Religious moderation and character education as a model for countering radicalization in Indonesia

Abstract

This study explains the research on strengthening religious moderation through character education. Specifically, it aims to describe the deradicalization pattern of terrorism among former terrorist inmates (Napiter) at Circle of Peace Foundation (YLP) in Lamongan, Indonesia, by reinforcing religious moderation based on character education. The reinforcement of religious moderation is crucial and strategic, driven by the potential threat of the spread of extremist religious ideologies and actions across various social networks and social media platforms over the past two decades. This situation has had significant emotional, psychological, social, and political impacts; terrorism, aside from killing, aims to create chaos and panic in society without necessarily causing casualties. This study uses a qualitative approach to strengthen the argument on the topic through qualitative descriptive analysis based on field data collection. Data collection techniques include in-depth interviews with YLP administrators and former terrorist inmates. The study finds that the model of terrorism deradicalization through strengthening religious moderation via character education, employing philosophical-ideological and psychological-religious learning patterns, is highly strategic and effective. The effectiveness of this pattern is marked by its ability to change the self-awareness of former Napiter in producing and spreading thoughts, as well as transforming behavior from radical ideology to moderate ideology through educational efforts.