Christianity in Indonesia

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Christianity in Indonesia is a minority religion. About 5 % of the population of Indonesia are Protestants and about 3 % are Catholics.

In Papua and Central Sulawesi provinces as well as other areas protestants form the majority of the population. Protestantism was first introduced by the Dutch in the sixteenth century, resulting in Calvinist and Lutheran influence. First Roman Catholics arrived in 1534, in the Maluku islands. They were Portuguese, that were send for exploration. Francis Xavier, a Roman Catholic missionary and co-founder of the Jesuit Order worked in the Maluku islands from 1546 to 1547. Julius Darmaatmadja is the only current cardinal in Indonesia. He is the archbishop of Jakarta.

In the 1960s due to anti-Communist and anti-Confucian legislation many Communists and Chinese claimed to be Christians. Christians are under a level of pressure in several areas with an Islamic minority, such as Aceh, West Java and South Sulawesi.

[edit] Sources

• Religion in Indonesia article
• Catholicism in Indonesia article
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