Triangulated Challenges to Democracy: a Critical Voice of Public Theology to Counter Fear and Escalating Polarization in Indonesia

Abstract

This article seeks to unveil the triangulated forces which challenge contemporary democracy in Indonesia. Those forces are irrational fear, the problem of likeness (like and unlike), and the grip of Leviathanic force. Indonesia’s secular yet religious democracy struggles to deal with a real polarization amongst the citizens as a consequence. The present intention is to explore a critical view of a public theology that asserts hope and ‘knowing the other’ as a viable virtue for the Christian response. Drawing on Martha Nussbaum’s view of the monarchy of irrational fear and Jürgen Moltmann’s notion of hope and faith for the sake of a practice of ‘knowing others’, the article sketches the roots of this polarization and considers how Indonesians can recover their democracy from below through daily religious engagement.