Saturday, September 11, 2010

Freedom of Religion

The American priest Terry Jones has canceled his plan to burn the Quran to mark the anniversary of the 11 September 2001 terrorist attack.

There is no guarantee that such plan would not be carried out again in the future, but this cancellation would at least ease the tensions between Muslims and Christians.

This is a very good development for us in Indonesia as the largest Muslim country in the world, whereby any tensions between Muslim and Non Muslim in other places would surely be felt here.

I hope that the above would make everyone especially in Indonesia, no matter what their religion, culture, race, aware on the importance of establishing mutual understanding with each other, for which purpose good communication among them should be established and always be maintained.

And considering that freedom of religion is protected by our constitution, laws and regulations, I hope that the government and law enforcement agencies would provide equal protection for every citizens no matter what their religion is, and severely punish anyone/group of people who violate the laws.
A firm stance on this matter is very important, because experience shows that failure to do so would cause extreme groups take the laws into their own hands.

If we can improve all that, I am sure that Indonesia would be a much better place to live.

Conversations about this matter on the blogosphere  :
Quran Burning Cancelled ? (A. Fatih)
Condemn the Burning of Koran (Tikno) 
Islam : an open letter to a friend (Anastasia FB)

9 comments:

sonny said...

That priest is a joke, an embarassment for all American. He gives the world the impression that we're a country of bigots. It would not accomplish anything positive, just cause more stryfe.

Unknown said...

Hi Sonny,
I fully agree with you. Thanks.

Yari NK said...

Harry, freedom of religion in Indonesia should be extended to freedom of no religion too. People are free to embrace a religion or not to embrace any! So, agnostics, atheists, and the likes they must also have the rights to live in Indonesia. However, I realise that it will take decades or perhaps centuries for this idea to actualise in our beloved Indonesia... and if most Indonesians still can't accept this idea we can't force it because democratic values always come first...

TUKANG CoLoNG said...

gag ada agama yg mengajarkan yg gag baik.:)

colson said...

Your and Yari NK's words should be everyone's guidelines.

I would add one more wish. It would be a huge leap for mankind's civilization if people became a lot less defensive and a lot more relaxed about their own specific spiritual convictions.

Unknown said...

@Yari,
Personally I agree that freedom of religion should be extended to freedom of no religion. But this is against values in our society protected by constitution/laws/ regulations, therefore it would take decades or even a century to change.
The most important thing for the near future is to enforce the existing laws based on supremacy of law, equality before the law, presumption of innocence and respect of human rights.

@TUKANG CoLoNG,
Anda benar semua agama mengajarkan kebaikan.

@Colson,
I fully agree with you that people should be more relax about their own spiritual conviction.

Sihirli Yazılar said...

Bravo and thanks... No doubt I agree with you as a muslim Turk...

Sy said...

This is why church and state are seperate. Religous groups must be responsible for the most hate crimes in history

Unknown said...

@Sihirli Yazilar,
I am glad that you share my opinion.

@Sy,
Yes I agree.