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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
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