BLASPHEMY, POLITICS, AND RELIGION: THE CASE OF INDONESIA AND AHOK

Thirty years ago, few in the West were much concerned about blasphemy restrictions which, while sometimes still on the statute books, were usually thought domestically and internationally to be only of historical interest. But, by the end of the twentieth, there were repeated eruptions of violence worldwide in reaction to blasphemy accusations, nearly all in the Muslim-majority world. Even comparatively moderate Indonesia has seen an increase in such accusations. This culminated in 2017 when Ahok, the incumbent governor of Jakarta and a Calvinist, was sentenced to two years imprisonment on trumped-up charges of blasphemy. His case and others show the degree to which blasphemy accusations have become political weapons.