A Discorsus on Religious Harmony in Social Media in Indonesia

Abstract

This article discusses the dynamics of religious harmony in social media within Indonesia context, particularly in relation to the phenomenon of religious panic. As a contemporary issue, religious panic has emerged as a discourse among netizens, often shaping public perceptions and interactions regarding religious diversity. This study employs a literary approach by collecting and analyzing various academic perspectives relevant to the topic. This is a literary study conducted by collecting various ideas from a number of literary sources relevant to the topic of study. These various ideas were subsequently employed to elaborate on religious panic as a phenomenon. The study aims to explain that religious panic is a term included in media’s social-political-cultural category, and not in the category of religion. This means that panic emerges or is triggered not by religious texts but by media texts instead. Panic is not triggered by religious actors (figures) but by (social) media actors. In order to avoid or be rid of religious panic, this article offers the idea of perspective taking. In the Indonesian context, perspective taking is very appealing to be used to manage religious differences without being offensive. Accordingly, this article may have implications in developing science/knowledge integration-interconnection when approaching various religious phenomena.