Philosophy. In 2014, he graduated from CRCS-UGM where focuse on Culture and Ecology. In 2014 and 2015, he awarded the first winner for globetthic.net essay competition about “Anti Corruption Ethics and Religiosity (2014) and “Responsible Leadership (2015)“.
Abstract
Saluang jo dendang, flute with song, is one of the most important arts of the Minangkabau heartland, celebrated for its refined poetry based on allusion and sad songs that induce tears in a listener. Performed late at night into the wee hours of the morning, two to three singers deliver a series of 40 or so songs according to the requests of the attendees, choosing from a repertoire of hundreds. In this genre, songs are defined by the melodies, not the lyrics, which are variable from one performance to the next. Singers choose texts from stock verses memorized and create them anew in the moment of performance, all delivered in pantun and therefore rhyme with verse lengths varying from 4 to 22 lines. The knowledge, skill, and nimbleness demanded of the performers is considerable.
Once the exclusive purview of male performers, women started singing publicly in the 1960s. By the 1990s, women had displaced male singers and nowadays it is extremely rare to encounter male singers. The predominantly male audiences are not terribly interested in them. However, earlier concerns that it was not appropriate for women to perform on stage in this deeply Islamic society did not disappear entirely and there are still questions about the morality of singers who are out working late at night.
Abstract
My thesis is a critical analysis of the galleries of Islamic Art in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (Met) in New York as a case study for contemporary understandings and representations of Islam through the display of Islamic art in a post-9/11 context. I explore the revival of Islamic art exhibitions since the events of September 11, 2001, where museums across the world have found themselves tasked with building and reconfiguring the display of Islamic art objects to provide visitors with a counter-narrative to the widespread fear of Islam propagated by mass media. By tracing the intertwined histories of the Islamic art discipline, colonial and post-colonial collecting practices, Orientalism and the universal survey museum, I situate my critique of the galleries within the complex realities of cultural heritage management in order to address the problematic limitations of this curatorial counter-narrative. Speaker
Ruby Robina Saha is a Shansi English Language Teaching Fellow at Universitas Gadjah Mada. She divides her time between CRCS, where she co-teaches the Academic English course and the preparatory Summer Intensive course, and the English Language & Literature Department in the Faculty of Cultural Sciences (FIB). Prior to her appointment as a Shansi Fellow, Ruby received her BA(Hons) from Oberlin College, where she majored in Art History and Middle Eastern Studies. In 2013, she was awarded the Laurine Mack Bongiorno Prize for Art History majors, and she studied Art History and Politics at the University of Paris, where she carried out research on the galleries of Islamic art at the Louvre Museum. She wrote her graduating thesis on the politics of displaying Islamic art in Western museums after 9/11. Ruby has worked as an editor and contributing writer for several publications including The Wilder Voice, The Oberlin Review and Jurnal Humaniora. Since returning to Indonesia, her research interests have shifted to the intersection between culture and education policy, contemporary art and alternative media. After her fellowship, she plans to continue working in education and culture and intends to pursue a graduate degree in Arts Education in 2017.
Abstract
For most of us, it’s in difficult moments — in an inner / personal /professional conflict — when it’s clear how our communication habits can keep us from the extraordinary relationships we really want with others and with ourselves. Millions of people struggle every day sharing what they feel or want in a way that can really be heard. We simply haven’t been taught the effective communication skills, emotional vocabulary, or self-awareness needed to get “unstuck” in those challenging moments, or to prevent those moments from happening in the first place. Nonviolent Communication is about learning to communicate with compassion towards self and others leading to trust and nurture. Speaker
Sara Nuytemans is recognized as a visual artist, meditation teacher, Buteyko health therapist, and the founder of Soul Living in Yogyakarta. Having studied various style of meditation and dance expression methods, she facilitates two-day interactive workshops on ‘Connected Communication’ based on the Nonviolent Communication teachings of Dr. Marshall Rosenberg to raise awarness about communication patterns and the impact these patterns have on ourselves and others.
