God and Diversity:A Kuyperian Public Theology for Religious Pluralism in Indonesia

This dissertation presents a theological reflection on the social condition of religious pluralism in Indonesia from a Kuyperian perspective. While freedom of religion and belief is constitutionally guaranteed by the 1945 Constitution, inequalities among religious groups in Indonesia remain a serious problem. From the legal perspective, religion is understood as limited to six official religions that are acknowledged by the state. Religious groups who believe in other than those official religions thus receive different treatment from the state. Article 29 Verse 2 of the 1945 Constitution differentiates between “religion” and “belief”, a differentiation that is interpreted by the Constitutional Court as referring to two different entities known in Bahasa Indonesia as agama (religion) and kepercayaan (belief). Furthermore, the alleged Communist coup in 1965 has politically sharpened the distinction between the two. The people who were adherents of a belief system (kepercayaan) were accused of allegiance to the Communist Party. Thus, many of them chose to be “religionized” by joining one of the major official religions in Indonesia, such as Islam, Christianity, and Hinduism, for fear of being killed or imprisoned. The Indonesian situation shows to some extent a similarity with that of Abraham Kuyper’s 19th century context where religious minority groups were oppressed by the state and its dominant ideology. Under that situation, Kuyper behaved and thought in a way that could be categorized as pluralist in the 21st century sense of the word. Three episodes from his public career are chosen to represent his pluralist attitude: his pastorate in Beesd, his leadership during the School Struggle, and the establishment of the Anti-Revolutionary Party. Under those three circumstances, Kuyper demonstrated his pluralist position by emphasizing the equality of people in the church and the broader public—regardless of their level of education and income—and the equal standing of all religious groups in the public sphere. This ...