Understanding the identity formation of nonreligious Indonesians : history, trajectory and adaptation strategies

Abstract

Over the past decade, there has been substantial advancement in nonreligious research, which has been affected by the popularity of New Atheism, as well as the results of a poll indicating an increasing number of people who are nonreligious. This study followed a sociological phenomenological approach by conducting a historical background analysis to answer questions about identity formation in a socio-cultural context and conducting interviews with 22 nonreligious Indonesians. The interviewees answered questions about the trajectory of becoming nonreligious, how they describe themselves, what influences the formation of that identity and how they adapt in their daily activities in the social world. Using Goffman’s theory of stigma and the relational approach to religion and nonreligion as theoretical perspectives, this thesis argues that Indonesia’s nonreligious identity must be explained in its socio-cultural context, and these individuals are influenced by internal and external factors that cannot be separated from the increasing, massive use of social media. The findings show that the stigma of nonreligious Indonesians has been created over a long period of time, and because of the cultural influences that are largely Muslim, its expression is often hidden and presented in an ambiguous fashion. The process of becoming a nonreligious person in Indonesia can be distinguished in terms of ‘conversion’ as the standard trajectory and ‘questioning’ as the alternative trajectory, where the former relates to radical change and the latter to individual scepticism and socialisation. Nonreligious Indonesians identify in a variety of nonreligious categories, including atheist, agnostic and deist, and are influenced by factors such as science, religious contradiction and Buddhist philosophy. There are four kinds of adaptation techniques for this nonreligious identity, including alienation, separation, ambiguousness and speaking up. This study provides a significant contribution to the literature, particularly in terms of the formation of stigmatised identities of nonreligious people in both the socio-cultural and individual realms in non-Western contexts and how to display their identities in a non-conformist context.

Date of Award	2022
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Western Sydney University
Supervisor	Adam Possamai (Supervisor)