Abstract
Elsewhere argued that the line divides the “real,” offline realm and cyberspace is blurred. Both realms are becoming interpenetrative and as demonstrated in many cases such as the Arab Springs, the United States and Indonesian Presidential elections, the composite power of the two may determine the socio-political direction of a region. Following this observation and considering the dramatic expansion of Indonesian cyberspace, in term of internet penetration, mobile subscription, and social media fluency, it is timely to look closer to it as an emerging religious public sphere. The present presentation focused on the younger generation religious expression. Younger generation, the “Millennials” generation (18-34 years old) as some researches framed it, is considered among the main steams behind this space, among others as the arena of their quest for individuality, and to a degree for the enhancement of their piety. Indonesian cyberspace is complicated with the audacity of religious expression and the tangled governance by the state in the post-New Order, hence understanding younger generation perception on religion might reveal the shifts that are happening in the Indonesian society. The preliminary assessment of the issue displayed a nuanced and complex presentation of religiosity of this generation, beyond the argument of superficiality, put forward by some other observations. It is furthermore showed an intersection issue of religious authority, imagery of pluralistic society, and transnational religious phenomena. Speaker
Leonard C. Epafras is a core doctoral faculty in the Indonesian Consortium for Religious Studies, UGM Graduate School, Yogyakarta. He won the Endeavour Scholarship Fellowship 2015 to conduct his post-doctoral research as well as presented the ongoing research project initiated by the ICRS, the Indonesian Interfaith Weather Station (IIWS). His research interests are including history of religions, inter-religious interaction, and digital humanities/humanities computing.
Abstract
In this presentation I will explore Robert Bellah’s idea that there were four great axial civilizations which formed the modern world: China, India, Middle Eastern/Abrahamic and Greco-Roman/European. I will suggest that Indonesia occupies a unique role in the modern world because it is not dominated by any one of the 4 axial civilizations but is rather a unique synthesis of all four. Most great nations in the world are dominated by one or two, of these four axial civilizations. My research suggests that most Indonesians hold values and an imagination of social reality which is shaped by all four axial civilizations. In our pluralistic world, Indonesia may hold the key for shaping an Islamic civilization which will bring blessing to the entire world. Speaker Bernard Adeney-Risakotta is Professor of Religion and Social Science and International Representative at the Indonesian Consortium for Religious Studies (ICRS-Yogya), in the Graduate School of Universitas Gadjah Mada. He is currently also teaching at Duta Wacana Christian University and Universitas Muhamadiyah Yogyakarta. Bernie completed his B.A. from University of Wisconsin in Asian Studies and Literature. His second degree, a B.D. (Hons.) is from University of London, specializing in Asian Religions and Ethics. Bernie’s Ph.D. is from the Graduate Theological Union (GTU) in cooperation with University of California, Berkeley, in Religion, Society and International Relations. From 1982 until 1991 he taught at the GTU Berkeley. Bernie has been a Fellow at St. Edmunds College, Cambridge and at the International Institute for Asian Studies (IIAS), Amsterdam. From September 2013 to July 2014 he was on sabbatical leave as a Visiting Fellow at the Institute on Religion and World Affairs at Boston University. He has many publications, including: Just War, Political Realism and Faith (1988), Strange Virtues: Ethics in a Multicultural World (1995), Dealing with Diversity: Religion, Globalization, Violence, Gender and Disasters in Indonesia (2013) and Visions of a Good Society in Southeat Asia (in press, 2016). Email: baryogya@gmail.com
Abstract
The spread of religious millenarianism in the member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has raised significant questions about religious movement in those countries. The Baha’i religion provides an important case and relevant context as the Baha’i movement has been paralyzed in its country of origin, Iran, since the beginning of the movement in 1844. To avoid persecution and violence, many Baha’i adherents moved to other regions in Southeast Asia. The Baha’i religion is committed to developing educational skills, economic sustainability, gender empowerment, and social movements. Thus, ASEAN encompasses a dynamic and diverse region that aims to provide social, religious, economic, and cultural security for ASEAN citizens. Minority religions such as the Baha’i community, which at the times are victims of conflict