Hefner Explores the Future of Religious Freedom in Indonesia
Pardee School faculty and staff host an offsite meeting at the JFK Library on September 27, 2014.
Photo by Melissa Ostrow for Boston University Photography.
In an appearance on the “Law and Religion Down Under” podcast, Robert Hefner, Professor of Anthropology and of International Relations at Boston University’s Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies and Director of the School’s Center for the Study of Asia, discusses religious freedom in Indonesia and the country’s path forward.
The podcast, hosted by Jeremy Patrick, a senior lecturer at the University of Southern Queensland, is dedicated to research and public discussion on law and religion in Australia and other, nearby parts of the world. In their discussion, Hefner and Patrick discuss “registered religions,” why and how Indonesia settled on six “registered religions,” the tension between pluralist and Islamist elements, and the future of religious freedom in the country. In discussing Indonesian democracy and its unique place in the world, Hefner was quick to point out that democracies around the world are currently facing new challenges in the age of new social media, even in his home United States. However, despite Indonesia’s history of authoritarian rule as well as severe political and economic crisis, Hefner finds hope in the country’s continued commitment to a multi-religious and multi-ethnic Indonesia.
The full podcast can be listened to below.
Robert Hefner has directed 19 research projects and organized 18 international conferences, and authored or edited nineteen books. He is the former president of the Association for Asian Studies. At CURA, he directed the program on Islam and civil society since 1991; coordinated interdisciplinary research and public policy programs on religion, pluralism, and world affairs; and is currently involved in two research projects: “The New Western Plurality and Civic Coexistence: Muslims, Catholics, and Secularists in North America and Western Europe”; and “Sharia Transitions: Islamic Law and Ethical Plurality in the Contemporary World.” Read more about Professor Hefner on his faculty profile.