Studying Religious Pluralism in the United States

“I became worried about people in the United States when I was going to leave, because I am Muslim and I wear a jilbab,” said Ratna Sari, a student at Jember National University (Unej) in Surabaya, on Thursday.

Ratna Sari is one of six students from Indonesia’s Eastern region who participated in the Study of the United States Institute (SUSI) program to study religious pluralism in the United States, from Jan. 10 to Feb. 12, 2011.

Other students were Nur Fajrin and Salwa Amaliyah (The Sunan Ampel National Islamic Religious Institute of Surabaya), Nurul Ichsani and Safrin La Batu (Hasanudin University, Makassar) and Shuresj Tomaluweng (Indonesian Christian University of Maluku/UKIM).

Nevertheless, the social and political sciences student from Unej, who matriculated in 2004, was grateful when she actually set foot in the country led by Barack Obama.

“Thank God, my worries about anti-Muslim [sentiment] in the U.S. were not confirmed. I learned a lot about democracy, religion and social life,” she stated.

Throughout her interactions with Americans of various religions, she said, it turned out that pluralism does not only mean accepting differences.

“Pluralism isn’t just that. Pluralism is the desire from the deep bottom of the heart to know and value those of different religions,” she noted.

A similar acknowledgment was also given by Shuresj Tomulauweng from UKIM, who together with his companions had the chance to travel around to New York, Washington, Florida and Philadelphia.

“Before [the trip], I knew America from film and mass media, but in America, I really discovered the diversity of the American people, whether of ethnicity, religion or even political ideology,” he asserted.

He stated that he had the opportunity to go around to mosques, churches and synagogues and was surprised that there was even a Bahá’i community.

“They’re all there, and the government guarantees the freedom of all of them. We came to understand that pluralism is not an issue of diversity or difference but of the way we accept other people through sharing and dialogue,” he explained.

There was also an event that made him certain of this when President Obama asked all people to pray according to their religion for the recovery of an ill member of the U.S. Congress.

“I imagine local wisdom like that in Maluku can be developed for the management of religious pluralism. To unite the diversity in Maluku, there is local wisdom, like in Maluku, there is ‘pela gandong,’ which represents a cultural understanding that integrates people from two to three villages,” he said.

A similar experience was also spoken about by the education student from Surabaya, Salwa Amaliyah.

“From there (the U.S.), I came to know that our weakness is that the majority group feels like it has won and is powerful, so there is only narrow thinking and frequent blaming,” she asserted.

According to the student majoring in mathematics education, the American people have high tolerance, and their government is able to manage diversity in a good way.

“I became nervous when I visited a church, but after I entered I actually felt peaceful, because the togetherness was really there. They were very welcoming, they prepared a place for us to pray in one corner of the church,” she explained.

In talking with youth who have been to America as well as those who often interact with religious organizations, Intan, an ITS student who is Hindu, determined that America is already neatly arranged in a system, while Indonesia still has many social differences.

“In the beginning, I did not believe it, but in the end I experienced it myself when I filled in the religion column in my identity card (KTP). So, there is still religious discrimination here,” she said.

According to her, Indonesia is different from America, because America’s system is already in order. “In Indonesia, there are still people that are fanatics, because the system isn’t in place yet,” she stated.

Regarding all the experiences of youth who have already been to America and the opinions of youth that have not gone to America, the U.S. consul general in Surabaya, Kristen F. Bauer, stated that she was pleased.

“I caught a note that they hate violence and support tolerance, and because of that I asked them to develop a continuous process of dialogue,” she said.