Religious Pluralism in Indonesia

Indonesia is one of the world’s great plural societies. Its population of 238 millionspans thousands of islands and hundreds of ethnic and religious groups, the locallives of which have been shaped by regional and global dynamics. The archipelagowas integrated first by trade routes, mercantilism and colonialism, then through concerted efforts at post-Independence nation-building that employed the region’s lingua franca as a national language, and established a program of shared values (pancasila) to generate ‘unity in diversity’ (bhinneka tunggal ika). In many ways, the project of nationalism was highly successful in creating a shared sense of national identity. But Indonesia also experiences inter-group tensions, with areas and periods of heightened conflict, often involving religion.