section_path: Demographics/Religion
section_name: Religion
paragraph_text: Religion
  
  Although the government officially recognises only six religions: Islam, Protestantism, Roman Catholicism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism, and indigenous religions for administrative purpose, religious freedom is guaranteed in the country's constitution. With 231 million adherents (86.7%) in 2018, Indonesia is the world's most populous Muslim-majority country, with Sunnis being the majority (99%). The Shias and Ahmadis, respectively, constitute 1% (1–3 million) and 0.2% (200,000–400,000) of Muslims. About 10% of Indonesians are Christians, who form the majority in several provinces in eastern Indonesia. Most Hindus are Balinese, and most Buddhists are Chinese Indonesians.
  
  The natives of the Indonesian archipelago originally practised indigenous animism and dynamism, beliefs that are common to Austronesian peoples. They worshipped and revered ancestral spirits and believed that supernatural spirits (hyang) might inhabit certain places such as large trees, stones, forests, mountains, or sacred sites. Examples of Indonesian native belief systems include the Sundanese Sunda Wiwitan, Dayak 's Kaharingan, and the Javanese Kejawèn. They have significantly impacted how other faiths are practised, evidenced by a large proportion of people—such as the Javanese abangan, Balinese Hindus, and Dayak Christians—practising a less orthodox, syncretic form of their religion.
  
  Hindu influences reached the archipelago as early as the first century CE. The Sundanese Kingdom of Salakanagara in western Java around 130 was the first historically recorded Indianised kingdom in the archipelago. Buddhism arrived around the 6th century, and its history in Indonesia is closely related to that of Hinduism, as some empires based on Buddhism had their roots around the same period. The archipelago has witnessed the rise and fall of powerful and influential Hindu and Buddhist empires such as Majapahit, Sailendra, Srivijaya, and Mataram. Though no longer a majority, Hinduism and Buddhism remain to have a substantial influence on Indonesian culture.
  
  Islam was introduced by Sunni traders of the Shafi'i school as well as Sufi traders from the Indian subcontinent and southern Arabia as early as the 8th century CE. For the most part, Islam overlaid and mixed with existing cultural and religious influences, resulting in a distinct form of Islam (santri). Trade, Islamic missionary activity such as by the Wali Sanga and Chinese explorer Zheng He, and military campaigns by several sultanates helped accelerate the spread of Islam. By the end of the 16th century, it had supplanted Hinduism and Buddhism as the dominant religion of Java and Sumatra.
  
  Catholicism was brought by Portuguese traders and missionaries such as Jesuit Francis Xavier, who visited and baptised several thousand locals. Its spread faced difficulty due to the Dutch East India Company policy of banning the religion and the Dutch hostility due to the Eighty Years' War against Catholic Spain's rule. Protestantism is mostly a result of Calvinist and Lutheran missionary efforts during the Dutch colonial era. Although they are the most common branch, there is a multitude of other denominations elsewhere in the country.
  
  There is a small Jewish presence in the archipelago, mostly the descendants of Dutch and Iraqi Jews, and some local converts. Most of them left in the decades after Indonesian independence, with only a tiny number of Jews remain today mostly in Jakarta, Manado, and Surabaya. Judaism was once officially listed as Hebrani under the Sukarno government but ceased to be recorded separately like other religions with few adherents since 1965. Presently, one of the only remaining Synagogue in Indonesia is Sha'ar Hashamayim Synagogue located in Tondano, North Sulawesi, around 31 km from Manado.
  
  At the national and local level, Indonesia's political leadership and civil society groups have played a crucial role in interfaith relations, both positively and negatively. The invocation of the first principle of Indonesia's philosophical foundation, Pancasila (i.e. the belief in the one and only God), often serves as a reminder of religious tolerance, though instances of intolerance have occurred. An overwhelming majority of Indonesians consider religion to be essential and an integral part of life.