Centre for Religious and Cross-cultural Studies
Centre for Religious and Cross-cultural Studies
Tags: Knowledge programme
Additional tags: Indonesia
In Indonesia, Hivos cooperates with the Center for Religious & Cross-cultural Studies (CRCS) associated with the Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta. CRCS is the only institution in Indonesia offering a graduate programme on religious studies from a non-religiously affiliated perspective. CRCS aims to promote the development of a democratic, multicultural and just society in Indonesia.
The Center for Religious and Cross-cultural Studies is the single institute in Indonesia that runs an academic programme that focuses on religion and culture in a non-religiously affiliated manner. Established in 2000, CRCS seeks to become a centre of excellence on religious and cross-cultural studies. Primary vision of the centre is to promote the development of a democratic, multicultural and just society in Indonesia. By learning about the religious convictions of people, about how they understand their purpose in life one can come to know the other. At the same time, misunderstanding these matters may lead to serious problems, prejudice and even conflict.
The expertise is centred around three areas of religious studies; Inter-religious issues, Religion & Local Culture, and Religion & Contemporary Issues. For each area, CRCS aims to combine both theory and praxis. CRCS is therefore active in organising forum, public discussions, trainings, but also TV talks and cultural performances, in order to reach out to the people and invite them to think about there position in society. CRCS aims to develop a public consciousness about differences and to find out ways in which religions may involve in contemporary societal problems.