Atheism, or irreligion in Indonesia, is uncommon among the country's inhabitants, as there is a great stigma attached to being an

atheist Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no ...

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Gui ...

and it is widely condemned by the Indonesian people.

Society

It is difficult to quantify the number of atheists or agnostics in

as they are not officially counted in the census of the country. Indonesian atheists, such as those belonging to the

Indonesian Atheists Indonesian is anything of, from, or related to Indonesia, an archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. It may refer to: * Indonesians, citizens of Indonesia ** Native Indonesians, diverse groups of local inhabitants of the archipelago ** Indonesi ...

organization, predominantly communicate with each other solely via the Internet. According to

Human Rights Watch Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization, headquartered in New York City, that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. The group pressures governments, policy makers, companies, and individual human ...

, tolerance towards atheists among the general Indonesian public is growing, but they are still subject to violence by "largely militant Islamists." The founder of Pancasila and the first President of Indonesia

Sukarno Sukarno). (; born Koesno Sosrodihardjo, ; 6 June 1901 – 21 June 1970) was an Indonesian statesman, orator, revolutionary, and nationalist who was the first president of Indonesia, serving from 1945 to 1967. Sukarno was the leader of ...

, stated that belief in the Almighty as a characteristic of this nation needs to be recognized, even by those who do not believe in God. Accepting the First Precept means not only tolerating religious diversity in Indonesia, but also tolerating them who are irreligious, and also asking for tolerance from those who do not have a religion to those who have a religion.

Discrimination

Atheists Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no d ...

are subject to discrimination in Indonesia, seeing as irreligion violates the first principle of Pancasila (i.e. ''Ketuhanan yang Maha Esa'', The One and Almighty God). Religious tolerance in Indonesia is limited to muted acceptance of other religions apart from Islam. Indonesian atheist activists are pursuing their religious freedom.

Law

Freedom of religion is enshrined in the Indonesian Constitution; however legal protection is only afforded only to six recognised faiths of the country—

Islam Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God (or '' Allah'') as it was revealed to Muhammad, the ...

Protestantism Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...

Catholicism The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

Buddhism Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...

Hinduism Hinduism () is an Indian religion or '' dharma'', a religious and universal order or way of life by which followers abide. As a religion, it is the world's third-largest, with over 1.2–1.35 billion followers, or 15–16% of the global p ...

, and

Confucianism Confucianism, also known as Ruism or Ru classicism, is a system of thought and behavior originating in ancient China. Variously described as tradition, a philosophy, a Religious Confucianism, religion, a humanistic or rationalistic religion, ...

. B. F. Intan has written that ''

natural law Natural law ( la, ius naturale, ''lex naturalis'') is a system of law based on a close observation of human nature, and based on values intrinsic to human nature that can be deduced and applied independently of positive law (the express enacte ...

'' does not require one to follow a particular religion. Atheism as he sees it, however, is used more as an example of harmony between various religions and is not used as grounds to denounce popular religion. This natural law is used as grounds for the creation of a

common law In law, common law (also known as judicial precedent, judge-made law, or case law) is the body of law created by judges and similar quasi-judicial tribunals by virtue of being stated in written opinions."The common law is not a brooding omniprese ...

, which is more usually employed elsewhere as the basis for laws governing criminal activity or civil disputes. The 7th '' butir '' of the first precept of Pancasila states “Not forcing a religion and belief in God Almighty to others.”

Blasphemy

Insulting or interfering with the practice of one of the official faiths stated above in Indonesia can bring a five-year prison term. In the past, prominent atheists have only been prosecuted under religious customary laws, so it is unknown if atheism is actually prosecutable under secular law. When declared atheist

Alexander Aan Alexander Aan (born 1981) is an Indonesian atheist and ex-Muslim of Minang descent. He was imprisoned in 2012 for posting comments and images to Facebook that were judged to be "disseminating information aimed at inciting religious hatred or h ...

wrote in February 2012 on

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dust ...

that God does not exist, he was taken into custody and initially charged with

blasphemy Blasphemy is a speech crime and religious crime usually defined as an utterance that shows contempt, disrespects or insults a deity, an object considered sacred or something considered inviolable. Some religions regard blasphemy as a religio ...

. The police claimed that they were doing this to protect him from attackers, however, no charges have been levied against his attackers. He has been prosecuted under the blasphemy law, part of the country's Criminal Code. The Code’s Article 156(a) targets those who deliberately, in public, express feelings of hostility, hatred, or contempt against religions with the purpose of preventing others from adhering to any religion, and targets those who disgrace a religion. The penalty for violating Article 156(a) is imprisonment, Presidential Decree No. 1/PNPS/1965 on the Prevention of Blasphemy and Abuse of Religions. This incident raised a debate about the legality of atheism versus treating it as a genuine religion.

References

{{Asia topic, Irreligion in Religion in Indonesia

Law of Indonesia

Society

Discrimination

Law

Blasphemy

See also

References