The G20 Gets Religion
by Mary Ann Gendon, First Things:
This month in Bali, Indonesia, the G20 Summit held its first annual Religion Forum, the “R20.” On November 2 and 3, over four hundred Hindu, Buddhist, Shinto, Jewish, Christian, and Muslim leaders and scholars gathered to discuss how religion can function as a source of global solutions, rather than problems, in the twenty-first century. The G20’s decision to acknowledge the role of religion in geopolitical deliberations was refreshing, as international policy discussions tend to focus on how the world’s religions cause division rather than on how they can contribute to healthy societies.
The event showcased the host country’s distinctive model of religious pluralism and its impressive, if imperfect, progress toward an ethos of religious freedom and social harmony. In fact, the initiative for the R20 came from Indonesia’s Joko Widodo. As president of the world’s largest Muslim-majority nation and the most successful democracy in the Islamic world, he was eager to make his country’s example better known.
To that end, President Widodo entrusted the organization of the R20 to the Indonesia-based Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), which promotes a pluralistic and tolerant form of Islam. With over 110 million members, NU is the world’s largest Muslim organization. Its general chairman, Yahya Cholil Staquf (known as Pak Yahya), has emphasized the need for religious traditions to clean up their own act if they are to make genuine contributions toward peace and mutual understanding. He often cites the Catholic Church’s self-examination in Vatican II and the council document Nostra Aetate, which formalized an attitude of respect toward non-Christian religions.
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