and violence, play an important role in achieving those aims. Conversely, religious violence and conflict may be seen as part of the regional deficit in terms of religious freedom and tolerance. In this context, my study tries to examine religious millenarianism and the future evolution of the ASEAN community. The study investigates the co-existence of the Baha’i community with other religious groups such as Muslim, Christian, and Buddhist in their social, political, and cultural negotiations. As the Baha’i engage on some social and political issues in globalization and embrace liberalism and pluralism in the public space, I argue that this study contributes to scholarship in terms of understanding the fate of religious millenarianism in the future of the ASEAN community. Speaker
Amanah Nurish Ph.D Cand Researcher of Baha’i studies. She is pursuing doctorate at ICRS UGM-Yogyakarta and working as consultant of USAID team-Washington for assessment program, “Fragility and Conflict”. She wrote book chapters, articles, and journals. Her latest publications: Sufism and Baha’ism: The Crossroads of Religious Movement in Southeast Asia (2016, Equinox publisher, London) Perjumpaan Baha’i Dan Syiah Di Asia Tenggara (2016, Maarif Jurnal, Jakarta) Welcoming Baha’i: New Official Religion In Indonesia (2014, The Jakarta Post) Social Injustice and Problem Of Human Rights In Indonesian Baha’is Community (2012, En Arche Journal, Yogyakarta) etc. She received prestigious awards for her academic works such as King Abdullah Bin Abdulazis’s interfaith center-Vienna, SEASREP-Philippine, ENITS-Thailand, Luce & Ford Foundation-USA, ARI-NUS, etc. With her teamwork, she is currently undertaking a broader anthropological research on “ Religious Millenarianism in ASEAN countries” for publication supported by Arizona State University of America.
The Indonesian Ahmadiyya community has been facing violent conflicts after the Reformasi era. This dissertation focuses on the narrative of Ahmadi women about their experiences in dealing with daily conflicts they face in relation to their faith. This paper focuses on the acts of the Ahmadi women organization called Lajnah Imaillah from 2000 to early 2015 by examining their defense mechanism and exercising agency in resisting and preventing conflicts. The study was conducted in four areas in Indonesia, Kuningan in West Java, Yogyakarta, Lombok in West Nusa Tenggara and Head Office of Lajnah Imaillah in Bogor. The informants were Ahmadi women from different socio economics status and positions in the organization. Using narrative inquiry, this research found out that in responding and resisting to violent conflicts, Lajnah Imaillah has been changing its way of resistance and its forms of defense mechanism. The conflicts that Ahmadi women face have encouraged them organizationally and individually to be more actively participate in wider society and build good relationships with the religious others outside of the community. Therefore this paper argues that non-violent defense mechanism promotes better relations and mutual understanding among conflicting parties in society. Speaker Nina Mariani Noor just earned her Ph.D from Inter Religious Studies, ICRS (Indonesian Consortium For Religious Studies) Universitas Gadjah Mada last January. Her concern is on conflict resolution, gender, and minority studies. Nina is Programme Executive Globethics.net Indonesia (www.globethics.net) . Globethics.net is the biggest, global online platform dedicated to promote inclusive, values-driven transformation for sustainable living, through access to knowledge, networking, collaborative research, training and events. She also teaches in Universitas Pembangunan Nasional (UPN) Yogyakarta this semester.
Abstract
One of the great debates among religious believers is about the relationship between their religion and culture. Is culture an obstacle to religion or is culture its vehicle? This lecture explores the cultural issues within Christianity and the problem and possibilities of the concept of culture to understanding religions. Related themes of history and globalization will be considered. Speaker
Charles Fahardian, Ph.D is chair and professor of the Department of Religious Studies, Westmont College, Santa Barbara, CA. He has investigated diverse themes such as nation making, globalization, and worship. He teaches courses in the world religions and Christian mission. He studied at Seattle Pacific University (B.A), Yale University (M.Div), and Boston University (Ph.D)
ABSTRACT Hate speech is one of the factors contributing to sectarian and ethnic conflict. It typically includes social/psychological processes of dehumanization and demonization that define others as less than human and archetypes of evil. Often others are described as existential threats to the very existence of the speaker’s community. It is used to incite or justify violence, sometimes rising to the level of genocide. It is nearly often entirely inaccurate.
