Reconstructing Religious Moderation to Build Social Cohesion in a Multicultural Society
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.64540/hkbt1994Keywords:
Religious Moderation, Wasatiyyah, Social Cohesion, Multicultural Society, Interreligious Dialogue, Inclusive CitizenshipAbstract
Religious moderation has emerged as a significant conceptual and normative framework for responding to social fragmentation within increasingly multicultural societies. However, prevailing formulations of religious moderation tend to emphasize normative prescriptions of interreligious tolerance while insufficiently addressing the structural, relational, and dialogical dimensions underlying the formation and sustainability of social cohesion. This study aims to reconstruct religious moderation as a multidimensional paradigm for strengthening social cohesion in multicultural societies. Employing a qualitative approach through library research and interpretive content analysis, this study critically synthesizes academic literature concerning religious moderation, wasatiyyah, multiculturalism, social cohesion, intergroup relations, and inclusive citizenship. The findings indicate that religious moderation needs to be reconstructed beyond individual religious attitudes and dispositions toward a social-relational framework encompassing epistemic openness, recognition of difference, substantive equality, dialogical engagement, social justice, mutual trust, and collaborative civic participation. This reconstruction positions religious moderation not merely as a preventive instrument against religious extremism but as a transformative mechanism for cultivating reciprocal trust, mutual recognition, collective belonging, and cross-group solidarity. The study proposes a conceptual model in which religious moderation operates through a transformative sequence of values, social competencies, inclusive practices, and social outcomes, ultimately contributing to sustainable social cohesion. The novelty of this study lies in repositioning religious moderation from an individual normative construct toward a relational-transformative paradigm that connects religious values with broader theories of social cohesion and multicultural citizenship. The framework contributes globally to the study of religious moderation by conceptualizing diversity not as an obstacle to cohesion but as a social condition that can be constructively managed through dialogue, justice, recognition, and sustained cooperation.
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