Religious pluralism in the thoughts of religious leaders in Malang, Indonesia

Social and political considerations alone are inadequate to be the basis for pluralist attitudes so as to build relationships between religious communities because conflicts between religious communities still occur. This pluralist attitude needs a theological foundation to be made reliable. The purpose of this study is to explore the thoughts of religious leaders in Malang on the scriptural basis of religious pluralism, the methods of thinking used and the forms of activities applied. The analysis method uses the interview as the source of primary data. Document analysis was also carried out. Twelve religious leaders were the subjects, representing six religions in Malang: Islam, Catholicism, Protestantism, Hinduism, Buddhism and Confucianism. The results of the study showed that the thoughts of religious leaders were divided into two: pluralist and inclusive. There are four models of their thinking methods: privatisation, filtering, hermeneutics and proportionality. The thought of religious pluralism were applied in two forms: doctrine and social activities. The findings of this study are twofold: first, correcting Webber's theory of the relationship of beliefs and deeds; second, a new method called "Patterns of Pluralism Interpretation". Based on this, the research suggests that pluralist verses continue to be socialised and more interfaith social activities have been carried out