Problems of religious literacy in Indonesian education

This article explores three questions: What is the perception of teachers concerning religious literacy? Is religious literacy an appropriate framework to combat religious intolerance? Do school teachers, principals, and policy makers support interreligious initiatives, including teaching the religions of the world and interreligious site visits? To answer these questions, we conducted interviews with 97 teachers from 24 high schools in four cities (Batu, Jember, Lamongan, and Nganjuk) in East Java. We also invited high school principals, teachers, and representatives from the Office of Education in the city of Surabaya to share their perspectives at our Focus Group Discussion (FGD). This article documents and analyzes teachers’ voices cautioning against teaching students about other religions as well as counter-voices encouraging religious literacy. The findings of this study will have an important implication for thinking creatively about various approaches to religious literacy and possible reform of teacher education.