Religious education textbook assessment in Indonesia: a multi-faith approach to religious moderation

Confronting the global surge of religious extremism threatening pluralistic societies, innovative educational approaches are urgently needed. This mixed-methods study (2021 to 2023) investigates Indonesia’s groundbreaking Religious Textbook Assessment Programme (PBPA), where 260 assessors from six faith traditions collaboratively evaluated 519 religious education textbooks to foster moderation and counter radicalisation. Statistical analysis revealed significant improvements, with problematic content decreasing from 42.86% (2022) to 11.1% (2023) and strong inter-rater reliability (κ = 0.84) across faith boundaries. Our findings contribute a novel Multi-faith Textbook Assessment Theory (MTAT), demonstrating how collaborative evaluation generates ‘evaluative ecumenism’ a shared understanding that respects theological distinctiveness while identifying harmful content. The assessment framework balances legal compliance, theological accuracy, educational appropriateness, and social harmony, offering religious education systems worldwide a transformative model for addressing extremism while maintaining authentic faith expression. This research presents crucial implications for religious educators navigating the complex intersection of religious identity, interfaith dialogue, and countering extremism in increasingly diverse educational contexts.