Radot,
My name is Hildegard, a teenager from United States of America. I am not Hildegard from Bingen who lived on the 12th century. Currently I am a student on a Senior High School.
A friend of mine, Polin from Indonesia, just told a story about your blog. He told me that he enjoyed reading your blog, of which its content is mostly about religion and society. I have seen your blog title Radot & Polin, but I could not understand because your writings were written in Indonesia. I also had a chance to read some writings on your other blog. I read the tag on the blog title, His Thoughts on Religion and Society. ;there must be something behind it. Would you share what is the reason for choosing this phrase on your blog?
If you don’t mind, would you translate your writings from bahasa into English so that teenager like me around the world could read them? It will be beneficial for a teenager like me or any one to read writings in religion and society from some one who has a passion in this subject and present it in his own style.
I would be waiting for your letter.
Warm Regards,
Hildegard
Dear Hildegard,
It is encouraging to read letter from a teenager like you. It is a rare occasion. At this IT environment, people may prefer e-mail to personal letter.
I also glad that you are interested in the subject of religion and society. Many teenagers do not pay much attention to it. Other people or older ones also may not have interest in this subject as you do. For them, this subject is not an easy one to talk about, especially when they hear terms like God, heaven, sin, and other terms on the field of religion. People in general avoid such terms in their daily talks. Talks are dominated by secular subjects, with no strong connection to religion.
But, it will be good news if more teenagers or young people like you paying attention to religion and society. It will be a blessing to one’s family, society and state and if more teenagers have interest in religion and society, it could lead to a better society and state. Because if they really search for the true religion and they search it with their heart, they will find a ‘true knowledge’ that will lead them to greater understanding about the purpose of life.
The phrase- Religion and Society- was inspired when I herd the plan to establish a Reformed Center for Religion and Society in Jakarta, Indonesia years ago. There are many institutions in Jakarta that may have a vision to improve the state and society in general, but the institution that bear phrase Religion and Society capture my mind. I think it is the proper order of subject if we want to discuss about religion and society in general. Our thought and actions are the reflection of our belief. It does not matter whether one choose to be a follower of Christianity, Islam, Confucian, Hinduism, Buddhism or follower of other beliefs- all his thoughts and actions will be regulated by his belief depending how consistent one follows his belief. So, I choose that phrase on my blog just to remind any reader and me that religion has a central role in society; it is a driving force of any society.
About your request to translate my writing from bahasa into English- I will translate those that are relevant to your context. My writings in blog named Radot & Polin are written for the Indonesian context which may not be relevant to yours. In the mean time, you may start to get to know each religion and make priority which religion you want to study.
I would suggest that you start making a study on Christian religion. It is a great religion; it is just like other great religions: Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Confucianism. I say it is great because Christian religion has a root to a teaching of Moses that has age of 3500 years old; quite old. It should fascinate us why religion with age of thousand of years still exist and keep influencing the society around the world.
I hope you will share my blogs with your friends, family, community or any people you may know and get benefits from my writings.
Before I finish my letter, let me summarize that a society will be dictated by the belief of her people. The more people believe in a certain religion, the more that religion will influence its society.
Sincerely yours,
Radot
