CWS News

Besides youth, as initiator as well as actor, peace process should begin at house of worship. Peace process should begin at house of worship as through house of worship people can interact one to another, listen to religious preach, and build their belief. “ Here is the effective place, because in house of worship there are dogma, proselytizing, and legitimacy for the people to believe in something”, said M. Guntur Romli in “Youth as Peace Activator” interactive dialog hosted by ICRP and CWS Indonesia in YLBHI office, Menteng, Central Jakarta on August 2, 2008.

In addition we cannot see house of worship only in idealistic level; instead we need dialog, interaction between people, house of worship acknowledging as well as its aspects, and also dialog between religious leaders.

There are two main reasons why we should begin the peace building process from the house of worship, first house of worship is usually used as media to deepen religious knowledge and second we can invest inclusive and tolerant values to the people in house of worship.

The experience of participants of Peace in Diversity program has proved that visiting sanctuaries of different religions have its own value. We would not only know the physical condition of the buildings; historical philosophy of its existence enables the participants to give positive perception among participants who belong to different religions.

The visit to sanctuaries could also erase distrust and stereotype among people of different religion. For example, Sosam, one of participants in the Peace in Diversity program, thought that Tionghoa people are immigrants who only seek for their own benefit. He also thought that Tionghoa people did deception in doing business. However the thought disappeared after he visited LIthang Khonghucu Bio in Tanggerang and had dialog with the leaders of Konghucu.

The most important thing is how to make the participants of Peace in Diversity program community become a movement that can influence our character in the future; how to initiate such program or any effort to create peace in broader community among youth. This can be one step in building peace. 

By Nurcholis, ICRP