Educational Communication Based on Qur’ānic Religious Pluralism in Increasing Religious Moderation of Muslim Students in Indonesia

Abstract

Religious intolerance is relatively high among students, affecting 30% to 50%. In this context, alternative learning models are offered and tested to counter student prejudice and religious intolerance. Therefore, this research aimed to provide an educational communication model based on Qur’ānic Religious Pluralism as a preventive solution to increasing religious moderation of Muslim students. A qualitative approach was used to draft the model, and in-depth interviews were conducted with students having the highest and lowest religious moderation scores. The quantitative approach used a quasi-experimental method to measure the effectiveness of the model and the analysis of the draft was achieved through Focus Group Discussion (FGD). Furthermore, quantitative data analysis used descriptive statistics as percentages (%). After eight interventions (8x100 minutes), the questionnaire was distributed and the profile of religious moderation was compared before and after the model trials (October and December 2023). Data was analyzed using comparative techniques between post and pre-test, specifically IBM SPSS Statistics 24 with Paired Samples. The results showed that the educational communication model based on Qur’ānic Religious Pluralism effectively prevented religious prejudice while increasing substantive moderation in Muslim students (t = 18.75 significant at alpha .01). Most respondents had negative religious prejudices but cultivated tolerant attitudes after college. In the context of the implication, an educational communication model based on Qur’ānic Religious Pluralism in IRE was highly recommended. However, future research must consider the causes of consistent negative religious prejudice among a few students, even though lectures were attended using a similar learning model.