Hate speech is an under theorized mode of contentious discourse. It is easy to recognize and difficult to define precisely. In this paper I located hate speech within a four-point typology of contentious discourse: 1. Dialog concerning religious differences; 2. Unilateral condemnation of the beliefs and practices others; 3. Dehumanization and demonization of others and implicit justification of violence; 4. Explicit provocation of violence. For examples I rely primarily on the violent rhetoric of the Indonesian Islamic Defenders Front.
Dehumanization and demonization are the psychological processes that distinguish between civil discourse and hate speech. Levels 1 and 2 are critiques located within the limits of civil discourse because they do not implicitly or explicitly threaten others. Levels 3 and 4 are hate speech. They make symbolic associations that are inherently threatening.
Some forms of hate speech are universal or nearly so. Among these are the description of others as animals, evil, heretics and/or of engaging in “inappropriate” sexual conduct. Others are culturally or religiously specific. More research is required to understand the semantics of hate speech and how it transcends religious and ethnic boundaries.
There is an inevitable contradiction between defending freedom of speech, as guaranteed by Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,and protecting people, usually minorities, from the psychological harm hate speech causes and the risk of physical violence it exposes them to.Legal restrictions do not eliminate hate speech; they only drive in from the public sphere. Most laws restricting hate speech were drafted long before the Internet and social media existed. Now, they are largely ineffective. Countering hate speech requires concerted effort by religious and political leaders and netizens across a range of media, including those used most frequently, including social media, by extremists who promote it. In this presentation I rely on examples from Front Pembela Islam (Islamic Defenders Front/FPI). SPEAKER Mark Woodward is Associate Professor of Religious Studies and is also affiliated with the Center for the Study of Religion and Conflict at Arizona State University. His research focuses on religion-state-society relations and religion and conflict in Southeast Asia. He is author of Islam in Java. Normative Piety and Mysticism in the Sultanate of Yogyakarta, Defenders of Reason in Islam (1989)and Java, Indonesia and Islam (2010) .He has published more than fifty scholarly articles in the US, Europe, Indonesia and Singapore, many co-authored with Southeast Asian scholars. He his currently directing a trans-disciplinary, multi-country project on counter-radical Muslim discourse.
Wednesday Forum is a weekly discussion on religion-related ideas and practices organized by both the Center for Religious and Cross-cultural Studies (CRCS), Graduate School of Universitas Gadjah Mada and Indonesian Consortium for Religious Studies (ICRS), Yogyakarta. This forum is an academic space open for public, encouraged especially for our graduate students, faculties, professors, researches, Indonesian and overseas scholars. It is aimed for scholars to share their research on the field related to religion. Therefore, we invite those who have research, papers, ongoing papers, or short documentary film on the field to do presentation in the forum. Themes
The themes discussed are including, but not limited to, interfaith dialogue; conflict resolution and peace building; religious education; art and spirituality or mysticism; religion and pop culture; religious violence and radicalism; indigenous religions; religion and ecology; religion and politics; and philosophical ideas on religion, etc. Attendees
The forum is attended by CRCS and ICRS graduate students and faculty members, lecturers, visiting professors, activists, and students from other universities. Basically the forum is open for public. Date and Venue
The forum is held every Wednesday, from 1 to 2.30 pm, in the Room 406 of the Graduate School Building, Sekolah Pascasarjana Universitas Gadjah Mada, Jl. Teknika Utara, Pogung, Yogyakarta. For the coming semester, the forum will start from 10th February to 11th May 2016 and from September to December 2016. Application
Application to be a presenter can be made by sending an email to the organizer: najiyah.martiam@ugm.ac.id. Send the abstact of your research and your brief CV, primarily your study background, activities, and research. The Wedforum committees will evaluate the applications and choose the presenters.
