Maximum religious diversity in East Indies

With a POD after 1600, what is the largest possible religious diversity we can get in what became Malaysia/Singapore/Indonesia by 2015?

The main diversity in our timeline came from Indian and Chinese migrants, but this was mostly limited to Singapore, Malacca and northern Java. How can we get more in our timeline? How can we get Sumatra and Sulawesi more developed to attract them?

The other main avenue is more conversion to Christianity by colonial powers. The Dutch, Portuguese and British didn't really bother in our timeline, but is it possible to get a more avowedly pro-Christian foreign policy? Or get other colonial powers more supportive of conversion? What sort of rates of conversion are possible from Islam?

The other thing that occurred to me is more syncretism with folk religion and local nationalists defining the syncretism as a national religion that is outside Islam. How possible is this?

What is the total minority religion possible?
 
Hm. After 1600?

Points of interest:

1. Japan. The Tokugawa isolation could have been avoided, and Japanese Buddhists could have spread their religion as a counter to Catholicism and as something different from other Buddhist sects.

2. Spain. Well, Spain is the one that spread Catholicism in the region. With Portugal's heavy-handed rule backfiring, Catholicism's fate is tied to Spain's patronage. Crush the Dutchmen with the guns of Juan de Silva.

3. United Provinces. As a counterpoint, having the Dutchmen crush the Spaniards leaves the region helpless to the depredations of the Muslim pirates. Either the Dutchmen convert the heathens of Luzon and the Visayas to Calvinism or something, or they can leave us heathen and let the Muslims continue to try converting us to Islam, or maybe let the Chinese do their thing and establish Buddhism in the region.

4. China. As another counterpoint, Koxinga could have carved out his own kingdom in the region, with the syncretism that could have entailed. Also, of interest is the large Chinese population in Manila, many of whom kept their native faiths. Have Spain/the Catholic Church tolerate them and their heterodoxy more, and have them not rebel so much.

5. Persia. Shi'a Islam could also spread in the region in addition to the usual Sunni? Or maybe the Afsharids could establish their own school of Islam and Nader Shah's descendants could spread that.
 
With a POD after 1600, what is the largest possible religious diversity we can get in what became Malaysia/Singapore/Indonesia by 2015?

The main diversity in our timeline came from Indian and Chinese migrants, but this was mostly limited to Singapore, Malacca and northern Java. How can we get more in our timeline? How can we get Sumatra and Sulawesi more developed to attract them?

The other main avenue is more conversion to Christianity by colonial powers. The Dutch, Portuguese and British didn't really bother in our timeline, but is it possible to get a more avowedly pro-Christian foreign policy? Or get other colonial powers more supportive of conversion? What sort of rates of conversion are possible from Islam?

The other thing that occurred to me is more syncretism with folk religion and local nationalists defining the syncretism as a national religion that is outside Islam. How possible is this?

What is the total minority religion possible?

Lutheran Christianity spread among Chinese Christians ?
 
Sun Yat-Sen was a Methodist, so perhaps if there are more educated elites from Southeast Asia that end up studying in American or British universities, a reformist leader could emerge who ends up promoting Christianity, whether actively or passively.
 
Hm. After 1600?

Points of interest:

1. Japan. The Tokugawa isolation could have been avoided, and Japanese Buddhists could have spread their religion as a counter to Catholicism and as something different from other Buddhist sects.

2. Spain. Well, Spain is the one that spread Catholicism in the region. With Portugal's heavy-handed rule backfiring, Catholicism's fate is tied to Spain's patronage. Crush the Dutchmen with the guns of Juan de Silva.

3. United Provinces. As a counterpoint, having the Dutchmen crush the Spaniards leaves the region helpless to the depredations of the Muslim pirates. Either the Dutchmen convert the heathens of Luzon and the Visayas to Calvinism or something, or they can leave us heathen and let the Muslims continue to try converting us to Islam, or maybe let the Chinese do their thing and establish Buddhism in the region.

4. China. As another counterpoint, Koxinga could have carved out his own kingdom in the region, with the syncretism that could have entailed. Also, of interest is the large Chinese population in Manila, many of whom kept their native faiths. Have Spain/the Catholic Church tolerate them and their heterodoxy more, and have them not rebel so much.

5. Persia. Shi'a Islam could also spread in the region in addition to the usual Sunni? Or maybe the Afsharids could establish their own school of Islam and Nader Shah's descendants could spread that.
I'd also include France as well as Spain. Vietnam actually has a not-insignificant Catholic population. Apparently a court faction sympathetic to Vietnamese Catholics actually made an attempt to seize the throne in the 1830s.
 
I'd also include France as well as Spain. Vietnam actually has a not-insignificant Catholic population. Apparently a court faction sympathetic to Vietnamese Catholics actually made an attempt to seize the throne in the 1830s.

Which is interesting, because the French didn't even encourage evangelism much. I wonder how much Christianity you could get? 20% of the population?
 
The Archipelago's Islam has historically been highly heterodox, even verging on syncretism in some regions. So, that might leave the door open for something more radical- either a syncretism with a formally distinct identity(like Sikhism), or a radically deviant sect of Islam.
 
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