The Contribution of Non-Formal Religious Education to Enlightening the Society on Religious Abuse: An Analysis on Friday Khutbahs

Abstract

Throughout history of humans, religion has been the most powerful authority that functions as legitimate in the eyes of society. This brought about the abuse of religion by some people in order to gain various benefits. In case of having poor religious education knowledge, the likelihood of the religion being abused increases. In this study, it will be examined how the Presidency of Religious Affairs, which has the duty of "enlightening the society on religion", handles the issue of religious abuse in its non-formal religious services and its contribution to enlightening the society on topic. The sample of the study is Friday khutbahs between 2013 and 2020. In the study, in which qualitative research method was adopted, document analysis method was preferred and the data were analysed by content analysis. In the study, it was determined that 25 of 378 khutbahs in the eight-year period dealt with the issue of religious abuse, and these sermons were concentrated in years 2016 and 2017 and on the category of "Things to Do Against Religious Abuse". At the end of the study, it was concluded that Friday khutbahs contributed to enlighten the public on religious abuse, but there are aspects that needed to be improved in terms of achieving success and stability in the struggle against this issue.