In the beginning of her presentation, she drew a picture portraying goddesses of Nusantara (Indonesia Archipelago) on white board and told about narrative and myth over the mothers. She said that in humility paradigm of ecofeminism, all trees, animals, land and water have its own systems of thinking and communicating. How the stone whispers, why the water is raging, and how the land thinks. There is equality between human being and other non-human being. It was Dr. Phil. Dewi Candra Ningrum, the editor- in chief of JurnalPerempuan (JP- Indonesian Feminist Journal) presenting in the CRCS’ Wednesday Forum on November 25th 2015.
Ali Jafar | CRCS | Wednesday Forum Report
Maurisa, a CRCS alumna from the batch of 2011, presented her award-winning paper in Wednesday forum of CRCS-ICRS in 11th November 2015. Her paper entitled “The Rupture of Brotherhood, Understanding JI-Affiliated Group Over ISIS”, was awarded as best paper in IACIS (International Conference on Islamic Studies) in Manado, September. Maurisa was glad to share her paper with her younger batch. To all the audiences, Maurisa told that winning as best paper was not her high expectation, and it makes her proud.
The presentation began with Maurisa’s statement that the issue of ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria) are quite to understand in relation to modern terrorism, because we always misread them and sometime we cannot differentiate between ISIS and Al-Qaeda. Maurisa continues her explanation that there are many groups in Iraq and Syria struggling for their power, terrorism is not single but many. ISIS also has supporters in Indonesia such as Jemaah Islamiyyah (JI-Islamic Group) which is considered as a big terrorist organization in Southeast Asia. This group (JI) has disappears from public consciousness, but actually its members have been spreading out. The most fascinating thing that she found is that JI in Indonesia. JI was separated into two, Majelis Mujahidin Indonesia (MMI) and Jama’ah Anshar at-Tauhid (JAT), and surprisingly JAT itself has internal conflict and divided into two; JAT and JAS (Jama’ah Anshar as Syari’ah).
Maurisa’s paper focused on questions about how does the conflict in Syria resonates with Jihadists in Indonesia, and how does political struggle within MMI show belief in a master narrative. Maurisa used Juergensmeyer’s perspective about cosmic war and the logic of religious violence. In the Juergensmeyer perspective, an ordinary conflict could become religious conflict when it is raised into cosmic level. One of the ways is demonization or Satan-ization of the enemy. In the context of Syria, the demon is Shia group which is blamed for chaotic situation within Sunni community. The master narrative was also about the same language. It is about sadness, it is about the sad feeling of being discriminated and persecuted by Shia.
According to Maurisa, not all jihadist groups support ISIS, indeed MMI was supporting Jabhat an-Nusra. The rupture of this affiliation was based on their differences in the perspective of takfirism (Apostasy). JAT and MMI have different perspectives in defining what Takfir Am (general apostasy) and takfir Muayyan (specific apostasy) is.
In seeing terrorist movements, although Maurisa saw that Jihad-ism is not monolithic, she revelas that there are five elements which are related each other. There are ideological resonance, strategic calculus, terrorist patron, escalation of conflict and the last is charismatic leadership. Terrorists also use social media, such as Facebook, Youtube and so on, to promote their propaganda, and as soft approach to other Muslims. Based on Maurisa’s research there are 50000 social media accounts to spread ISIS propaganda, but only 2000 are used to spread out propaganda. The most popular social media is Twitter, because a message can be retwited..
In the discussion session, Nida, a CRCS student asked about the current issues in which governments have banning Shi’a celebration in Indonesia, and whether there is any relation with ISIS, and how an Indonesian can be involved in the terrorism. Maurisa answered the question by explaining that Indonesia is about to change. It can be seen in Islamization created room for Islam in the public sphere. Indonesia is vulnerable since Wahabis and Iran have their political goals here and both want to establish their domination to spread out their agenda. Cases in Sampang, Madura, Pakistan and so on cannot be separated from international case. There are long story for transformation of Saudi and Iran. Our country is like something too. In talking about the entrance gate, Turkey is good entrance from Indonesia to go to Syria. If we see Turkey’s position is also questionable. They deny Isis, but they also support Isis.
