Invited By The Pantekosta Church, The Chair Of The FKUB Asked Pastor Gencar Dakwah At The Tankal Radicalism Medsos

Head of FKUB Central Sulawesi Zainal Abidin (left) in a meeting with church leaders who are members of the Regional Evangelische Mission in Solidaritat (EMS) Forum, in Sigi, Central Sulawesi. (ANTARA)

PALU - Chairman of the Religious Harmony Forum (FKUB) Prof. KH Zainal Abidin asked religious figures including church leaders to intensify da'wah or messages of goodness through social media to prevent the spread of radicalism. "It's time for all of us to intensify da'wah through social media," said KH Zainal Abidin in Palu as reported by Antara, Sunday, October 9. Zainal Abidin was presented by the Indonesian Pantekosta Church Donggala (GPID) at the regional meeting forum Evangelische Mission in Solidaritat (EMS). This forum was attended by the leadership of the Synode of the Protestant Christian Church in Bali, Synode of the Minahasa Bible Church, Snode of the Halmahera Evangelical Church, Sinode of the South Sulawesi Christian Church, Sinode of the Protestant Church in Southeast Sulawesi, Sinode of the Toraja Church, Sinode of the Mamasa Toraja Church, Sinode of the West Sulawesi Christian Church, Sinode of the Indonesian Protestant Church Luwu. During the meeting Zainal said that it was necessary to strengthen the development of togetherness and solidarity to jointly fight the growth and development of the intolerance, radicalism and terrorism movement. To the priests and church leaders, Rois Syuriah PBNU emphasized that there is no religion that teaches its people to commit violence against adherents of other religions, just because of differences of belief. "Agama teaches about kindness, teaches about love and affection among human beings," he said. Therefore, he emphasized that there is no religious conflict, because religion does not teach to conflict or commit violence. On the other hand, what happens is conflicts or disputes in the name of religion. "This is where an important role from religious leaders and church leaders is needed to intensify da'wah on messages of goodness, both online and face-to-face," he said. He said that hardline movement groups continue to intensify understanding intolerance, radicalism and terrorism through cyberspace. Based on a national survey on the basis of society against radicalism and terrorism carried out by the National Counterterrorism Agency in 2017-2018, with a score of 42.58 from the range of 0 - 100 or moderate categories. Meanwhile, data on the handling of radicalism and terrorism content from the Ministry of Communication and Informatics from 2017 to March 2019 amounted to 13,032 content. Furthermore, the results of a national survey on the basis of society against radicalism and terrorism carried out by BNPT in 2019, social media users in seeking information about religion are high with a score of 39.89, in internalizing local wisdom including religious understanding. "The polite da'wah and brightening of religious leaders is conveyed through social media, not only as a form of adjustment to the times in the midst of the presence of information and communication technology. Instead, it is a form of effort to protect the community, especially the younger generation from the spread of understanding intolerance, radicalism and terrorism," he said.