ESSAYS & NEWS

On May 26^th, Taliesin (23) died confronting anti-Muslim hate on a commuter train in Portland, Oregon. Comparing the current political climates in the United States and Indonesia, CRCS faculty member Dr. Kelli Swazey argues for courageous pluralism, a move beyond tolerance, in reflecting on Taliesin's experience traveling in Indonesia in 2011. (Available in both English and Indonesian) Read more

In this interview with Professor Imtiyaz Yusuf of Mahidol University, Professor Yusuf  discusses Islam-Buddhist theological concepts and talks about Southeast Asian Muslim-Buddhist relations, including the issue of Thailand’s Pattani and Myanmar’s Rohingya Muslims. Professor Yusuf is currently teaching for the CRCS summer intersession. Read more

CRCS faculty member Dr. Samsul Maarif, who contributed to the Constitutional Court’s judicial review on the 2016 law regulating the Indonesian national ID card’s column for indigenous religions, has just published a new book. Dr. Maarif's book locates the issue of indigenous religions in the history of Indonesia’s religious politics of recognition. (Indonesian) Read more

Originally published in Tempo Magazine (June 2017), CRCS faculty member Dr. Zainal Abidin Bagir argues that the rise of religious conservatism in Indonesia is not the most worrying trend. What is of more concern is related to practical issues of how the government can guarantee healthy civilized public deliberation and secure safe spaces for those activities from the threat of vigilante groups. (Indonesian) Read more

The Indonesian government held a Pancasila Week campaign in early June. In this article, which originally was featured as an opinion piece at The Jakarta Post (June 9), CRCS staff member Azis Anwar argues that what is needed is not a reaffirmation of the national ideology of Pancasila, but rather a reinterpretation as it is prone to political instrumentalization. Read more

CRCS Visiting Professor Imtiyaz Yusuf argues that the new wars of religion are rooted in secularism’s banishment of religions from the public sphere, a political project that has instead given rise to so-called religious nationalism. This article was originally published in the Thai newspaper The Nation. Read more

In confronting violent religious groups, we should not fall into the same attitude of using violence. This piece by a CRCS student summarizes a public talk at Yogyakarta’s Sanata Dharma Catholic University featuring prominent figures from Indonesia’s major religious groups. (Indonesian) Read more

 EVENT

In cooperation with various research and activism centers, CRCS will hold a workshop for peacebuilding practitioners and academics from across Indonesia on institutionalizing interfaith mediation with Imam Muhammad Ashafa and Pastor James Wuye, both from Nigeria. The workshop will be held in Yogyakarta, August 28-30, 2017. Applications are due July 15, 2017. Read more