Subandri also asked about the ways we interpret jihad are accessible. Therefore there are many interpretations of Jihad. That is what looks like for young Muslim now. Along with Subandri, Ruby also asked about the genealogy of Indonesian Jihadist movement. Like the connection between Indonesia and middle east that coming and potential realignment and the effect of JAT over ISIS.
In seeing connection and global phenomena, a relation between Islam and Middle East, Maurisa explained that in the United State for instance, there is relation if you wear jilbab, you are Muslim, and when you are Muslim, you are ISIS. “Here we can see the idea about securitization is like Islamophobia”, said Maurisa with showing slide about relation between Indonesia and Middle East. As she explained again “If we look at voice of Islam, we can see that there are solidarities for Syria. It is reported that medical mission in Indonesia, they have collected 1.6 million. For Syria suggesting support for the movement of mujahidin”. Maurisa also explained that globalization is the most responsible for this case. For example many Indonesia Muslims have easy access to Saudi, Iranian, Jihadist web, because of technology and so on. Young Indonesian have a lot of curiosity and they don’t ask to other.
In responding the interpretation of jihad, Maurisa gives a feedback, how do we interpret this? What makes cosmic war happen? And how to deal with them?. Maurisa began her explanation that in Islam, although there are many verses for killing, but it not necessary to do in violence. We have many steps in interpretation. There are many reasons for what make Muhammad approve of killing and in what context he did so. There are many possibilities to interpret jihad and there are many verses of good thing about Jihad. In talking about cosmic war, she said that “as long as we consider our enemy as Satan, or evil, meaning it is cosmic war”. At the end of discussion session, Maurisa concluded that the factor of jihad is not monolithic; there are many factors, even in ISIS and Al-Qaeda have different perspectives about jihad.
(Editor: Gregory Vanderbilt)
Ali Jafar | CRCS | Wednesday Forum Report The discourse about “religion” “and” “science” has been long contested among scholars. Since the nineteenth century, religion and science have often been understood as in conflict with each other, science is human method for understanding nature using reason and religion relies on divine revelation. From different starting point, both religion and science have difficulties in finding common ground. But, starting from Ian Barbour, in the 1950s, a new discourse about the contemporary field of religion and science has proposed that integration is possible. Starting from this question at the Wednesday forum of CRCS/ICRS on 9th September 2015 , Zainal Abidin Bagir called for both side to re thinking the relation between science and religion.
Bagir described the Barbourian discourse as sympathetic to religion, accepting of the basic theories and findings of modern science, and looking at scientists’ theories and theological beliefs to understand the relationship and its impact of the former on the latter. Barbour proposed a typology: conflict, independence, dialog- integration. In the conflict relation, we have to choose one. In the independent relation religion and science belong to separate world without contact. While in the dialog, we have to find similarities of them. The last is integration meaning that religion validate science each other.
Bagir explained that the territory struggle between religion and science outside the West is not about the content itself, but it is as part of resistance to colonialism. Among this contestation, bagir told about Islamic modernist movements. In Indian subcontinent there is Sayyed Ahmed Khan who integrated religious belief with modern science. Other example include Muhammad Abduh from Egypt, Muhammad Iqbal from Pakistan, and Hossein Nasr from Iran and so on, who were communicating religious belief with scientific ideas.
Indeed, Bagir argued that discussion of the discourse on the relation between religion and science should involve historical awareness. Moreover, it should not be just discussion of the content of the two fields but rather and examination of instrumental and social ethics, as well as epistemological and metaphysical view points. Bagir also noted that there are differences in the discourse between cultures and religious tradition. One example is that evolution is not a topic of debate in the Islamic world as in the United States.
