scholarly journals Humbling the Discourse: Why Interfaith Dialogue, Religious Pluralism, Liberation Theology, and Secular Humanism Are Needed for a Robust Public Square

Religions ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (8) ◽  
pp. 450 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Admirand
Keyword(s):  
Liberation Theology ◽  
Religious Pluralism ◽  
Interfaith Dialogue ◽  
Mutual Respect ◽  
Secular Humanism ◽  
Access Points ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Square ◽  
Pro Life

Our public square is in need of much refurbishment, if not reconstruction. Access for many seems barred by various ideological platforms and walls. Some are deemed too much of this, another too much of that: liberal, religious, anti-Trump, anti-Brexit, pro-life, anti-gay—whatever the label or brand—and some access points are opened, others closed. Gatekeepers are many, deeming who really counts, who really represents. The public square, of course, should be big, bustling, semi-chaotic “places”, rife with ideas, questions, passion, and curiosity, yet measured by standards of decorum, listening, and mutual respect. Most importantly, it should be characterized by a robust (or spunky) humility, aware of its strengths and its weaknesses. It is fair to say that in 2019, our public square could use a little uplift. While certainly not a miracle cure, nor the only possible salves, interfaith dialogue, religious pluralism, liberation theology, and secular humanism have much in their favor to nuance, challenge, and yes, purify our present polarized, and so sometimes catatonic public square. After a brief overview first explaining the title, along with what is meant in this paper by the secular and humility, it will then be argued how interfaith dialogue, religious pluralism, liberation theology, and secular humanism can liberate and purify our public square discourse—namely by practicing and promoting a robust humility.

scholarly journals PLURALITAS AGAMA DALAM KELUARGA JAWA

2013 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Agus Prasetyo
Keyword(s):  
Data Collection ◽  
Rural Community ◽  
Religious Pluralism ◽  
Family Members ◽  
Mutual Respect ◽  
Interesting Phenomenon ◽  
Mutual Help ◽  
The Public ◽  
Central Java ◽  
High Degree

Dalam masyarakat Jawa terdapat pemahaman dan pemaknaan sendiri terhadap agama yaitu ”agami ageming aji”. Artinya apa pun agama yang dipeluk sama saja karena semua agama mengajarkan keselamatan. Oleh sebab itu menjadi sebuah fenomena menarik di kalangan masyarakat Jawa karena mereka cenderung lebih toleran dalam menyikapi perbedaaan dan keragaman beragama. Salah satu contoh masyarakat yang menghargai pluralitas agama adalah masyarakat Desa Getas Kaloran Temanggung. Tujuan penelitian ini adalah untuk menjelaskan tentang sejumlah keluarga yang dapat menerima pluralitas agama dan toleransi terhadap pluralitas agama dalam keluarga Jawa. Tulisan ini merupakan hasil penelitian yang menggunakan pendekatan deskriptif kualitatif. Subyek penelitian adalah masyarakat Desa Getas yang memiliki keragaman agama dalam keluarganya. Berdasarkan hasil penelitian dapat disimpulkan bahwa masyarakat Desa Getas dapat menerima pluralitas agama karena menurut mereka agama adalah urusan pribadi seseorang jadi tidak ada pihak yang dapat memaksakan suatu keyakinan kepada individu lain. Pluralitas agama tersebut tidak menimbulkan masalah berarti karena masyarakat memiliki derajat toleransi yang tinggi antar anggota keluarga, yang ditunjukkan melalui saling menghargai dan mengormati dan tidak mencampuri urusan keagamaan orang lain, serta saling membantu antar anggota keluarga untuk memperlancar kegiatan ibadah masing – masing. In Javanese community there is a specific principle on the meaning of religion, namely ”agami ageming aji”. This pilosophy means whatever religion people believe, it doesn’t matter because they all teach salvation. This is an interesting phenomenon among the Javanese community because they tend to be tolerant in dealing with differences and diversity of religion that happen in one household. The objective of this article is to discuss the practices of religious tolerance found in a rural community of Getas, Kaloran, Temanggung Central Java. Techniques of data collection is done by interviews and observation. The study subjects were villagers of Getas, which has a diversity of religion in families. Based on the research results, it can be concluded that the villagers embrace a tradition of religious pluralism because they think religion is one’s personal affairs so that no party can impose a conviction for another individual. The plurality of religion does not cause significant problems because the public has a high degree of tolerance among family members, which is demonstrated through mutual respect and attitude not to interfere in religious affairs of others, and mutual help among family members to facilitate the worship activities of their relatives.

