Religious Moderation in Indonesian Mosques: A Study of Two Mosques in the Bekasi City

This paper discusses the conception of religious moderation by mosque organizers (a.k.a. DKM or Takmir Masjids), covering perspectives, attitudes and practices of religious moderation. The mosques under study are the Great Mosque of al-Barkah and the Nurul Islam Mosque in Bekasi City, West Java, Indonesia. Al- Barkah is a mosque representing the state because its management and funding comes from the state budget. The mosque's operational activities are under the control of the Bekasi City government. Meanwhile, Nurul Islam is a mosque managed by the community, under the KH Noer Alie Islamic Center Foundation, whose management and funding are independently under the foundation's control. The research was conducted during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, considered as a context to test the resilience of the mosque in maintaining the values of religious moderation in difficult situations. This study finds that the concept of religious moderation in the two mosques is different with the determinant variable is the subject, in which Al-Barkah as a mosque representing the state translates religious moderation in so far as all educational programs held are in line with government programs. The assumption is that the government is certain to have moderate perspectives, attitudes and practices in religion. Thus, differences in conceptions from the government are considered non-moderate.