Excavating the Constitutional Value of Freedom from Religion and Comparing Conceptions of Human Rights

Muhammad Haaziq Bujang Syarif

Contributor

10 Oct 2024 · 08:12 10 October 2024 08:12 WIB 12 minutes reading time: 12 minutes 69 read

This article will analyze the position of the Indonesian constitution towards atheism, considering that the Indonesian constitution is very thick with religious values.

Excavating the Constitutional Value of Freedom from Religion and Comparing Conceptions of Human Rights

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Table of Contents

Background
Religious Freedom in the Concept of Human Rights
Freedom of Religion as a Constitutional Right
Conclusion
References
Source Online
Legislation

Legal Literacy - This article outlines the social, political, and legal relationships in the formation of state ideology and religious freedom in Indonesia. The discussion includes the history of Pancasila, the concept of human rights, and the constitutionality of atheism in the context of religious values, with an emphasis on the role of national law and international human rights.

Background

The long debate of the Committee of Nine[1] which was tasked with formulating the crystallization of the state ideology, resulted in the birth of the five principles of Pancasila. Initially, the first principle of Pancasila as stated in the Jakarta Charter was fraught with controversy, given that the seven words contained within it had the potential to lead to national disintegration. A political compromise initiated by leaders of Eastern Indonesia prevented national disintegration solely because of those seven words.[2]

The removal of the seven words did not automatically cause the spirit of the first principle, namely religious values, to evaporate and be replaced by non-religious values. The deleted seven words only implied a change in the inclusivity aspect of the phrase used, which initially referred to Islam and was then replaced by the principle of universal divinity. The spirit of religiosity of the Indonesian nation, which was crystallized in the first principle of Pancasila, only changed its costume, not its essence, considering that the phrase divinity is clearly stated in the first principle. In addition to the values contained in Pancasila, the constitution as the basic norm of the Indonesian nation also has the same breath.

The post-amendment 1945 Constitution can be categorized as a “Very Godly Constitution of Indonesia” because the norms contained within it are very laden with God or divinity.[3] For example, the preamble to the 1945 Constitution places God as the entity that grants independence, not just the struggle of the Indonesian nation. The oath of office of the head of state, which is based on religion and/or belief, also adds to the religious thickness of the Indonesian constitution.

The religiosity of the Indonesian nation, at least in the normative realm and das sollen, can be said to be diametrically opposed to the value of atheism. Starting from this statement, the position of the value of atheism in the Indonesian constitution is questioned for its constitutionality because at first glance it is very contradictory to the values of divinity contained in the constitution. The freedom of religion guaranteed by the constitution is also closely related to the value of atheism because it can be interpreted as freedom from religion or freedom from religion. The biggest question is how does the Indonesian constitution view this?