Source: Statistics Indonesia (Badan Pusat Statistik), Population Census 2010 In recent years it has happened that Indonesians who published atheist worldviews on social networks were threatened by their local community and arrested by the police on charges of blasphemy charges that can lead to imprisonment.Ĭomposition of Indonesia's Six Official Religions Every Indonesian is required to embrace one of these religions as it is mandatory personal data that is mentioned in official documents such as passports and other identification cards.Ītheism is not an option and constitutes a socially unacceptable ideology in Indonesia (however there is no law that bans atheism). One peculiarity of the Indonesian government's stance on (freedom of) religion is that it recognizes six official religions only (namely Islam, Protestantism, Catholicism, Hinduism, Buddhism and Confucianism). Moreover, certain hardcore Muslim groups have been able to influence political and judicial decision making through (the threat of) violence. At first sight these two conditions seem to be somewhat contradictory but Soekarno, Indonesia's first president, resolved this issue by hypothesizing that every religion (including 'soft polytheistic' Hinduism) essentially has one highest Supreme Being to which one subjects oneself.Īlthough Indonesia is not an Islamic state, Islamic principles do influence political decision making.
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