8/30/2025 Indonesia (International Christian Concern) — According to persecution rankings, Indonesia has improved significantly over the last three years. As of 2025, it no longer even appears on the World Watch Top 50. Such a development is no small matter, seeing as how Indonesia is the world’s fourth most populous country, and the most populous majority-Muslim one.

But despite Indonesia’s apparently favorable trajectory, there have been recent incidents involving groups of perpetrators violently lashing out against Christians and their houses of worship.

And at a public location, two female Catholic students were attacked while praying with their rosaries in a suburb of Jakarta, the capital city. It is worth noting that other Muslims intervened to prevent more severe harm to the victims.

Indonesia has also had its share of bombings, including ones directed at churches. These attacks are nowhere near as frequent as the mayhem taking place in Nigeria. But they are still a lethal reminder to Indonesian Christians that a segment of their country’s population actively seeks to harm them.

Indonesia underwent a massive change in 1998, when the longtime strongman leader, Suharto, resigned amid economic turmoil and widespread protests. From that point, the country began to transition from an authoritarian state to a multiparty democracy.

But in the years since federal authority relaxed its grip, “radical Islamic groups have become more daring in acts of intimidation and violence against Christians,” said Clara* (name changed to protect anonymity), an Indonesian Christian who works as a teacher in the capital city of Jakarta.

The early years of the 21st century in Indonesia saw a series of attacks targeting Christians, including market bombings, church bombings, and the public decapitation of teenage Christian girls.

One reason for such hostility was that Christianity became significantly more popular in Indonesia during the latter part of the 20th century, reaching almost 10 percent of the general population by the final decade. Some members of the Muslim population came to view this development as a threat.

Christians currently comprise 11% of Indonesia’s overall population, which is 87% Muslim. Over the last decade, Clara has observed Indonesia’s government “become more resolute in its efforts” on a national level to oppose and disband Islamic extremist groups. The government also often facilitates programs to foster inter-religious dialogue.

Indonesia’s 38 provinces can differ heavily in terms of Muslim-Christian relations. Some regions have a far more radical presence. And these types of people are inclined to elect regional authorities who will follow their wishes, especially regarding dealing with the Christian minority.

Clara described the threat to Christians as “relatively high” in such provinces as Banten, West Java, and Aceh. In Aceh, which has seen sharia law for a decade now, Christians have been flogged in public.

Other locations have seen violence directed against Christians. In November 2020, members of a group known as the East Indonesia Mujahideen launched an attack on a majority-Christian village in Sulawesi. This attack saw the perpetrators kill four people (including the village elder) and set fire to a church and several homes.

In many parts of Indonesia, though, most Christians have been able to live and worship without facing any persecution. Clara said she had “never heard” of employment discrimination against Christians in Jakarta. But she has heard several reports of discrimination against Christian students and teachers (particularly those teaching religious education) in the nearby city of Depok.

For many years, Indonesia — which has no state religion and whose constitution officially mandates religious pluralism — had been promoted as a moderate Muslim country. And most Indonesian Christians would still consider their homeland a “moderate Muslim country,” said Clara, who personally feels that Indonesian society generally tries to be “moderate and cooperative” toward Christians.

But it’s also clear that extremists lurk. And so, she acknowledged that Christians “need to be wise” regarding church-related social activities. Some church programs — such as those offering free community healthcare — might be interpreted by extremists as an attempt to convert the public to Christianity.

One worrying aspect noted by Clara involves a 2023 survey of Indonesian high school students that showed an increase in “active intolerance” and “potential exposure to radicalism.”

That same year, a Pew Research Center report showed that a solid majority of Indonesia’s Muslims would favor having sharia law.

Another item of concern draws closer: Indonesia has a new law scheduled to take effect in 2026 that will expand the country’s existing blasphemy regulations and criminalize apostasy (leaving behind a religion).

Clara related that most Christians in Indonesia are not even aware of the new law, and it remains unclear as to how easily people could abuse it. But if this new law makes things easier for extremists, then Indonesia’s Christians will learn about it soon enough.

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