Proselytizing and the Limits of Religious Pluralism in Contemporary Asia

By Juliana Finucane and R. Michael Feener

This volume brings together a range of critical studies that explore diverse ways in which processes of globalization pose new challenges and offer new opportunities for religious groups to propagate their beliefs in contemporary Asian contexts. Proselytizing tests the limits of religious pluralism, as it is a practice that exists on the border of tolerance and intolerance. The practice of proselytizing presupposes not only that people are freely-choosing agents and that religion itself is an issue of individual preference. At the same time, however, it also raises fraught questions about belonging to particular communities and heightens the moral stakes in involved in such choices. In many contemporary Asian societies, questions about the limits of acceptable proselytic behavior have taken on added urgency in the current era of globalization. Recognizing this, the studies brought together here serve to develop our understandings of current developments as it critically explores the complex ways in which contemporary contexts of religious pluralism in Asia both enable, and are threatened by, projects of proselytization.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Springer
• Release date: Oct 21, 2013
• ISBN: 9789814451185

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© Springer Science+Business Media Singapore 2014

Juliana Finucane and R. Michael Feener (eds.)Proselytizing and the Limits of Religious Pluralism in Contemporary AsiaARI - Springer Asia Series410.1007/978-981-4451-18-5_2

2. Proselytization, Religious Diversity and the State in Indonesia: The Offense of Deceiving a Child to Change Religion

Melissa Crouch¹  

(1)

Law Faculty, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore

Melissa Crouch

Email: [e-mail]

Since independence in 1945, the Indonesian government has attempted to regulate and control religious diversity. In 1946, a Ministry of Religion was established, and by 1965, a Presidential Decision¹ was passed that is widely understood to have officially sanctioned six religions: Islam, Protestantism, Catholicism, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Confucianism, although a diverse range of religions and beliefs outside these are permitted to exist.² Of these six religions, it is Islam, Protestantism, and Catholicism that are recognized in Indonesia as missionary religions that aim to proselytize.³ The Ministry of Religion has the role of overseeing and regulating the religious affairs of these religions, including issuing guidelines or limits on proselytization. This chapter will argue, however, that in reality the regulations that have been created favor the religious majority. These regulations largely target and disadvantage Christians as members of the only other recognized religion in Indonesia, aside from Islam, that is considered to be a missionary or proselytizing religion.

One of the most recent attempts to regulate inter-religious harmony, including measures aimed at limiting religious missionary efforts, is the proposal for a Draft Law on Inter-religious Harmony. This was circulated by the Ministry as early as 1982, then again in 1989, 1997,⁴ 2003 and 2011. While it has never received sufficient support in the legislature to be passed as law, it remains on the legislative agenda for 2010–2014.

This chapter will explore the limits of acceptable proselytization and the implications for religious diversity through a legal case study of three Christian teachers accused of deceiving Muslim children to change their religion in Indonesia, which I will refer to as the Proselytization Case. I use the term proselytization to refer to all efforts, real or perceived, to convert a person to a religion. The assumption of what counts as proselytization in Indonesia is vigorously contested by Muslims and Christians. My approach in this chapter therefore differs in comparison with other chapters because I proceed on the assumption that proselytization necessarily aims to convert, as is the widely held assumption in Indonesia. The focus of this chapter is on the indigenous church in Indonesia, rather than foreign missionary efforts (see Chap.​ 11 by Neena Mahadev). My concern is not simply with the fact of diversity within a religion (such as styles of worship), although I will briefly review the diversity within Christianity to demonstrate that it is more often Evangelical and Pentecostal churches that are accused of Christianization.

In terms of religious pluralism, pluralism as a concept has been emphatically rejected by Islamic leaders from the Indonesian Ulama Council (MUI), which issued a fatwa (Islamic legal opinion) against pluralism, liberalism and secularism in 2005 (see Chap.​ 1 by Michael Feener). In the explanation of the fatwa, MUI appeared to equate pluralism with relativism, that is, the idea that all religions are the same or equal. It denounces this concept as wrong and condemns groups it suggests are proponents of such ideas, singling out the Liberal Islamic Network (Jaringan Islam Liberal, JIL) (Majelis Ulama Indonesia 2005). Given the negative connotations the term pluralism now has in some circles in Indonesia, I will use the term religious diversity in this chapter. I suggest, however, that the government promotes a narrow view of religious diversity—one that only explicitly recognizes six religions, that excludes or marginalizes local beliefs, and that actively denounces deviations from these religions, as illustrated in the Lia Eden (Aminuddin) case (explored in detail in Chap.​ 1 by Michael Feener).

The Proselytization Case raises three key issues. First, how have the limits of proselytization and religious diversity in Indonesia been debated by religious communities and defined by the state? Answering this question requires an examination of the efforts of the state to contain tensions over the propagation of religion through legal regulations, particularly between Muslims and Christians. Second, in what way do the religious education provisions of the Education Law reflect both the concerns of some Muslims over Christian missionary activities and government concerns to contain religious diversity and maintain the Islamic vote? Here I will look at the issue of religious education in schools and its relation to fears of Christian proselytization. Third, how is the provision on protecting children from being deceived to change their religion in the Child Protection Law being interpreted and enforced in practice? In addressing these questions, I will focus on the extent to which the state and the courts are responding to conservative Muslim demands for greater regulation of proselytization activities, potentially narrowing the limits of religious diversity and tolerance. I will examine whether limitations on proselytization between world religions (primarily Islam and Christianity) in Indonesia—the largest Muslim-majority democratic country in the world—have led to the promotion of diversity while still ensuring protection for religious