Indonesia’s Religions and Their Contested Narratives

This presentation examines the contested place of religion in political and local narratives in Indonesia. At times, state and regional policies appear to legalize discrimination towards some religious communities. These policies, however, are often at odds with local traditions and more modern efforts aimed maintaining religious pluralism. Based on fieldwork in Java, Sulawesi and Maluku, this presentation argues that local efforts aimed at promoting religious pluralism, both on the ground and online, function as a reservoir of inter-faith understanding that supports national government efforts to maintain peace between religious communities.

Izak Y. M. Lattu is an Assistant Professor of Sociology of Religion and the Director of the Center for the Study of Religion, Pluralism, and Democracy at  Satya Wacana Christian University in Salatiga, Indonesia, and a visiting professor at  The Center for Religious and Cross-cultural Studies at Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta. Izak’s forthcoming book, Collective Memory and Intereligious Engagements, will be published by Penn State Press.