From Evangelization to Worship Restrictions: The Changing Characteristics of Threat Perception between Muslims and Christians in Indonesia

Abstract

This article is an examination of the sense of mutual threat felt by both Muslims and Christians in Indonesia from the colonial period to the reformasi era (following the collapse of the Soeharto regime in 1998), which has provoked tensions and stained the country’s motto of Unity in Diversity or Bhinneka Tunggal Ika. Adopting a historical-comparative methodology, it uses threat perception, restriction of worship and concepts of democracy to explain the dynamic relationship between Muslims and Christians, from their initial encounter to the present day. The study finds that Muslims have perceived evangelization in colonial times and Christianization missions under the Soeharto New Order as a threat, while to Christians the Muslim vision of establishing an Islamic state and the rise of radicalism at the end of the New Order have been perceived as a threat. It argues that, in the reformasi era, threat perception has continued and intensified into religious intolerance followed by worship restrictions, and shows that political dynamics significantly affect the quality of Indonesian Muslim–Christian relations.