Accommodation of Local Culture as a Strategy to Reduce the Potential for Religious Social Conflict: Learning from the Indonesian Experience

Abstract

The religious factor in social life often functions as an instrument to suppress the potential for conflict and or at the same time triggers the potential for conflict to strengthen. Therefore, the author argues that it is important to place religion in the construction of a society's cultural space. Without cultural space, religion will always be a scapegoat for all conflict events in the name of religion and even terrorism. This research tests whether cultural factors are able to mediate the potential for social conflict to be suppressed or vice versa does not have a significant effect. The research method was conducted with a quantitative-survey approach to 1000 respondents who were interviewed face-to-face with a sampling technique using multistage-random sampling and with a margin of error of ± 3%. The results of these findings show that several factors of acceptance of cultural diversity do not have a significant influence on reducing the potential for religious social conflict, such as "Personal Betterment," "Maintaining the Social Environment," "Maintaining Social Harmony," "Respect for Local Culture," "Respect for Religious Traditions," "Reinterpretation of Religious Syiar," and "Cultural Preservation." However, for the two factors of religious acceptance of cultural diversity that have a significant partial effect, culture is able to encourage a better way of religion and culture is also able to strengthen tolerance for diversity. This confirms that religious teachings have relevance that can strengthen the culture of Indonesian society. However, when both (religion and culture) are seen as contradictory by religious believers, a tolerant attitude is chosen as a form of accommodation to the diversity of the noble values of the established Indonesian nation.