Serving Students at Santa Ana College and Santiago Canyon College INDONESIA Religion

Religion

Constitutional guarantees of religious freedom apply to the five religions recognized by the state, namely Islam, a Muslim majority, (88%), Protestantism (5%), Catholicism (3%), Buddhism (1%), and Hinduism (1%) (1998).  In some remote areas, animism is still practiced. 

The early traders and settlers had brought Hinduism and Buddhism to Indonesia (the Majapahit Empire merged the two into a single state religion).  Islam arrived in the sixteenth century, and eventually became Indonesia's major religions.  As with earlier religions, the Indonesians adapted Islam to suit their needs, especially on the island of Java.  Indonesia is the world's most populous Islamic nation its population of 185 million is more than double Pakistan's 90 million. However, Islam in Indonesia is fragmented into numerous sects, many of which are antagonistic toward other Islamic sects, both inside and outside of Indonesia.

Social and religious duty has, over time, been refined to form a code of behavior called adat or traditional law.  Islam is the predominant religion of the archipelago but it's somewhat tempered by elements of Hindu-Buddhism, adat and animism.  In Java, especially, there are hundreds of places where spiritual energy is thought to be concentrated and can be absorbed by followers.  Despite a lengthy colonial period, missionaries were only successful in converting small pockets of the Indonesian population to Christianity - the Bataks of Sumatra, the Toraks of Sulawesi and 95% of the population of Flores being notable examples.

Sources:
U. S. Department of State
Central Intelligence Agency
World Religions