The Relevance of Islamic Religious Education for Indonesia's Generation Z: The Role of Digital Religious Literacy and Meaningful Engagement

Abstract

Digital connectivity, changes in knowledge authority, and increasingly personalized learning needs demanded Islamic Religious Education (PAI) to be designed as an academic experience that intersects directly with the ecology of Indonesia's Generation Z experience. This study examined the relationship among PAI's digital-contextual design, pedagogical autonomy support, dialogical-moderate climate, digital religious literacy, and meaningful learning engagement, while exploring how students interpreted PAI learning that they considered relevant. The research design used an explanatory sequential mixed-method design with a survey of 428 high school students and qualitative elaboration through semi-structured interviews, focus group discussions (FGDs), and classroom observations. Quantitative data were analyzed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM), while qualitative data were analyzed through reflexive thematic coding. Quantitative findings showed that digital religious literacy was the strongest predictor of meaningful learning engagement (β = 0.41; t = 8.23; p < 0.001). The model explained 56% of the variance of digital religious literacy and 64% of the variance of meaningful learning engagement, with a Standardized Root Mean Square Residual (SRMR) value of 0.061. Qualitative findings showed that students rated PAI as relevant when religious material was associated with digital content dilemmas, safe spaces for questioning, teacher curation of resources, and daily ethical practices. This article presents a PAI renewal model that combines religious pedagogy, digital design, and student voices as the basis for strengthening digital religious literacy in Indonesian schools.