Bagir discussed several instances of the “religion and science” discourse in Indonesia. For example, this question has arisen in relation to the educational models of Islamic Universities. When some of the IAINs (State Islamic Religious Institute) were transformed into UINs (State Islamic Universities), these new universities included faculties of natural and social science and medicine. Each university took its own approach to the question, but all tried to integrate the spirit of religion and the spirit of science.
Bagir also explained that the relation between religion and science at times of disaster can be one of competing authorities. He took an example from Merapi volcano eruption in 2010, when there was debate between scientific explanation and defiance by Mbah Maridjan, the traditional spiritual guidance of the volcano, though Bagir argued that the central was issue trust, not science versus superstition. Anticipating next week’s presentation by Samsul Maarif on the forestry practice of the indigenous people of Sulawesi, Bagir argued that the “religion” part of “religion and science” must be radically questioned and opened up to include indigenous religion which are often the same as indigenous ways of knowing nature, i.e. indigenous science. Moreover we must ask what this discourse is for: it is to dominate the other or it is for the well-being of all, including non-human communities.
Responding a question about scriptural authority in relation to scientific knowledge, Bagir answered both are known through interpretation. Another question is from Fahrur, a CRCS student, who asked about Bagir opinion on the integration of religious studies and science and other field of study, including English, at UIN Yogyakarta. Bagir described the integration is still among debate. If the purpose of integration is to create Islamic identity, what makes a field of study become Islamic? He took examples from UIN Jakarta and UIN Malang. At UIN Jakarta, there is no integrated study. Science and Islamic studies each follow its own logic and methods. While in UIN Malang, student in all field are prepared for their studies by learning about Islam for one year in a boarding school that is part of the university. Still, the science learned in university is not integrated with religious science.
Concluding the discussion, Bagir explained that the discourse of religion and science is still debatable among scholar. There are many discourses and opinions of integration of religious and science. Thus, he insisted Dr. Samsul Maarif to be speaker in the next Wednesday Forum to explain indigenous science and religion. Dr Samsul Maarif has taken his research in Amatoan in which the indigenous sciences of Amaatoan about forest conservation are coherent with their religious belief. (Editor: Greg Vanderbilt)
Abstract
American Jews have long been prominently involved in the American media and film industries, so much so that some commentators have even said they are ‘the backbone of film production in America’. This position has indeed given opportunities for Jewish Americans in the industry to play a prominent role in shaping the business including issues of how Jews and Judaism are represented in film and other media. However, depictions of Jews and Judaism in American movies have changed according to political and cultural conditions. After World War II, a new formula emerged on the silver screen. The reframing of American religious identity as “Judeo-Christian” encouraged directors and producers who were Jewish to promote the concept of America as a Judeo-Christian nation as a response to ongoing anti-Semitism in America. Examining Biblically-themed movies such as The Ten Commandments and Ben Hur-A Tale of the Christ, this presentation intends to explore the connection between the idea of a “Judeo-Christian” tradition and the acceptance of Jewish Americans and recent immigrants by American society. The portrayal of Jews in these movies is interesting to discuss here, not only because Jews and Christians are depicted in the same framework of the Hollywood movie, but also because of the underlying politics of representations.
Abstract The return of capital invites the return of marxism. As a set of epistemological and theoretical tools for understanding capitalism and changing it, Marxism suffers from lack of adequate presentation amid the Indonesian academia and is often discredited as obstinately “ideological”, “dogmatic” or simply “utopian”. On the other hand, suspicion over Marxism and its emancipatory practice is widespread among religious discourses. Indeed, Marxism is often understood as the antithesis of religion. Should Islam renounce Marxism and embrace the “truth” of Capital while letting itself be corrupted by Capital? Could Marxism be a viable way of restoring the liberating messages of Islam?
Speaker Muhammad Al-Fayyadl is a contributor to islambergerak.com, a website dedicated to the construction of a progressive Islamic movement in Indonesia. He earned his master’s degree in contemporary philosophy from the University of Paris-VIII, France.
