Indonesia is the second largest global source of marine plastic after China. Plastic waste, together with toxic smoke from extensive unregulated rubbish burning in homes and businesses, are grave public health threats in Indonesia. This paper presents a case study in Ubud, Bali of a community-based recycling and waste sorting project - Rumah Kompos –which demonstrates the potential of religious wisdom and belief to contribute to help solve Indonesia’s waste problem. The cultural role of religions in the case study is part of a larger Indonesian, and world religions, phenomenon in which churches, mosques and temples, and faith-based schools (and in Indonesia Islamic boarding schools or pesantren) have made efforts to sponsor pro-environmental behaviours at local community level. The paper also recalls the relevance of anthropological studies of religion, especially Mary Douglas’ classic study Purity and Danger, in understanding the connected genealogies of waste and religion. Douglas theorises that identification and regulation of hazardous and ‘polluting’ practices, concerning bodily fluids, food, clothing, housing, habitable land, potable water and sexual relationships was central to the social role of traditional religions. The disturbance to this long-established function of religion occasioned by the speed and scale of adoption of modern technological innovations, and of a modern ‘consumer lifestyle’, points to an under-studied dialectic between religion and waste which, in a nation as religiously active as Indonesia, ought to be included in both the conceptualisation of, and policy-making concerning, plastic and waste management.

This article deploys the accommodative nature of African Indigenous Religion (AIR) as a reflective tool in Ghana’s religious pluralistic context. This paper argues that the accommodative nature of AIR which has made scholars argue for its singularity can serve as a tool which would promote religious tolerance and peaceful coexistence in Ghana. The findings of the research demonstrated that though there is a level of religious tolerance and peaceful coexistence among various religious groups in Ghana, there is still more room for improvement, thus the proposal of this model as a response.

Due to the increased tourism development in Bali, there have been significant changes in Balinese views in the practices of their ritual and religious lives. Previously populated almost exclusively by Hindu Balinese, Bali has evolved to be a multicultural society resulting from the increased migration of people, ethnicities and ideas. In the past, any ritual and religious activities in accordance with the humanistic religious management had been carried out in the traditional kingdoms. However, the downfall of those traditional kingdoms has affected the emergence of significant issues in relation to who will be in charge in the ritual and religious activities that demand much financial outlay. This has brought about important issues in relation to the decrease in the Balinese who adhere to Hinduism, since most of them have no time to arrange these kinds of activities as most work in the tourist sector that demands effectiveness and efficiency. There are many questions to be discussed in this paper, namely, Firstly: What is the role of the state and society in the management of the ritual and religious activities in Bali? Secondly: What kinds of alternative solutions can solve the problems? And, Thirdly: How can these issues faced by the Balinese, be managed, since the Balinese do not only consist of followers of the Hindu religion but also other religions such as Islam, Christianity (Protestant and Catholic), Buddhism and Confucianism as well as the local beliefs that have been recognized by the state in the Reform period since 1998? Through answering these questions, it is expected to have a better understanding of the role of the state and society in the context of indigenous practices in Ritual and Religious Activities of Bali Hinduism in Indonesia.

The influence and spread of traditional Balinese music over time and across regions has been conducted through a number of different channels. In addition to locally-focused efforts, cultural transfer has also contributed to the preservation of traditional Balinese arts. From the self-interested, strategic support of gamelan music by Japanese occupational forces to the global experimental music scene today, Balinese arts have been shared, supported, translated, and appropriated in various ways by a number of different actors to political, artistic, and commercial ends. Building on Michel Espagne’s definition of cultural transfer and Stephen Greenblatt’s concept of cultural mobility, this paper aims to outline different modes of cultural transfer (or “bridges,” as Espagne would say), with explicit attention to power dynamics and multi-way flows of influence. Several key historical and contemporary examples of the transfer of traditional Balinese music will be discussed in an effort to better understand the relationship between cultural transfer and preservation.

This paper elaborates the meaning of eco-tolerance in the context of ecological community between human and environment. Tolerance is often discussed as theological conception related to the relationship between religion (religious virtue) or socio-political conception related to the relationship between community or identity (political virtue). But how to build a tolerant relationship between human and their environment? What kind of wisdom that we need? I discuss about tolerance as an ecological wisdom or, “ecological virtue”, and a need for human to become a moral subject who has an ecological insight. I will elaborate ethical arguments from the perspective of virtue ethics, one of important disciplines in normative ethics, and environmental ethics, the most important branch in applied ethics, which describe that humans really need to have a mindset of ecocentric oriented, be wise and respectful toward the nature and the environment, build a mutual respect relationship, tolerance is not only a main value in political community, but also a main value in ecological community in a mutual respect ecosystem atmosphere and the existence of mutual recognition between human and nature.

