Religious conflicts, especially in Muslims-Christians relations, have a long history both globally and locally. Though it is not caused by single reason, religion often becomes a significant factor of cause. To solve the problem of religious conflicts and intoleration, it is needed some efforts in every segment of society: religious leaders, government/ political leaders, scholars/ academician, and also grass roots. Among the grass roots, the history shows that students/ student movements had played significant role in some significant change of the nation. However, little is known about the academic study on the role of students and student movements in religious peacemaking. This research used a qualitative method with a case study of Young Interfaith Peacemaker Community (YIPC) Indonesia. The data were collected from the documents, participant observations and interview of 30 YIPC facilitators. This dissertation answers how and why YIPC as an interfaith-based student community has been strategic and effective for peacebuilding among Christian and Muslim youth. Two main theoretical frameworks were used to analyze: seven-moment of interfaith dialogue by Johanes Banawiratma and relation among religions by Miroslav Volf and also supported by other relevant theories. From the data analysis it is found out three main factors impacted the respondents to be social exclusivists: the family/ parents, homogenous environment, and group ideology and identity. Three components in building peaceful Christian-Muslim relation that used by YIPC in its Peace Camp countering those three factors and transforming the participants to be social pluralists are peace values, interfaith dialogue, and reconciliation. It is in the community setting like YIPC that all those activities and efforts are more likely to take place. In conclusion, this study shows that youth or students are effective in religious peacebuilding and able to get involved and to run many types of interfaith dialogue.
Key Words: interfaith dialogue, peacebuilding, student movement