INTERRELIGIOUS TOLERANCE IN THE PERCEPTION OF MALUKU MUSLIM SOCIETY

Abstract

All religions teach peace and welfare to their adherents through tolerance. The religious teaching, however, can also be the trigger of interreligious conflicts as it happened in Ambon in 1999-2011. This study aimed at determining whether or not the knowledge, education level, perception, and attitudes of the Ambones’ Muslim community affect the interreligious tolerance in Ambon. This research employed quantitative research using survey design. The sample of the study consisted of 100 Muslims in Ambon city. The data have been collected through a questionnaire distributed, and they have been analyzed descriptively and inferentially using the SPSS program. The results found that the knowledge, level of education, perception, and attitude of the Ambones’ Muslim community collectively had a positive impact on the interreligious tolerance amongst the Ambones’ community. However, this perception has no significant effect on tolerance partially. The results of this study contributed to prevent and manage further unpredictable of interreligious conflict in the city of Ambon, Maluku.