Religious views of a community group are very influential in determining their attitudes and behavior towards nature and the environment. On the one hand, there is a worldview correlation that affects attitudes that are less friendly to nature as well as human superiority among other creatures that makes it feel entitled to exploit nature. On the other hand, religious views are also a motivation for caring for and loving nature, as is the will of Buddhists to create happiness for all living things. Reflections on choosing a moderate way of life prevent greed that can cause damage to nature so that sustainable development can be realized. The media, especially digital media, represents the implementation of Buddhist environmental ethics in a variety of writing frames. This study aims to look at Fangshen (??) ritual in critical discourse on environmental ethics perspective as represented in Indonesian Buddhist media such as Buddhazine, Kompasiana, Tionghoa.info, and etcetera. This research shows that the discourse on environmental ethics in Buddhist media is at the point of intersection between natural disasters as a result of karma (kamma), paramita funds to change karma, responsibility for protecting nature, and compassion for all beings.

Global citizens of the world are entering a new era, the era of disruption. Terminologically, disruption means the era of chaos or the era of the disturbance. In the Indonesian dictionary, disruption is interpreted as being uprooted from the root. In the era of disruption, nothing is certain and established. The rapid development of information technology has a big influence on this era. This causes the level of local and global competition and competition among individuals or even countries becomes a necessity. Recently the situation of the Americans and Iran has heated up. Indonesia and China also. In a competition, superior-inferior relations become necessary. In such situations, the preservation of nature becomes the most easily ignored, or even sacrificed. For a moment, in competition between individuals or between countries to prove their superiority, nature became the most powerless and inferior. If the balance of nature is disturbed, the most disadvantaged are humans as well as animals. Forest and land fires in Australia are conclusive evidence. When nature is disturbed, humans and animals are the first victims to feel the loss. This issue is the background of the writing of this research. This research seeks to elaborate on the Christian eco-theology notion and to dialogue it with the Hindu cosmology notion. The method used is qualitative research with a comparative study approach. This research is expected to contribute ideas and also enriching the Christian eco-theological dialogue with Hindu cosmology in the era of disruption, in particular concerning the environment.

Religious diversity contributes to nation building positively. However, it can also be a potential source of conflict. The multi-religious communities in Indonesia face many conflicts that triggered by religion. This problem demands a strategic anticipation, especially in juridical view. Juridical anticipation means the state frames legal policies that regulate the relations between religious communities in Indonesia in order to achieve a harmonious life. The political law of interreligious harmony established by the government in Indonesia will unable to implement properly if indirectly intervene by the community. The public must keep discussing and seeking to maintain inclusive relations between religious communities to achieve religious harmony in Indonesia which is based on tolerance and cooperation in the life of society, nation and state.

Abhijñana Sakuntalam, as Sanskrit play by the renowned poet Kalidasa offers the utmost importance to nature and the environment. It is the responsibility of all and everyone, irrespective of their social strata; king, sages, their sons and daughter and their disciples’ given equal responsibility and accountability to care for the environment. The king is advised not to kill the animals roaming inside a guarded territory of the Asrama (cottage) of the sages. Sakuntala was advised by her father Ka?va to look after the plants and animals. The reciprocal nature of mutual dependence between Human and Environment vividly delved in Abhijñana Sakuntalam. The King’s major responsibility includes preserving environment, one such example; the text eludes King Du?yanta, taming a mad elephant, destroying the plants, while the king introduces himself to the Sakuntala the very first time, another example is, the opening statement in Abhijñana Sakuntalam reflects the concern of environment protection, the very importance of the people who care and nurture environment and have describes as: Yas???i?sra??uradya vahatividhihuta? yahavirya ca hotri, Ye Dvekala? vidhatta? srutivi?aya gu?a ya sthita vyapyavisvam, Yam ahu? sarvabija-prak?tiriti yaya pra?ina? pra?avanta?, Pratyak?abhi? prapannastanubhiravatuvastabhira??abhirisa? [A.S 1.1]. Eight forms has Shiva, Lord of all and king: And these are water, first created thing; And fire, which speeds the sacrifice begun; those who care for nature; and time’s dividers, moon and sun; The all-embracing ether, path of sound; The earth, wherein all seeds of life are found; And air, the breath of life: may he draws near, Revealed in these, and bless those gathered here (Ryder,1999). The eight elements described in Abhijñana Sakuntalam viz; the five gross elements along with time and space, and the people in general who care for nature are considered to be the constituents of god or Shiva. The environment and nature treated here as one entity represented here as, Lord Shiva, one of the trinities of Hindu god, shows the reflection of faith in relation to the care for the environment