BUILDING A SHARED HOME: INVESTIGATING THE INTELLECTUAL LEGACY OF THE KEY THINKERS OF INTER-RELIGIOUS DIALOGUE IN INDONESIA ______________________________________________ A Dissertation Submitted to the Temple University Graduate Board ______________________________________________ In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY _______________________________________________ By Achmad Munjid August, 2014 Examining Committee Members: Dr. Leonard J. Swidler, Advisory Chair, Department of Religion Dr. Khalid Y. Blankinship, Department of Religion Dr. John C. Raines, Department of Religion Dr. Parsaoran Hutapea, External Reader, College of Engineering © Copyright 2014 By Achmad Munjid All rights reserved ABSTRACT BUILDING A SHARED HOME INVESTIGATING THE INTELLECTUAL LEGACY OF THE KEY THINKERS OF INTER-RELIGIOUS DIALOGUE IN INDONESIA By Achmad Munjid Doctor of Philosophy Temple University, 2014 Advisory Committee Chair: Leonard J. Swidler How does inter-religious dialogue in Indonesia transform and being transformed by the New Order authoritarian regime in the creation of a strong civil society and a religiously plural and democratic country? By discussing the politicization of religion and mobilization of religious communities by the New Order regime to fight against the Communists in the wake of the 1965 tragedy as the background, this dissertation seeks to analyze the anatomy of inter-religious relations in the country, including its historical roots, pivotal events, enduring issues and consequential development in the later period. The discussion is placed in a wider theoretical context on the role of religion in public life. Based on the analysis of topical biography, academic works, media reports and other reliable unpublished documents as the main sources, the dissertation investigates the intellectual legacy of four selected key thinkers in the field of inter-religious dialogue. It critically discusses the complex interplay between religion and politics in particular relation to such issues as religious pluralism, religious tolerance, exclusivism, human rights, freedom of religion, legal discrimination, and minority-majority relations. It highlights why and how the contesting discourse within a particular religious community about other group, between different religious communities, especially the Muslims and the Christians, iii as well as between religious communities and the regime move toward certain direction in particular context and then move towards the opposite direction in other context. Despite the wide spread conflict towards the end of the New Order regime and during the 2000s, the dissertation proved that inter-religious relations in Indonesia in general developed from antagonism to more dialogical relations over the period. The four selected key thinkers of inter-religious dialogue and their intellectual legacy demonstrated how religion could make fundamental contribution in the creation of democracy in a religiously plural society. iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Although I take full responsibility for the content of this dissertation, at the end of the writing process I realize that without tremendous help, support, and assistance from so many people, it might never have been accomplished as such. Around so many ideas and words that I have expressed here, I see the presence of many wonderful people with their generous help and contributions. It is impossible for me to list every name, but I should mention some of the most significant individuals to whom I owe incredibly much. Leonard Swidler, the advisory chair of my dissertation committee, has been extremely generous with his invaluable continuing support and assistance, not only as an inspiring intellectual mentor but also as a sincere close friend who is always ready to help in difficult situations. Thanks to his guidance, advice, encouragement, and great support I could finish this dissertation with a particular topic about which I have academic passion for a long time. Len has helped me sharpened and expanded my conceptual analysis on inter-religious issues on many levels. He also helped me built a wider global network of inter-religious dialogue by giving me so many opportunities to participate in various programs held by his Dialogue Institute. Through Len I learned more deeply the values of inter-religious dialogue both as a theological and intellectual enterprise and a concrete global initiative to make a difference in the world. I wholeheartedly thank him and my other friends at the Dialogue Institute, Rebecca Mays, Julie Sheetz-Willard, Meliani “Yeni” Murtiningsih, Racelle Weiman, Peer Farland, Angela Ilic, and Marsha Kaplun, who have shared with me their insights and meaningful friendship in dialogue, some