Strengthening Religious Moderation Through an Asset-Based Educational Program for Islamic Boarding School Students

Abstract

This community-based engagement study aims to strengthen the understanding and practices of religious moderation as a form of social capital supporting sustainable national development. Religious moderation is conceptualized not merely as a normative ideal, but as lived religious attitudes and practices that must be continuously internalized, particularly among Islamic boarding school students (santri) as future religious leaders. Baitul Mustaqim Islamic Boarding School was selected due to its strategic role in shaping students’ religious perspectives and social engagement. The program seeks to enhance both conceptual understanding and practical implementation of religious moderation, enabling santri to promote inclusive, tolerant, and balanced religious values within plural social contexts. An Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD) approach was employed, emphasizing the identification and mobilization of existing assets, capacities, and strengths within the pesantren community. This participatory approach positions santri as active agents of change rather than passive recipients. Educational activities included Building Learning Commitment (BLC), an overview of religious life in Indonesia, the conceptual framework and indicators of religious moderation, and leadership and pioneering roles of santri. Program effectiveness was assessed using pre-test and post-test instruments. The results show a significant improvement in students’ understanding of religious moderation, increasing from 85.5% in the pre-test to 100% in the post-test. Students’ perception of moderation as a balanced religious attitude also increased from 60.0% to 89.3%. These findings demonstrate that an ABCD-based educational program effectively strengthens religious moderation in pesantren settings and offers a participatory model that can be replicated in similar community engagement initiatives.