ANTHROPOLOGY OF RELIGION

Abstract

This article examines the paradox of religion in the contemporary Nusantara, which is simultaneously claimed to be secularizing while becoming increasingly visible and contested. Using a qualitative literature review method, this study synthesizes three interrelated dynamics that existing scholarship has tended to treat in isolation: the fragmentation of religious authority in digital space, the ongoing tension between syncretism and purification, and the politicization of religious identity in electoral contests. Through thematic-critical synthesis, the findings show that these three phenomena are not parallel but mutually reinforcing dimensions of a single process: the shift of religion from a bounded system of personal belief into an open, competitive arena of meaning-negotiation. Digital hybridization of authority produces an interpretive vacuum that fuels purification discourse, while the moral vocabulary of authenticity generated by that discourse is subsequently appropriated by political actors to mobilize religious sentiment for electoral gain. This integrative reading offers a more coherent anthropological framework for understanding contemporary religious dynamics in Indonesia without resorting to normative judgments about religious authenticity or purity.