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World Bank Document Public Disclosure Authorized Public Disclosure Authorized [ue: I Perspectives on Religion, Education and Social Cohesion Public Disclosure Authorized THE WORLD BANK Public Disclosure Authorized Asian Interfaith Dialogue: Perspectives on Religion, Education and Social Cohesion Edited by Syed Farid Alatas Lim Teck Ghee Kazuhide Kuroda H THE WORLD BANK Copyright 0 2003 by Centre for Research on Islamic and Malay Affairs (RIMA) and The World Bank Centre for Research on Islamic and Malay Affairs (RIMA) 150 Changi Road #04-06/07 Guthrie Building Singapore 419972 The World Bank 1818 H Street, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20433, USA All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, ~ ~ mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior consent of the Centre for Research on Islamic and Malay Affairs (RIMA) and The World Bank. The responsibility for facts and opinions expressed in this publication rests exclusively with the contributors and their interpretations do not necessarily reflect the views or the policy of the publishers or their supporters. ISBN: 981-04-9475-0 Cover Design by Wee Hong Loong, Temasek Polytechnic. Printed in Singapore by COS Printers Pte Ltd. CONTENTS Foreword iv .. Preface Vlll Abbreviations and Acronyms X Introduction xii Syed Farid Alatas Addresses Chiang Chie Foo Permanent Secretarj Ministry of Education (Guest-of-Honour) Darke M. Sani Chairman, Centre for Research on Islamic and Malay Afairs (RTMA) Lim Teck Ghee Senior Social Sector Specialist, Environment and Social Development Sector Unit, East Asia and the Pacific Region, The World Bank Kazuhide Kuroda Senior Knowledge Management Ofice6 Conflict Prevention and Reconstmction Unit, Social Development Department, The World Bank Part I: Religion, Education and the Development of Society Chapter 1 Religion, Science and Education Syed Hztssein Alatas Chapter 2 26 Economic Thoughts Based on Buddhism: The Case ofThailand Sompam Promta ii Asian Interfaith Dialogue Chapter 3 43 Secular Education, Development and Values: A Buddhist Perspective Pracha Hutanuwatr Chapter 4 66 Secular Education, Values and Development in the Context of Islam in Thailand: An Outlook on Muslim Attitudes toward Thai Educational Policy Hasan Madmarn Chapter 5 Tagore, Education, Cosmopolitanism Saranindranath Tagore Part I1 : Religion, Education and Women Chapter 6 Religious Education and Gender Issues: Difficulties of Female Ordination in Thailand Parichart Suwanbubbha Chapter 7 109 Women, Religion and Spirituality Religious Education and Gender Issues Mary John Mananzan, OSB Chapter 8 122 Women and Interfaith Dialogue in Indonesia: Where were the Women? Lies Marcoes-Natsir Part 111: Religion, Education and Interfaith Dialogue Chapter 9 Religious Toleration and Beyond C.L. Ten Chapter 10 Education for Tolerance among Religious Communities: The Case of Indonesia Franz Magnis-Suseno, SJ ... Contents 111 Chapter 11 171 Educating to Enable Interfaith Encounter: The Whole Child Education Project of Indonesia Patricia A. Martinez Chapter 12 Certain Dimensions of Hinduism and their Values in Interreligious Education A.N. Rao Chapter 13 Scrutinizing the Themes of "Sameness" and "Difference" in the Discourse on Multireligiosity and Religious Encounters in Singapore Vineeta Sinha Chapter 14 The Role of the Human Sciences in the Dialogue among Civilizations Syed Farid A1ata.i Epilogue Lim Zck Ghee & Kazuhide Kuroah Appendices Glossary Notes on Contributors Conference Agenda List of Participants Foreword n these times of visible potential and great challenges for a better world, marked I by mounting calls for more "comprehensive," "holistic" and "integrated visions of development, religious communities can play a pivotal role in building bridges, contributing to change and continuity among communities, and addressing today's central development challenges. This book is an important contribution to the critical debates about what the role of religious institutions and actors can and should be and how they are part of the broad global agenda for the new millennium. We live today in a complex and paradoxical world. No one can overlook the stark inequalities that exist. We live in a world of plenty, while more than 1.2 billion people live on less than a dollar a day. Educational institutions in many parts of the world offer remarkable courses and more people than ever before have access to learning and the wealth of ideas and information on the Internet, while 0.9 billion people are still illiterate and have little access to educational resources. Food resources abound in infinite varieties, at all seasons of the year, but we estimate that 0.8 billion people suffer from hunger or malnutrition. We face a global