Eleventh International Conference on Religion & Spirituality in Society

Abstract

This study compares Christian religious freedom in two Muslim majority countries with different legal systems: Indonesia and Bangladesh. Indonesia’s legal system originates from the civil law system and Bangladesh with the common law system; the two countries have secularism. Both state’s legal systems guarantee freedom of religion in the constitution and other legal regulations. However, the similarities end there because even though the state guarantees freedom of religion to citizens and protects free practice, both countries treat religion differently. On the one hand, Bangladesh determines Islam is the state religion; however, in Indonesia, all faiths (six religions recognized by the state) are the same before the law, although in different practices. Although the constitution guarantees freedom of religion, Christian minorities often experience discrimination and rights violations in both countries. Even though Bangladesh provides personal law to Christians as Indonesia does not: they both come to the same place: violations of Christian’s right to freedom of religion in the two countries are frequent.