of which I use in this dissertation. I also v thank Len for finding and generously paying a fabulous and understanding professional editor, Alison Anderson, for shaping the final format of the dissertation. John Raines, a committee member of my dissertation, as well as his wife Bonnie Raines, are other inspiring individuals who have guided me to travel the broader world through my academic career. Long time before their public recognition as the “Snowden of the 1971,” I met John in Yogyakarta when he and his Temple connection in Indonesia started the Center for Religious and Cross-Cultural Studies (CRCS), an MA Program at Gadjah Mada University. He was among the most enthusiastic professors who strongly encouraged and gave me confidence to pursue further study in the United States. I got the Fulbright scholarship and the Henry Luce Foundation scholarship for my study, and the IYLP Fellowship in the Netherlands for doing research for this dissertation, among others, thanks to his powerful letter of recommendation. His “leftist” critical insights in particular are very helpful in shaping my perspective for the dissertation. Mahmoud M. Ayoub is a wonderful professor and friend who became among my role models as a solid and humble intellectual. I thank him greatly for the many precious insights he was always ready to share with me during the initial stage of this dissertation, before his retirement from Temple. I also thank Mbak Lina Ayoub, his wife, who has become a very good friend of my family during our many years of stay in Philadelphia. Khalid Blankinship, Chair of the Religion Department at Temple and committee member of the dissertation was very helpful during my writing process both as an administrator and as a very encyclopedic professor in Islamic studies with sharp criticism and feedback. Parsaoran “Chai” Hutapea, a professor at Temple’s College of Engineering was my “savior” for his willingness to be the external reader of this dissertation. Rebecca Alpert, a former Religion Department chair and professor vi in Jewish studies, has been my long-time best friend, who was always helpful throughout my study years at Temple and during my writing stage in particular. At Paley Library, I really appreciate the generous assistance from Fred Rowland, our very helpful librarian, who was always ready to respond any question and request very quickly. The late Ibrahim Abu-Rabi’ of Hartford Seminary was a Muslim professor who showed me the value of Western academic training and what it means to be a critical scholar in the modern world. I owe many of the perspectives on inter- religious dialogue I wrote in this dissertation to him. For the many issues on administration and paperwork nobody is more helpful than Linda Jenkins, secretary of the Religion Department. I couldn’t imagine how I should resolve many of those technical issues, especially when I was not physically present in the U.S., without her generous help and assistance. During my fellowship at Leiden University in the Netherlands in 2011-2012, I also owe so much from many generous people there. I thank Marise van Amersfoort and Nico Kaptein for their help as administrator of the Indonesian Young Leader Program (IYLP). I thank Henk Schulte Nordholt and Gerry van Klinken at KITLV (The Royal Netherland Institute of Southeast Asian and Caribbean Studies) library and Karel Steenbrink of Utrecht University who gave me insightful feedback for my proposal draft. I also thank Lourens Minemma and Anton Weissel at Free University in Amsterdam for their information, suggestion and feedback for my first proposal. Jaspert Slob and Josien Folbert were very helpful in making connection with important people for my research in the Netherlands. I also thank Pak Mintardjo, the “Godfather” for all Indonesian students in Leiden area for generations. Kustim Wibowo at Department of MIS and Decision Sciences, Indiana University of Pennsylvania (IUP), Rachmi Diyah Larasati at Theatre Arts and Dance vii Department, University of Minnesota, as well as Shalahuddin Kafrawi and Etin Anwar, the couple professors of Islamic studies at Hobart and William Smith Colleges are extremely generous friends who have helped me incredibly especially in the finishing stage of my PhD program. Gisela and Mike Webb, as well as their family, has become my longtime family friend in Philadelphia whose kindness and generosity, including in helping the final stage of my writing, are beyond my expression of gratitude. Florian Pohl and Brian McAdams are other very good friends who kindly spend their time reading through some parts of the dissertation and made very useful comments and suggestions. I should also thank my Temple special friends at Religion Department, Ahmad Rafiq, Omer Awwas, Steve Pustay, Abbas and