challenge where every region, country and community has a unique history and character, yet is bound to others far away in ways we could not have envisaged even 50 years ago. Over the course of the last few years, international development, financial and corporate organizations have come to see with increasing clarity the importance of global partnerships. They have also come to realize that development (in all its complexity) cannot be undertaken by governments alone, but must catalyze the active and engaged efforts of individuals, business enterprises, financial institutions and civil society organizations (including labour unions, nongovernmental organizations or NGOs, religious organizations and others). Development actors are focusing on the need for more "comprehensive" or "holistic" approaches to their trade. This move towards a more integrated, multisectoral approach is the product of much bitter experience and a process of learning that the earlier, and seemingly straightforward, visions of linear progress towards "development" need rigorous and "comprehensive" rethinking. The challenge for these inclusive and broad-ranging approaches is to surmount an overly narrow, segmented and sectorial focus, thus integrating the multifaceted and varying perspectives of all relevant stakeholders. Nowhere has the tide towards building new and broader partnerships and visions been more complex, yet visible and vital, than in the wide territory between Foreword v religious communities and the traditional development world. Among the most perceptive and vocal voices calling for broad and comprehensive approaches to development are faith institutions, which often rebel at narrow visions of human endeavours. Religion has, through history, had wide and profound influence across many spheres of daily life. Religious leaders and scholars speak week in and week out with both moral authority and local credibility. Faith institutions and leaders have been central actors in many of history's great shifts in values, behaviours and ~olicies.Yet, many western societies have followed a model where there was a distinct separation between "church" and state. The two worlds have often been viewed as divergent: where the world of religion deals with spiritual and esoteric matters, and the world of the state (and by extension, development) encompasses the material world. Today's events and challenges present new questions about these divides and walls, and call for a new series of bridges. In August and September 2000, in two separate but abutting meetings, world leaders and leaders of the world's major religions and spiritual traditions met at the United Nations. At the turn of the millennium, they were drawn to a far- ranging stocktaking of earlier progress and promises. A central conclusion from both meetings, deeply held and movingly conveyed, was that the global community was doing far too little to address the problems of global poverty. Projections of what lay ahead were both frightening and unacceptable. This was set against an unavoidable awareness of the abundance of resources and consumption, which highlighted the possibilities: the global community had ample resources and the know-how to change the picture of persisting poverty and misery. From the Millennium Summits emerged a global consensus, articulated around what are called the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The MDGs represent a quantified and time-bound set of ambitious goals linked to fighting poverty and enhancing social justice on topics ranging from education, health and social development to gender and the environment. Since the Millennium Summits, development and faith leaders have focused more and more on the range of questions about the roles of religion and interfaith dialogue in the critical areas identified as those which must be addressed to end poverty: education, delivery of healthcare services, water and sanitation, the roles ofwomen and men in society, social cohesion and other areas. They put a spotlight on questions about faith leaders as agents of change, and the lessons to be learned by and from different partners in addressing society's challenges. Coupled with the objectives of social and economic transformation that we term development, the overlap and common ground of shared interests are woven in countless ways. The basic issues central to the global agenda - poverty alleviation, health and education, social justice, welfare and the meaning of progress - are core issues in vi Asian Interfaith Dialogue major religious traditions, with intellectual and moral roots that can be traced back for thousands of years. Theologians from every religion have grappled with the why's and how's of poverty and misery. For
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