Reorienting Religion in Times of Global Disaster

(This article was translated to English version by Lanny Octavia and edited by Jonathan Zilberg, previously published in Indonesian on 21/2/2005)

It is not possible to disconnect religion from society as religions are responses to and criticisms of social-political orders. From this perspective, we can understand why religion is always framed in terms of purification and deviation, or reformation and distortion – at least from the “monologic” perspective rather than from the more subjective “dialogic” perspective.

Both of these perspectives converge in that they both emphasize the role of faith in perceiving reality. The combination of faith and experience always affirms the religious spirit.  Yet unlike the subjective-dialogic approach, “monological” subjectivity does not open the space for a dialog between faith and human suffering. This latter tends to neglect issues of locality and diversity and defining religion and its mission from this perspective results in an emphasis on the importance of proselytization or da’wah.

The most recent example of this phenomenon occurred when the humanitarian aids for tsunami victims in Sri Lanka and Aceh was “infiltrated” by religious interests. Therein, the International Herald Tribune (IHT) reported that the Community of Antioch Church, an American Evangelical organization, was using humanitarian aid in Sri Lanka for religious purposes. Local Christian leaders criticized this as they were worried that it would trigger the anger of Buddhist hardliners (Gatra, 05/02/05). 

Similarly, in Aceh, the Worldhelp’s statement in the Washington Post daily caused a stir in Indonesian Muslim society. The plan to adopt Acehnese Muslim children and Christianize them subsequently became a hot issue in humanitarian disaster relief though representatives of Indonesia Bishops’ Conference (KWI) and the Indonesian Communion of Churches (PGI) opposed the Worldhelp missionaries and suggested that any aid donated should be distributed by Islamic organizations like Muhammadiyah and NU.

So far there has been no collective attempt to redefine and reformulate an inter-faith paradigm of the global responsibility of religion as called for by Knitter in his book One Earth Many Religions (2001) and by the Boff brothers who have also considered the significance of the balance between the concept of faith and religious group’s interests in Salvation and Liberation (1984).

Seeking Common Action

The starting point of convergent inter-faith action lies in the humanitarian responsibility to respond to human suffering in the form of poverty, disaster, ecological crisis, and social miseries such as oppression, tyranny, colonialism, and injustice generally.

In Islam, the term da’wah (missionary endeavor) is popular. It used to be interpreted as “call” or “invite”, in the sense of inviting Muslims to reform themselves through action and of calling upon others from different faiths to believe in Islam as the last religion. Many verses in the Koran support this interpretation. However, the concept of da’wah needs to be also connected with the concept of “fastabiqul khairat” – the competition to perform good deeds. This broadens the inter-faith objective of da’wah.

Environmental crisis, global poverty, and humanitarian disasters striking already poverty stricken areas stand out in sharp contrast to the wealth created by globalization. In this context, we have to understand the concept of da’wah as a reminder of Muslim’s global responsibility to humanitarian issues. Da’wah can be understood as a call for collective inter-faith awareness for the need for collective action. The case of Aceh reminds us that a commitment to humanitarian solidarity is a priority in the plural world we live in.

Hence, religious mission should be refashioned from being centered on the purpose of conversion to a shared attempt to formulate interfaith sensitivity. This is the lesson to be learnt from the manipulation of humanitarian aid for religious purposes.

Fajar Riza Ul Haq, staff of Centre of Cultural and Social Change Studies UMS and activist of Center for Religions and Cross Cultural Studies (CRCS) UGM.