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Sunday, February 11, 2018

Religious Requirements

In Indonesia, one must declare a religion on any number of forms; moreover, one must declare one of six allowed religions (there is no "none" option). The choices are Islam, Protestantism, Catholicism, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Confucianism.

This, of course, is absurd on several levels. There is the differentiation, for instance, between Protestantism and Catholicism--as if they were two different faiths rather than two categories of Christianity. For my own part, I see myself as Christian rather than Catholic or Protestant--but sorry, that would not be allowed. Simple Christianity is not an option. On the other hand, Sunni and Shiite (and so on, for the Islamic faith) need not be specified--which is ironic, given the trouble between the sects. In addition, the most basic absurdity is that Judaism is left out altogether. In fact, it is not allowed. Quite ironic, given that both Christianity and Islam have their root in Judaism and would not exist without it, any more than branches float in the air, existing without a tree. 

When a person marries in Indonesia, he or she must marry within a particular religion, and if the engaged couple happen to be of different religions, one spouse must convert. In the case of Islam, this pretty much means that the non-Muslim partner must convert to Islam. The Hindus are a bit more relaxed, although the cultural involvement of the Hindu is so intense, affecting so many areas of every day life, that it is very likely that the non-Hindu partner will find it easier to convert. 

I have a friend here who is newly engaged to be married, and although he is rather strictly 'non-religious' (even bordering on 'anti-religious'), he must satisfy this religious requirement in marriage--in this case, to Islam). He does not see where religion applies to his love for his fiancĂ©e, and yet he must go through a number of hoops and mazes in order to marry at all. One may suspect that it would be easier just to continue in an unmarried relationship, but the catch is that this too is against the law in Indonesia--not that it doesn't happen all the time, but the one time that it did matter would be sufficiently troublesome, and so best avoided. 

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