Moderation-Based Education: Efforts to Empower Students in Counteracting Radicalism (A Study at The Tarbiyah Faculty,Parepare State Islamic Institute)

Abstract

This study examines the use of moderation-based education to empower students, which is important in the face of radicalism in a multicultural and pluralistic society. Radicalism can change the spirit of kinship and togetherness into dangerous conflicts that threaten social cohesion. This ideology continues to spread into religious institutions, such as universities. According to studies, radicalism experiences transmission into the religious ideology of students through online media, hence many are exposed to extreme-exclusive perspectives. Therefore, this descriptive-qualitative study focuses on the use of religious moderation education, to optimize students' ability as well as their relationship using counteract radicalism. Data were collected through observations and in-depth interviews with of the sample size of students determined using the snowball sampling technique. The collected data were analyzed using using the domain analysis technique. The results showed that moderation is a required religious model needed to answer the spread of radicalism among students. Therefore, it is necessary to empower students by optimizing their capacities hence they have the ability to counteract radicalism.