Civil Society and Civil Islam Implementation on Inter-religious Tolerance in Indonesia: A Phenomenological Study

Civil society become a social concept that is able to help Indonesian people for living in harmony in the midst of diversity. Civil society in Indonesia upholds the synergy of democratic freedom and the use of law as a means of control and monitoring in social aspects. Later, the term civil Islam emerged, in which the Islamic leaders in Indonesia seek to incorporate Islamic values and practices into the democratic process. The implementation process has been going on for several decades. However, there are certain symptoms that indicate the degradation of public civilized values. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the process of implementing civil society and civil Islam in Indonesia, viewed from the perspective of religion sociology, which focuses on inter-religious tolerance. The study used a structured literature study and phenomenological approach. The finding shows that the process of implementing civil society has not been carried out optimally, because there is a gap between the views of implementing civil society from the majority and minorities. The gap should be a priority to be bridged to avoid religious intolerance. More understanding and application of Pancasila principles need to be strived earnestly, for the sake of inter-religious tolerance.