Learning the Meaning of Tolerance 

Tuesday (3/5), the women from the Wahid Foundation assisted groups in Nglinggi Village and Gemblegan Village, Klaten, Central Java, visited several places of worship in Semarang and conducted dialogues. Some of the places of worship visited were the Central Java Grand Mosque (Masjid Agung), Sam Poo Kong Temple and Semarang Archdiocesan Office.

The total number of participants, who joined the event that was filled with tolerance atmosphere, was 52 people. Some of them were members of the Peace Village Working Groups. This activity was held with the aim to improve the understanding of the women from the Wahid Foundation assisted groups on  the importance of diversity and the meaning of tolerance.

Gus Jazuli, Advisor of the Wahid Foundation, gave a lecture on introduction to diversity to Father Ruby and administrators of the Semarang Archdiocese during the visit.

The participants listened to the explanation on peace  and diversity while visiting the houses of worship. Interactive dialogue between the Wahid Foundation assisted groups and religious leaders took place. Inggit, a young women from Nglinggi Village, asked about activities of Catholic women and which one is the bigger holiday, Easter or Christmas.

"Youth activities are available in Mudika (Catholic Youths) at the Parish level, but most activities are combined for both men and women. Further, regarding the holidays, Christmas is practically bigger, but spiritually, Easter is bigger because it involves faith," explained Father Ruby.

Eni Pokoh (62) from the Mekar Sari Group, who attended the activity, said this was the first time that the Wahid Foundation assisted women entered a Cathedral. "Father Ruby is very warm, like there is no distance between Muslims and non-Muslims. This is actually true tolerance, "Eni said.

This experience reminded Eni of Gus Dur's 9 values and made her appreciate more peace and differences. "We will share this experience with the other members and we will also mention in the community unit (RW) meeting how important inter-religious harmony is for now and in the future," Eni concluded.

 By: Ester Pandiangan