Sunda Wiwitan is an indigenous religion of that is practiced by some Sundanese people in Cigugur, Kuningan, West Java. Although the state recognizes this spiritual practice as an aliran kepercayaan, or a recognized belief organization, this community still faces discrimination for practicing their ancestral religion both from the state and from members of the religious majority in their surrounding social environment. This fifteen-minute documentary tells the story of Anih, a 14 year old Sunda Wiwitan girl, and how she faces the challenges of the societal reactions to being part of a family of Sunda Wiwitan followers. Karatagan Ciremai is of one of six documentaries of the Kembang 6 Rupa series, a collaborative documentary project voicing girls’ points of view from six areas in Indonesia: Kuningan, Indramayu, Sleman, Sumedang, Sumbawa and Wamena.
Abstract The presentation attempts to demonstrate that jihadism is not monolithic. In addition, it aims to obliterate generalizing assumption that entire Indonesian jihadists support ISIS. In the Jemaah Islamiyah body—the biggest militant network in Southeast Asia—for instance, subdivision of its sympathizers is becoming more evident. The dispute is strikingly public after fierce debates over support for the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). Majelis Mujahidin Indonesia (MMI) and Jemaah Anshar al-Tauhid (JAT)—the splinter cells of the Jemaah Islamiyah—hold contrasting perspectives on the Islamic State. The former refuses to pledge allegiances with ISIS, arguing that the caliphate is invalid, while the latter sees it as legitimate, requiring all its members to render support for the Islamic State. This dispute evidently indicates fragmentation in the Jemaah Islamiyah body in ideology, strategy and political goal. This presentation will explore such disintegration and its effects to Indonesian Jihadists’ future political struggle. Speaker Maurisa Zinira is the Lecturer of Universitas Sains of Al-Quran and UIN Walisongo Semarang. After completing master degree of religious studies from Center of Religion and Cross-Cultural Studies (CRCS) Universitas Gadjah Mada, Zinira continue his master degree in Department of Religious Studies, Florida International University where she achieves outstanding student achievement.
Abstract Ammatoans of Sulawesi in the eastern part of Indonesia hold religious ideas of social actors that extend beyond human beings. Perceiving both human and non-human beings as equal and constitues inter subjective relationships, Ammatoans’ everyday behaviors and practices is set in this religious perception, including forest conservation. The forest, as vital part of Ammatoans’ life, is conserved by sets of regulations and punishment that restrictly enforced. This presentation will explores how the ideas and practices of Ammatoans’ forest conservation illustrate what scholars have called “religious ecology”. Speaker Dr. Samsul Maarif is the Secretary and Academic Coordinator of the Center for Religious and Cross-cultural Studies (CRCS), Graduate School of Universitas Gadjah Mada, Yogyakarta, Indonesia. Achieving Ph.D from Arizona State University, Temple, in Religious Studies and holding two master degree from Florida International University and Universitas Gadjah Mada; both on religious studies, Maarif has long experiences and intensive studies of indigineous religion, especially Ammatoan community.
Nina Mariani Noor just earned her Ph.D from Inter Religious Studies, ICRS (Indonesian Consortium For Religious Studies) Universitas Gadjah Mada last January. Her concern is on conflict resolution, gender, and minority studies. Nina is Programme Executive Globethics.net Indonesia (www.globethics.net) . Globethics.net is the biggest, global online platform dedicated to promote inclusive, values-driven transformation for sustainable living, through access to knowledge, networking, collaborative research, training and events. She also teaches in Universitas Pembangunan Nasional (UPN) Yogyakarta this semester.
The discourse about “religion” “and” “science” has been long contested among scholars. Since the nineteenth century, religion and science have often been understood as in conflict with each other, science is human method for understanding nature using reason and religion relies on divine revelation. From different starting point, both religion and science have difficulties in finding common ground. But, starting from Ian Barbour, in the 1950s, a new discourse about the contemporary field of religion and science has proposed that integration is possible. Starting from this question at the Wednesday forum of CRCS/ICRS on 9th September 2015 , Zainal Abidin Bagir called for both side to re thinking the relation between science and religion.
