Muslims, the New Age and Marginal Religions in Indonesia: Changing Meanings of Religious Pluralism

Abstract

The author examines the changing meanings of religious pluralism in the world’s most populous Muslim-majority country, Indonesia. She demonstrates the paradoxical viability of three new organizations—Salamullah, the Brahma Kumaris, and the Anand Ashram—that challenge normative conceptions of ‘‘religion’’ embodied in national law since the 1960s but nonetheless attract substantial numbers of cosmopolitan Indonesians, including religiously well-educated Muslims. The high modern construction of ‘‘religions’’ that underpins existing law is being reworked in the actual religious practice of cosmopolitan Indonesians. With their patronage they are expanding the sphere of internal dialogue within Indonesia’s Muslim community, effecting a new permeability in the boundaries of the nation’s offcial religions, and contributing to the emergence of an arena of unregulated ‘‘spiritual’’ groups that now exists alongside the highly regulated, rigidly denominational religious market structured by the New Order Government (1966–1998).

Faith on Trial: Blasphemy and ‘Lawfare’ in Indonesia

“…This was evident in the rise of movements of eclectic, non-denominational forms of spirituality, among the urban middleclass, including spiritual reform programmes promoting an ethic of self-government (Howell 2005;Rudnyckyj 2010). There has also been renewed interest in devotional forms of Sufism, promoted by celebrity preachers and televangelists.…”

“…Apparently false prophets are appearing on Lombok as well.' He was referring to the female founder of the small Jakarta-based Sufi group known as the Eden Community, who claims to be medium for the Angel Gabriel and who became widely known after being charged with blasphemy in 2006 and again in 2009 (Howell 2005;Crouch 2014;Makin 2016). These much-publicised trials may well have served as catalysts for the process discussed here.…”

“…Amaq Bakri's claims to have ascended to heaven, where the Angel Gabriel showed him around and divulged new knowledge exceed the boundaries of reason. But dream-visions and mystical experiences are common in Sufiinspired forms of Islam (Howell 2005;Mittermaier 2011;Bubandt 2014). To the Salafi-inspired DDII-activists, dream-visions and transactions with spirits violate God's unity (tawhid).…”

Problems, Challenges and Prospects of Indonesian Muslim Community in Sydney for Promoting Tolerance

“…This definition implies that assets for building social capital can be material, such as resources and services, or non-material, such as support or prestige. Another social capital theorist, Roebert Putnam, has different perspective in defining social capital, which sees it as 'social networks and the associated norms of reciprocity and trustworthiness' (Putnam 2000(Putnam , 2007Howell 2005;Poynting 2006). It is clear that Putnam focuses on the normsand values which he suggests underpin effective networks, such as trust and civic participation.…”

Jamaah kraton: the Muslim new agers from Pekalongan

“…But, in general, the Muslim community in Indonesia is divided into two orientations: first, the modernist, whom obeyed the orthodox theology which is textual and practiced the modern concept; second, the traditionalist, which followed the charismatic kyai in the Pesantren. Many of the hundreds of political parties launched in the early days of reformasi (in the year of 1999) were specifically Muslim parties, several of whom began calling for a consti- (Howell, 2003 The fascinating teaching and the charismatic leader Believing what a Hindu believed is something common for Jamaah Kraton. They had use the Hindu concept of Kundalini, Avatar, Karma, and now, reincarnation.…”