Strengthening Community Religious Literacy in Understanding Diverse Contemporary Islamic Thought

Abstract

Contemporary Islamic thought is characterized by increasing diversity in interpretations, approaches, and religious discourses influenced by social, cultural, political, and technological developments. This diversity can enrich community understanding of Islam but may also create confusion, polarization, and misconceptions when religious information is received without adequate literacy and critical analysis. This Community Service (PkM) activity, entitled “Strengthening Community Religious Literacy in Understanding Diverse Contemporary Islamic Thought,” aims to strengthen community members' ability to understand, analyze, and respond critically and constructively to diverse contemporary Islamic perspectives. The program employed a participatory approach involving needs assessment, interactive lectures, group discussions, case studies, religious literacy training, mentoring, and evaluation. The training materials covered the diversity of Islamic thought, traditionalist and modernist perspectives, moderate and contextual approaches to Islamic interpretation, contemporary religious issues, digital religious discourse, and strategies for responding to differences in religious understanding. The results indicated that participants developed a better understanding of the diversity of contemporary Islamic thought and demonstrated increased awareness of the importance of distinguishing between legitimate differences of interpretation and religious misinformation. The activity also strengthened participants' critical, dialogical, and tolerant attitudes in responding to differences in Islamic thought. Therefore, strengthening community religious literacy can serve as an effective strategy for developing a moderate, inclusive, and contextually relevant understanding of Islam while reducing the potential for misunderstanding and polarization in contemporary society.