This comparative exploration looks at religion and politics in the social dynamics of Southeast Asia's two most populous nations. The Philippines and Indonesia are treated as one vast ""Phil-Indo"" archipelago. Eight leading scholars contribute interwoven and contending essays. The authors find that while neither country promotes a state religion, both lack partitions between church and state. Social dynamics of faith in each elude constitutional restrictions. In the Philippines, a Spanish tradition of an ecclesiastical state exists in tension with a Jeffersonian notion of separation of realms. In Indonesia, pre-Islamic concepts of a god-king fuse state and society, as modern initiatives surge from the premise of a prevailing Islamic community. Official religiosity pervades Indonesian national life, while Filipinos act out their private religiosity en masse, trying to overcome deficiencies in state and church. The book includes 38 photographs, in colour and black and white, with commentaries that further illustrate the themes of each chapter. Contributors include Azyumardi Azra (University Islam Negeri, Indonesia), Jose M. Cruz (Ateneo de Manila University, The Philippines), Donald K. Emmerson (Institute for International Studies, Stanford University) Theodore Friend (Foreign Policy Research Institute), Robert W. Hefner (Institute for the Study of Economic Culture, Boston University), Vicente Leuterio Rafael (University of Washington), Jose Eliseao Rocamora (Institute for Popular Democracy, The Philippines) and David Joel Steinberg (Long Island University).

Introduction : Religion, the nation, and the predicaments of public life in Southeast Asia / Kenneth M. George and Andrew C. Willford -- The priestess and the politician : enunciating Filipino cultural nationalism through Mt. Banahaw / Smita Lahiri -- The modernist vision from below : Malaysian Hinduism and the "way of prayers" / Andrew C. Willford -- Fraudulent and dangerous popular religiosity in the public sphere : moral campaigns to prohibit, reform, and demystify Thai spirit mediums / Erick White -- Islam and gender politics in late New Order Indonesia / Suzanne Brenner -- A sixth religion? : Confucianism and the negotiation of Indonesian-Chinese identity under the Pancasila state / Andrew J. Abalahin -- Relocating reciprocity : politics and the transformation of Thai funerals / Thamora Fishel -- Immaterial culture : "idolatry" in the lowland Philippines / Fenella Cannell -- Picturing Aceh : violence, religion, and a painter's tale / Kenneth M. George.

Named by the International Bulletin of Missionary Studies as an Outstanding Book of 2014 for Mission Studies Despite the ongoing global expansion of Christianity, there remains a lack of comprehensive scholarship on its development in Asia. This volume fills the gap by exploring the world of Asian Christianity and its manifold expressions, including worship, theology, spirituality, inter-religious relations, interventions in society, and mission. The contributors, from over twenty countries, deconstruct many of the widespread misconceptions and interpretations of Christianity in Asia. They analyze how the growth of Christian beliefs throughout the continent is linked with the socio-political and cultural processes of colonization, decolonization, modernization, democratization, identity construction of social groups, and various social movements. With a particular focus on inter-religious encounters and emerging theological and spiritual paradigms, the volume provides alternative frames for understanding the phenomenon of conversion and studies how the scriptures of other religious traditions are used in the practice of Christianity within Asia.

Religious diversity is now a social fact in most countries of the world. While reports of the impact of religious diversity on Europe and North America are reasonably well-known, the ways in which Southeast Asia and Asia Pacific are religiously diverse and the ways this diversity has been managed are not. This book addresses this lack of information about one of the largest and most diverse regions of the world. It describes the religious diversity of 27 nations, as large and complex as Indonesia and as small as Tuvalu, outlining the current issues and the basic policy approaches to religious diversity. Southeast Asia and the Pacific Islands are portrayed as a living laboratory of various religious blends, with a wide variance of histories and many different approaches to managing religious diversity. While interesting in their own right, a study of these nations provides a wealth of case studies of diversity management – most of them stories of success and inclusion.

This engaging encyclopedia covers the religions and religious traditions of various Southeast Asian countries, including Brunei, Burma, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam. In this unprecedented profile of the religions of Southeast Asia, scholars from around the world explore the faiths, spiritual practices, and theological dogmas of the region. The book contains a fascinating collection of accurate, detailed articles; informative sidebars; and an extensive list of reference materials, all of which uncover beliefs in that part of the world. Discussions of ancient religions, combined with a look at contemporary trends, feature topics such as religious fundamentalism, secularism, and globalization. Through 150 alphabetically arranged entries, this encyclopedia investigates the religions and religious traditions of countries such as Brunei, Burma, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, and the Philippines, among others. Written in an accessible style, this comprehensive reference looks at a variety of belief systems, including Buddhism, Confucianism, tribal practices, Hinduism, Jainism, and Zoroastrianism. A selected, general bibliography offers a listing of the most important print and electronic resources on the topic.

The relatively peaceful interreligious relations in Indonesia seem to be shattered ever since Suharto's fall in 1998. Religious cleavages grew and quickly became sources of conflict. Exclusive religious truth claims have led people to support interreligious violence. Yet, benevolent religious values continue to encourage people for mutual solidarity and to shy away from violence. Religious minority groups are often perceived as a threat by the religious majority. Although living side by side allows different groups to develop positive interreligious contacts, this may differ for religious majority and minorities. This study scrutinizes the role of religion in interreligious conflicts in Indonesia.

With respect to the countries of the world, this work addresses two basic questions: "How does religion affect politics in this country?" and "How does politics affect religion in this country?" Although there are many books on the topics of religion and politics, reference works that consider the two together are few, with those that do exist primarily addressing theory rather than trends. The present work does the latter, contextualizing them within regional and national boundaries. In so doing, it recognizes the power of political and religious ideas and movements on individuals, communities, and nations, making the work a valuable resource for several disciplines, among them political science, international relations, religion, and sociology. The work focuses on the interplay of religion and politics in countries around the world with an emphasis on the post-2000s. It is organized by global geographic regions including Africa, Central and South America, and the Middle East and presents countries alphabetically within those sections. Each region has a brief overview of the political-religious dynamics of the area so readers can compare and contrast the dynamics between and among countries in a region. The work also includes an introduction, sidebars, and a bibliography.