Center for the Study of Religion and Christian-Muslim Relations at Satya Wacana Christian University

The Center for the Study of Religion and Christian–Muslim Relations (CSR~CMR) is a newly established Center of Excellence initiative at Satya Wacana Christian University (SWCU), one of Indonesia’s oldest and most respected Christian universities. Although officially founded in 2025, interaction and engagement between Christians and Muslims at SWCU have been ongoing for decades. CSR~CMR is designed in response to the growing challenges to religious plurality and to inter/intra-religious encounters, most notably Christian–Muslim engagement, in Indonesia and beyond. It also serves as a site for the academic study of religion and interreligious relations, and as a venue for finding productive ways to build harmonious relationships among religious communities.

With over 17,000 students, SWCU is home not only to Christians but also to adherents of other faiths, including Muslims, from various parts of Indonesia and other countries. Although Christians have been the dominant group in the university, it has a substantial Muslim population (more than 30 percent of students at SWCU are Muslim). The university also has multiple research and academic programs in the study of religion at the undergraduate and graduate levels. Even though SWCU was founded on Christian faith, it has a deep respect for other religions and is committed to engaging pluralities by understanding, establishing, and bridging relations with other faiths. CSR~CMR, hence, reflects SWCU’s Christian heritage and recognition of the vitality of religion in societies and world affairs.  

Vision

• CSR~CMR was built on a belief, promise, and commitment to the equality and dignity of all human societies, regardless of their religion, ethnicity, gender, language, nationality, and other identities.

• CSR~CMR was founded on the principle that Christians, Muslims, and adherents of other faiths, in their co-humanity, are called to see, know, understand, engage, esteem, and learn from one another, despite or even because of their variations and differences in religious beliefs, teachings, texts, and practices.

• CSR~CMR is committed to the premise that mutual respect, understanding, and cooperation among religions, particularly between Muslims and Christians, can and should grow and thrive through intensive study and research as well as academically guided dialogue and engagement.

Mission

CSR~CMR’s main mission is twofold: (1) to enhance and advance knowledge and understanding of religion, both world religions and local beliefs, and (2) to foster, deepen, expand, and build relationships, dialogues, engagements, and bridges of mutual understanding, respect, and cooperation between Christians, Muslims, and followers of other faiths, by supporting academic training and scholarship.

Future Objectives

• To be a world-leading institution for research, education, and scholarship on the study of religion and Christian-Muslim relations.

• To achieve better and mutual understanding as well as tolerance and trust-based productive relationships between and among adherents of religions.

• To study three focal issues, as follows: (1) Religion (the study of plurality, complexity, and density of religions and religious believers); (2) Inter/intrareligious encounters (the study of historical and contemporary development of encounters and engagement among distinct religious communities and/or traditions); and (3) Christian-Muslim relations (the study of Christian-Muslim historical and contemporary relations in Indonesia and other parts of the world).

Achievements and Undertakings

Although newly conceived, the Center has been welcomed by multiple stakeholders in the country. With the generous support of the Ministry of Religious Affairs, the Center oversees a fully-funded graduate scholarship in Sociology of Religion (hosted in the Faculty of Theology) that includes interreligious and Christian-Muslim studies. In 2026, CSR~CMR becomes co-chair of the International Symposium for Peace, Integrity, and Responsiveness to Eco-theology (held and sponsored by the Ministry of Religious Affairs’ Center for Religious Harmony). Together with the National Research and Innovation Agency, CSR~CMR also co-leads several research projects on Indonesian local religions and other religious issues. Moreover, the Center, in collaboration with the Faculty of Theology, offers courses on interreligious and Christian-Muslim relations studies for Indonesian and foreign graduate students.