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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Any Jewelry, post: 4007558, member: 2844&quot;]Or commissioned by or for a priest or church. Tourists preferred the &#039;exotic&#039; look.</p><p><br /></p><p>Absolutely, extremism is a fairly recent thing, and not as widespread as some people in the West like to think. Violence against non-Muslims is usually perpetrated by extremist gangs that travel from island to island.</p><p>Bali is still Hindu with a fair amount of Shamanism thrown in, and tolerant towards other faiths.</p><p><br /></p><p>The spirituality of my own Indonesian ancestors, and to a certain extent mine too, is Kejawen, a pre-Muslim and pre-Hindu belief that is respectful and open to any kind of spirituality.</p><p>It is still practiced on Java and even on conservative Madura, although the people who practice it are nominally Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist or Christian.</p><p>Belief in one God and adhering to a religion are compulsory under Indonesian law, but only certain faiths are allowed. Kejawen, with its many followers, is not one of them, hence the need for a nominal religion.</p><p>Outside and inside are very different things in present day Indonesia. As the Germans say: &quot;die Gedanken sind frei&quot;, thoughts are free.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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