A Liberalism of Sincerity: The Role of Religion in the Public Square

2012 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
pp. 217-241
Author(s):  
Michael A. Helfand
Keyword(s):  
Religious Pluralism ◽  
Good Life ◽  
Religious Discourse ◽  
Nation State ◽  
The Good Life ◽  
Religious Activity ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Square ◽  
Role Of Religion

This article considers the extent to which the liberal nation-state ought to accommodate religious practices that contravene state law and to incorporate religious discourse into public debate. To address these questions, the article develops a liberalism of sincerity based on John Locke’s theory of toleration. On such an account, liberalism imposes a duty of sincerity to prevent individuals from consenting to a regime that exercises control over matters of core concern such as faith, religion, and conscience. Liberal theory grounds the legitimacy of the state in the consent of the governed, but consenting to an intolerant regime is illegitimate because it empowers government to demand insincere conduct. Thus, demanding that citizens pursue sincerity ensures that they do not consent away their individual liberties in exchange for promises of security and orderliness. The focus on sincerity also reorients the value that liberalism places on religious pluralism. Although many liberal theorists have proposed that religious pluralism is valuable because it provides individuals with a range of choices on how to live the good life, such theories provide little reason to promote and protect any particular religion. Indeed, if religions are important only because of the range of choice they provide, then the only concern of liberalism is to maintain enough religions so as to provide a meaningful range of options for how to live the good life; conversely, there is no reason to provide accommodations for any particular religion to aid its survival. By contrast, a liberalism of sincerity impels the liberal nation-state to widen the protections afforded to the expressions of sincerity, such as religious conduct and religious discourse. Because religious conduct and religious arguments flow from an individual’s commitment to sincerity, liberalism should provide broad protection for such religious activity in order to enable citizens to pursue sincerity.

scholarly journals Dialog Antara Agama Menurut Perspektif Islam (An Islamic Perspective on Interfaith Dialogue)

2016 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ahmad Faizuddin Ramli ◽  
Jaffary Awang
Keyword(s):  
Research Design ◽  
Religious Pluralism ◽  
Interreligious Dialogue ◽  
Interfaith Dialogue ◽  
Mutual Understanding ◽  
Pluralistic Society ◽  
The Public ◽  
Islamic Perspective ◽  
Library Research ◽  
Negative Perceptions

The existence of a pluralistic society, particularly in terms of race, religion and culture requires a platform in the community. In this case, interreligious dialogue is seen as an effective platform to build mutual understanding and tolerance among society. However, the practice of dialogue in society ironically based on a wrong understanding of interreligious dialogue, which is part of the religious pluralism method from West, and some regard it as a debate. Consequently, the phenomenon raises negative perceptions and understanding among the public about the true concept of interfaith dialogue. Therefore, this article discusses the concept of interreligious dialogue in the Islamic arena. The research design is qualitative using library research. The results show that Islam outlines three concepts of interreligious dialogue, the debate; da‘wah and building mutual understanding and good relations between religions. Here in particular the importance of interfaith dialogue among the players to understand the concept of interreligious dialogue to ensure the implementation of the dialogue takes place within the actual concept.

Towards an Ecumenical Theology of Religions through a Latin-American Lens

Exchange ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 44 (1) ◽  
pp. 83-102
Author(s):  
Claudio de Oliveira Ribeiro
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Liberation Theology ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Religious Pluralism ◽  
Social Processes ◽  
Religious Groups ◽  
Theology Of Religions ◽  
The Public ◽  
Indigenous Cultures ◽  
Starting Point

This article reflects on how theology of religions needs to focus on two aspects when speaking of religious pluralism: the ability and capacity of religious groups to dialogue, and the challenges of human rights and inclusiveness. From the Latin-American theological context, the research was formulated around three topics: (i) the public importance of religion in both building peace as well as the promotion of justice, taking into account the importance of mysticism and otherness in the ecumenical formation of spiritualties and how they affect religious and social processes, allowing the emergence of new utopian, democratic and meaningful perspectives; (ii) the necessity of reshaping the theological lens with an intentional starting point in the realities of afro-indigenous cultures; and (iii) the contribution of feminist liberation theology to the debate of religious pluralism.

