"They have freedom of choice". Indonesian immigrants’ discourse on religion and modernity in the Netherlands

Abstract

In the Dutch debates on religion in the public arena, Indonesian immigrants tend to be neglected, as the debates concentrate on Muslim immigrants, particularly from Morocco and Turkey. This study examines the discourse of Indonesian immigrants about religion and modernity in the Netherlands. It aims to acquire further insight into the relationship between religion and modernity and to contribute to the theories of modernity in the light of non-Western immigrants from a post-colonial perspective. In exploring the notion of modernity, this study focuses on the concept of “multiple modernities”. Using Norman Fairclough’s three-dimensional model of Critical Discourse Analysis to analyse the data, the study finds that the notion of modernity, in the context of multiple modernities, needs revision because, according to Indonesian immigrants’ perception, European modernity is not as secular as Europeans themselves claim. The boundaries between religious and secular domains in Europe, in this case, the Netherlands, are blurred.