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Serving
Students at
Santa Ana
College and
Santiago
Canyon College
INDONESIA
Religion
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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.
Links
to More Information
World Religions
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