Falling in Love and Changing Gods

Religious conversion is often regarded as a matter between God and the individual concerned, with little direct link to the state management of religion. This article argues that in Indonesia, the state has managed religion by making religious practices less focused on spirituality and more a matter of state administration. A special interest is given to the 1974 Marriage Law, the greatest motivation for religious conversion to Christianity from Islam in contemporary Indonesia, in order to explore how the state embarked on a secular legal intervention into the private religious life of the nation. Keywords: religious conversioninter-religious marriagemarriage lawJava Christian ChurchIndonesia Notes *The author highly appreciates the constructive comments and suggestions from IMW's anonymous reviewers. This study was supported by Hankuk University of Foreign Studies Research Fund of 2013. 1In Indonesia, the term Christianity (agama Kristen) designates Protestantism only. Catholicism (Agama Katolik) is classified as a different religion by law. I use the term Christianity, a Christian Church, and a Christian, generically to refer to Protestantism, a Protestant Church and a Protestant unless otherwise noted. 2According to the 2000 census, Christians (Protestants and Catholics) form 8.7 % of the total population and number about 20 million people. 3Ten months of fieldwork were undertaken in Java from September 2007 to June 2008. 4PGI, founded in Jakarta in 1950, is the largest organisation of Christian churches in Indonesia. Most historic churches, which were normally dominant churches in each province, became founding members of PGI. The number of its member denominations grew from 27 in 1950 to 88 by 2011. 5The average divorce rate of Indonesia at 55% in the 1950s was one of the highest in the world (Vrede-de Stuers Citation1960: 129). 6Of my 62 interviewees, 32 were converts with a Muslim background, 18 were Christian pastors and 12 were the staff members of the church. 7Majelis Ulama Indonesia (MUI) was established in July 1975 under the auspices of the Ministry of Religious Affairs. It was a corporatist mechanism to draft in renowned Muslim scholars to both oversee the public expression of Islam and lend legitimacy to state policies regarding religion (Hooker Citation2003: 60). 8The term Outer Islands is used here to refer to all islands of the Indonesian archipelago other than Java and Madura, which are called the Inner Islands. 9Pseudonyms have been used for personal names throughout. 10Muhammadiyah (Way of Muhammad), founded in 1912 in Yogyakarta with an aim to reforming the traditions of the Islamic mystical orders, is the second biggest Islamic organisation in Indonesia after the NU. 11In Java where religion has become more than an issue of religiosity, studies on contextualisation can provide a powerful rationale for combining theology with the religio-political reality of the region. See Singgih Citation(2007). 12The PGI survey estimated that about 825,000 new converts joined its then 36 denominations between 1965 and 1967, and the highest number of conversions took place in Java (Ukur and Cooley Citation1979). 13In 2010 her congregation numbered 1,189 including children.