Religions in Indonesia: a Historical Sketch

Abstract

Religion plays an important part in modern Indonesia. To understand its contemporary outlook, this chapter offers a historical sketch of the arrival and development of religion. It proposes that the process involves three important stages, namely syncretism, polarisation, and Islamisation. The complex process of the making of religions in Indonesia has distinctive features from their origins. Early in history, religion in Indonesia was a blend of animism and ancestor worship, but with the arrival of new religions there was syncretistic blend between the old and the new beliefs. Later on with the development of religious institution, there was polarisation between the purist and the syncretistic camps. This is true in general, but the divide between putihan (purist) and abangan (syncretistic) was particularly important in the case of Islam. The modern outlook of religion in Indonesia is greatly affected by the process of Islamisation and the shift from abangan majority toward putihan majority.

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