MSM Finally Catching on: Indonesia Isn't Very Moderate.....

And it's getting worse.....

CIARUTEUN, Indonesia (AFP) — A push by hardline Islamists for Indonesia to ban a "deviant" Muslim sect has ignited a battle for the soul of the world's largest Muslim-majority country.

Mob violence, protests and chilling threats have formed the backdrop to pressure on President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and key ministers to ban the minority Ahmadiyah sect.

A decision last month by a Suharto-era state board overseeing religion recommended the sect be broken up because it believes Mohammed was not the final prophet, contradicting a central tenet of mainstream Islam.

While nearly 90 percent of Indonesians are Muslim, the country is not an Islamic state. Instead, Indonesians live under a quasi-secular system where religious freedom is guaranteed but the state only recognises six religions: Islam, Protestantism, Catholicism, Hinduism, Buddhism and Confucianism.

And while the official state ideology also mandates belief in one God, the country has in practice tolerated a plurality of beliefs, earning it an easy-going reputation amid a rising global tide of Islamism.

But critics say this could change if the push to ban Ahmadiyah succeeds, opening the floodgates to Islamist demands that could radically undermine Indonesian pluralism -- and its fledgling democracy.

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