Indonesia Matters News Feed ----- Original Message ----- From: Indonesia Matters News Feed To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Saturday, September 13, 2008 7:12 AM Subject: Indonesia Matters
Indonesia Matters God is Dead Posted: 11 Sep 2008 06:27 PM PDT Indonesian students of Islam encountering western anti-orthodox religion philosophy. In an article from August 2008, Ahmad Sahidin, a former student of the Aqidah & Filsafat (Islam & Philosophy) faculty at IAIN (Institut Agama Islam Negeri) Sunan Gunung Djati (SGD) Bandung and now a teacher of the same discipline at IAIN, makes some reference to controversies at IAIN in 2004, where some students were recorded making provocative statements such as God is dead Achmad says that in studying Akidah & Filsafat students are taught about famous “western” objections to religious faith, such as those by German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. He says many pupils come from state schools and have little firm understanding of their Islamic faith, and are easily influenced by this new, secular, knowledge and like to show it off and appear cultured and clever. Further, the critiques of European philosophers, he says, were often directed against the hypocrisy of middle class people in Europe who affected religious belief but whose lives and actions ran against the principles of their religion. Today in Indonesia students can see parallels with this, with many people who acknowledge themselves as Muslim being corrupt, or in the existence of an extremely wide gap between poor and rich - hence the fondness for the expression “God is dead”, meaning something like “God is not in our lives (anymore)”. He defends IAIN Bandung against charges that it churns out atheists because of the contents of the Aqidah & Filsafat curriculum, instead he says most students’ Islamic faith is strengthened by encountering the objections of western philosophy. However he has gone to some lengths to ensure that the teaching of western ideas is firmly balanced by instruction in Islam. Finally he says the Cipadung area of Bandung, where IAIN is located, was once a “red” zone, there were no mosques, except on the campus. Now every neighbourhood unit (RT) has at least one mosque, and these mosques, and their attached kindergartens and study groups, are by and large run by IAIN graduates, he says, proof that the university is doing its job. [1] Anjinghu Akbar The “Anjinghu Akbar” video from IAIN, which Ahmad makes some reference to, was recorded on 27 August 2004, but has been here produced, edited and interpreted by a fundamentalist group. It shows some of the leaders of the faculty’s student association, Himpunan Mahasiswa Jurusan (HMJ) Akidah Filsafat, making speeches at an orientation session for 2,000 freshmen, whether as some kind of prankish introduction to the course, or otherwise. At the time police investigated the case [2] but as far as your scribe knows no prosecutions ensued. a.. ↑1 ahmadsahidin.wordpress.com b.. ↑2 tempo Tags: Bandung, IAIN, Islam, Islamic, Islamic Faith, Mosques, Religion, Religious, Secular, Students, Studying, Videos, West Java You are subscribed to email updates from Indonesia Matters News Feed To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. Email delivery powered by Google Inbox too full? Subscribe to the feed version of Indonesia Matters News Feed in a feed reader. If you prefer to unsubscribe via postal mail, write to: Indonesia Matters News Feed, c/o Google, 20 W Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610