CRCS faculty member Zainal Abidin Bagir writes on why efforts to save the rainforests need support from religious and indigenous communities, reflecting on the United Nations and Development Programme (UNDP)'s Interfaith Rainforest Initiative in Oslo in June 2017 where people from various religious backgrounds and members of indigenous communities launched a declaration on rainforest conservation. (Indonesian)

Commemorating the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples, Mohamad Miqdad, a facilitator for our Diversity Management School (SPK), reflects on whether Indonesia’s adat and indigenous communities are sufficiently self-determined and autonomous in facing the state-imposed policies, particularly those on communal land rights and agricultural management. (Indonesian)

Indonesia’s universities have faced increasing threats to their academic freedom, mainly from vigilante religious groups. In our newest report, CRCS researcher Suhadi presents and analyzes  data collected over the few last years on threats to academic freedom. The report can be downloaded for free. (Indonesian)

Conventional wisdom these days says that religion is prone to violence. This common belief helps to construct a certain political discourse and configuration of power, namely that based on secular-liberal values. This is a review of William Cavanaugh’s book The Myth of Religious Violence (Oxford University Press, 2009). (Indonesian)

Two discourses characterize the Indonesian reactions to the Rohingya tragedy in Myanmar: first, that religion is indeed the main cause of the conflict, and second, that religion has nothing to do with the conflict. Utilizing theories learned in our course on religion and violence, CRCS student Husni Mubarok counters these simplistic views. (Indonesian)

In 2015, Aceh witnessed a number of conflicts that are both interreligious (between Muslims and Christians) and intrareligious (between mainstream Sunni and “Wahhabi” Muslims). CRCS Diversity Management School alumnus Yogi Febriandi writes on the conflicts that have motivated the local government to issue religious bylaws (qanun) on “religious harmony” and “belief protection”. (Indonesian)

After the former governor of Jakarta, Ahok, was accused of blasphemy, no less than 59 people across Indonesia have been persecuted on the accusations of either blasphemy or insulting ulema. CRCS alumnus Hary Widyantoro describes the different attitude from the Islam Defenders’ Front (FPI) in Balikpapan towards a physician who was persecuted due to charges of blasphemy brought against him. (Indonesian)

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