The Intention of Becoming Religiously Moderate in Indonesian Muslims: Do Knowledge and Attitude Interfere?

Abstract

As religious moderation is becoming one of the alternative solutions to prevent religious extremism behavior in Indonesian Muslims, research regarding becoming religiously moderate is essential. This research aimed to (1) construct Islamic Religious Moderation Intentions instruments. Intentions are usually shaped by knowledge and attitudes. For this reason, we also (2) constructed the instrument of Islamic Religious Moderation Knowledge and Islamic Religious Moderation Attitudes. Finally, we tried to (3) discover the intention of becoming religiously moderate in Indonesian Muslims by testing the knowledge and attitudes of religiously moderate. The participants consisted of 305 Indonesian Muslims from any religious organizational affiliation. First, we constructed the instruments from the theoretical definition of knowledge, attitudes, and intentions. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to validate the instruments. Moreover, the hypothesis was tested with multiple regression analysis. This research found three valid instruments regarding Islamic religious moderation: (1) Islamic Religious Moderation Knowledge, (2) Islamic Religious Moderation Attitudes, and (3) Islamic Religious Moderation Intentions. The hypothesis test results show a significant influence of knowledge and attitudes in forming religious moderation intentions in Indonesian Muslims. Therefore, to have any intentions of becoming a moderate Muslim, one should know “what Islamic moderation is” and have a positive attitude toward Islamic moderation. Further dissemination regarding religious moderation should be put into action to increase the knowledge and attitudes in Indonesian Muslim society.