(all of you are encouraged to read it again)
This is what I have been waiting to read since the beginning of our discussion about Islam and Democracy. Thus, I am looking forward to seeing "Freedom of Faith" put to use in Nusantara.
But, who can guarantee that "Freedom of Faith" is set forth?
Do we need a non-religious authority to ensure its existence?
Let's develop a more in-dept study of this so that we may present this
to Indonesian public.
Remember: we must convey this great idea with honesty and openness.
Peace.
INDI
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Excerpts from Notes by Robin Wright on Lectures and Interviews Given by Abdul Karim Soroush, April-May 1995
Freedom of Faith: In a democracy what you really want is freedom of faith. The other thing is this: justice is important. That is not the consequence of the rules of shari'a. The third thing is this: there is no authority on matters of religious. So you have to build a society in such a way as to accommodate these principles.
Text and Context: How do we reconcile the immutable principles of religion with the changing conditions of the world? The solution will be like this: we have to find something that is at the same time both changeable and immutable. And what is that? It is the revealed text itself. It is immutable and changeable at the same time. It has been revealed to the heart of the Prophet, and so it should be kept intact and nobody is permitted to temper with it. At the same time, there is the interpretation of the text. That is changeable. No interpretation is without presuppositions. These presuppositions are changeable since the whole knowledge of mankind is in flux. It is age-bound, if you like.
Now, the knowledge of the age is always in flux. At the end of history - and I am not sure we are at the end of history, as some American philosophers suggest- we can know which knowledge is immutable and which not. But not now.
This is how I express the situation: the text is silent. We have to hear its voice. In order to hear, we need presuppositions. In order to have presuppositions, we need the knowledge of the age. In order to have the knowledge of the age, we have to surrender to change. So we have here the miraculous entity that is changing but at the same time is immutable.
Religion and Reason: he ancient world was based on a single source of information: religion. The modern world has more than one source: reason, experience, science, logic. Modernism was a successful attempt to free mankind from the dictatorship of religion.
Postmodernism is a revolt against modernism- and against the dictatorship of reason. In the age of postmodernism, reason is humbler and religion has become more acceptable. To me the reconciliation between the two has become potentially more visible.
