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In Indonesia rules freedom of worship. 86.9% of the Indonesians are Islamite. Only 1.9% of the population are Hindu, but in Bali, these are more than 90% of the population. In the course of time, some Buddhist elements found their way into the Hindu-Balinese religion. The official name of the Balinese religion is Agama Hindu Dharma. Hinduism came to Bali by a relatively direct route, by way of Java, in the first century A.D. In general Balinese Hinduism differs only marginally from its Indian prototype, though it has a much less rigid caste system. When Hinduism reached Bali, the Balinese already had a highly developed culture. They simply took over the Hindu religion and integrated it into their own traditions.

Hinduism is one of the four great world religions, with some 645 million adherents. The name of Hinduism arose from the translation of the Sanskrit word "Indu" in the Iranian "Hindu", and was originally applied only to people living on the river Indus. The use of the term Hinduism for their religious beliefs was a western invention.

In contrast to the monotheistic belief in a single divine person, Indian Hinduism is a monistic religion centred on a depersonalised principle. In recent decades, however, there has been a growing school of thought on Bali which has drawn visibly closer to monotheism, worshipping a God in whom all things began.

The idea of Hinduism is based the confrontation of sky and earth, sun and moon, day and night, Gods and demons, life and death, light and darkness, pure and unclean, good and evil. The human being occupies a middle position between these confrontations. And the prime belief is a never-ending cycle of the birth, death and rebirth of the soul from which no living creature can escape from unless after many lives, the number of which cannot be known in advance, he secures admission to Nirvana. In what form the soul of a Hindu will be reborn cannot be determined: he may have another existence as a human being, but he may equally be an animal or a plant, a celestial or a an infernal being. Man can influence the cycle by good or evil deeds (Karma), which in his next life will be rewarded or punished by a better or a worse existence. The aim of every Hindu is to enter Nirvana and thus finally break out of the eternal cycle of birth, death and rebirth.

The symbol of the religious beliefs of the Balinese Hinduism is the lotus blossom, the form of which is seen as an image of the world. More commonly represented on Bali than the four-leaved lotus is the eight-leaved form. In the centre is the God Shiva, surrounded clockwise by the eight gods of the directions (Vishnu, Sambu, Ishvara, Maheshvara, Brahma, Rudra, Mahadevi and Sankara). Four of them represent the four cardinal points (Vishnu the north, Brahma the south, Mahadevi the west and Ishvara the east).

Each individual belongs to a caste from birth. The change to another caste is only possible through rebirth. Originally, there were 4 castes; the priests, the warriors, the peasants and craftsmen and the servants. Through the many mixed marriages, the caste system has become very complex and is gradually displaced the traditional divisions

In Hindu belief, all living things have their fixed place on the ladder of existence. There are large number of Gods and other divinities, and they can take any form. They can visit Bali in the body of any creature or object, of which they take temporary possession.
	Gods, spirits and demons play an important role in the life of the Balinese.

On Bali there are a great variety of religious practices, which nevertheless have one thing in common: they all provide a welcome occasion for a festival, which may be celebrated either within the family or, more usually, with the other inhabitants of the village.

All stages of life have their own rituals and celebrations. Strictly speaking, the passage out of one phase into the next phase of life into the next is a little death and rebirth.