COMPARING RELIGIOUS EDUCATION IN INDONESIA AND JAPAN

This paper compares the way in which religious education has been performed in Indonesia and Japan in terms of context, theory; history, policy; practice, and impact. Generally speaking, the practice of religious education in the two countries is far different in that Indonesia has strong support to religious education, while Japan has weak support to the practice of religious education. This is due to the fact that not only the characteristics of the societies of the two countries are different, but also the two do embrace different state's ideology. In addition families in the two societies play a crucial role in determining the existence and practice of religious education.