PERSOALAN KEHIDUPAN KONTEMPORER: MENGGAGAS KAJIAN SACHEDINA TENTANG THEOLOGI PLURALISME

EMPIRISMA ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Limas Dodi
Keyword(s):  
Religious Pluralism ◽  
Main Argument ◽  
Religious Groups ◽  
Common View ◽  
The Public ◽  
The People ◽  
Muslim Majority ◽  
The Common ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Religious Differences

According to Abdulaziz Sachedina, the main argument of religious pluralism in the Qur’an based on the relationship between private belief (personal) and public projection of Islam in society. By regarding to private faith, the Qur’an being noninterventionist (for example, all forms of human authority should not be disturb the inner beliefs of individuals). While the public projection of faith, the Qur’an attitude based on the principle of coexistence. There is the willingness of the dominant race provide the freedom for people of other faiths with their own rules. Rules could shape how to run their affairs and to live side by side with the Muslims. Thus, based on the principle that the people of Indonesia are Muslim majority, it should be a mirror of a societie’s recognizion, respects and execution of religious pluralism. Abdul Aziz Sachedina called for Muslims to rediscover the moral concerns of public Islam in peace. The call for peace seemed to indicate that the existence of increasingly weakened in the religious sense of the Muslims and hence need to be reaffi rmed. Sachedina also like to emphasize that the position of peace in Islam is parallel with a variety of other doctrines, such as: prayer, fasting, pilgrimage and so on. Sachedina also tried to show the argument that the common view among religious groups is only one religion and traditions of other false and worthless. “Antipluralist” argument comes amid the reality of human religious differences. Keywords: Theology, Pluralism, Abdulaziz Sachedina

On the Volatile Relationship of Secularization and New Religious Movements

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Holland
Keyword(s):  
Religious Movements ◽  
New Religious Movements ◽  
Illustrative Case ◽  
Religious Groups ◽  
Christian Science ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Action ◽  
Public Square ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
The Relationship

This chapter considers the complex relationship between secularization and the emergence of new religious movements. Drawing from countervailing research, some of which insists that new religious movements abet secularizing processes and some of which sees these movements as disproving the secularization thesis, the chapter presents the relationship as inherently unstable. To the extent that new religious movements maintain a precarious balance of familiarity and foreignness—remaining familiar enough to stretch the definitional boundaries of religion—they contribute to secularization. However, new religious movements frequently lean to one side or other of that median, either promoting religious power in the public square by identifying with the interests of existing religious groups, or emphasizing their distinctiveness from these groups and thus provoking aggressive public action by the antagonized religious mainstream. This chapter centres on an illustrative case from Christian Science history.

scholarly journals The Solved Conflict: Pope Francis and Liberation Theology

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ole Jakob Løland
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
Liberation Theology ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Catholic Church ◽  
New Approach ◽  
Pope Francis ◽  
Post Cold War ◽  
The Public ◽  
Gustavo Gutierrez ◽  
Global Church

AbstractThe battle for meaning and influence between Latin American liberations theologians and the Vatican was one of the most significant conflicts in the global Catholic church of the twentieth century. With the election of the Argentinean Jorge Mario Bergoglio as head of the global church in 2013, the question about the legacy of liberation theology was actualized. The canonization of Archbishop Oscar Romero and the pope’s approximation to the public figure of Gustavo Gutiérrez signaled a new approach to the liberation theology movement in the Vatican. This article argues that Pope Francis shares some of the main theological concerns as pontiff with liberation theology. Although the pope remains an outsider to liberation theology, he has in a sense solved the conflict between the Vatican and the Latin American social movement. Through an analysis of ecclesial documents and theological literature, his can be discerned on three levels. First, Pope Francis’ use of certain theological ideas from liberation theology has been made possible and less controversial by post-cold war contexts. Second, Pope Francis has contributed to the solution of this conflict through significant symbolic gestures rather than through a shift of official positions. Third, as Pope Francis, the Argentinian Jorge Mario Bergoglio has appropriated certain elements that are specific to liberation theology without acknowledging his intellectual debt to it.

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