Religious Interaction: A theological pastoral observations concerning the case of religious interaction in warna village based on case study method

Abstract

This study is an effort to understand a very un- pleasant case that happened in a village in Indonesia as a result of religious interaction there. The objective is in- tended to help the Church do her theological pastoral actions more effectively and contextually. By taking the right pastoral actions, we hope that the Church may prove to be a living- witness of Christ and assist to create a peace-loving Indonesian nation based on Pancasila. The observation consists of three main sections i. e., Case Descriptio, Analysis, Interpretation and Pastoral Actions. Part One: CASE DESCRIPTION The case in question is about a conversion from Islam into Christianity done by a kyai (Moslem leader) called Aan. It happened in a village called Warna, a poor village inhabited by Moslems only. In time many villagers wanted to follow Aan's footstep and become Christians. This event brought about wide accusations that there had been a Christianization in the village, especially after the arrival of a Christian known as Katongga whose Christianity is not yet clearly identified. He was alleged to have persuaded Varna's people to turn Into Christians. As a result the measures taken by the local authorities and some Moslem leaders, Aan and his family lived in a state of depression. Meanwhile, the Church of Ratung, where kyai Aan and his friends some- times went to attend Church services, found it almost impossible to get in touch with Aan and his family in order to help them. The Church of Ratung had two reasons for that attitude i.e.; firstly, kyai Aan was not a member of Ratung Church yet; and secondly they wanted him to win his faith in Christianity through his own struggle with the least support from the Church. It was obvious, however, that the Church of Ratung had and still has limitations in its funds, manpower, etc. Part Two: ANALYSIS The analysis is based on three main assumptions: A. Assumption based on attitudes: religious enthusiasm, fanatical and fanaticism People involved in this particular case are kyai Aan, Katongga, the people of Warna village and the local Moslem leaders, and a strong assumption is that the case was closely related to the attitudes and interests of all those people concerned. Kyai Aan at first showed a lot of religious enthusiasm. But when he was confronted with hostile attitude from the local Moslem leaders, he became gradually prejudiced against Islam.Katongga, on "the other hand, acted not because he possessed religious enthusiasm, fanatical or fanaticism, but because he was simply an adventurer wandering everywhere for his individual interests. The desire of the people of Warna village to change their religious faith was not caused by religious enthusiasm, but rather by their original religious mentality mixed with the superstition found in traditional Islam. That mixture brought about unfaithfulness to their original religious belief. Non-commitment to their original religious belief doubled by severe poverty made it easy for the people of that village to convert into Christianity because they saw there would be a hope for better life as Christians. The attitude of the local religious leader? Is caused by prejudice and fanaticism in their Islamic "belief. To them Islam is a religion that abrogates earlier religions, including Christianity. This outlook has been strengthened by fanaticism Inherited from Banten, which was then centre of Islam. Beside, back in the nineteenth century, in Banten there was strong anti-colonial movement that brought about an anti-Christian movement. The strong feelings against Christianity have since been passed down from one kyai generation to the next one. The attitude demonstrated by those Moslem leaders of Warna village was motivated by the fact that they were afraid of losing their authority in their leadership, and they somehow felt responsible for guarding kyai Aan and others in the village from being "punished, in hell as Islam teaches. They were so eager in dealing with their respective interests that they ignore the many basic customs in villages such as 'anjang sono'.All those factors disrupted the relations and communications among village people and their leaders, and that was how the case of Warna village came to pass.