Religious leader (Islam & Christianity) understanding of inter-faith dialogue basic concept in Malaysia and its effect to social relations

Abstract

The objectives of this study are (1) to measure level of understanding of religious leaders (Islam and Christianity) on the basic concept of interfaith dialogue, (2) to analyze the factors of the developed understanding and (3) to analyze its effects on their social relation. This study uses purposive sampling method in determining the appropriate number of respondents and total respondents for Islam dan Christianity are 36 to 37. The authors use questionnaire in collecting data with Likert Scale (1-5) in measuring the level of understanding and its effect, which is developed as Skala Tahap Kefahaman Dialog (STKD) and Skala Kesan Hubungan Sosial (SKHS). The authors also use Fixed Comparison Method and Matrix Analysis in analyzing the collected data, whereby the results were descriptive in nature. Major conclusion that could be drawn from the study is that the level of understanding between Islam and Christian Religious Leader on the basic concept of interfaith dialogue are equal as both are in the category "Faham (F)" the fourth level of Skala Tahap Kefahaman Dialog (STKD). The main factors which contributed to those understanding are (a) Factor 1 (F1): level of education/formal education on religion, (b) Factor 2 (F2): past experience in interfaith dialogue activities and (c) Factor 3 (F3): level of respondent religiousity. Eventhough the level of understanding is equal for both groups of respondent, Christian Religious Leader has higher scale "Tinggi (T)" on the effects of those understanding to social relation in comparison to Muslim Religious Leader is in the mid level of "Sederhana (SD)" based on Skala Kesan Hubungan Sosial (SKHS). Using Matrix Analysis, the result shows that there is correlation between the understanding on interfaith dialogue basic concepts with the respondents' social relation but was contributed by different factors for every group of respondents. Thus this study found that Factor 4 (F4): Factor of Current Policy (Organization) has a heavy weightage which formed an overall average impact to Muslim Religious Leader social relation only in the scale of "Sederhana (SD)". On the other hand, Christian Religious Leader scored "Tinggi(T)" for their social relation which is contributed by Factor 1 (F1): level of education / formal education on religion and Factor 4 (F4): Factor on Current Policy (Organization).