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Indonesia: Muslims Threaten House Churches
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John Henry
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Jun 22, 2007 07:38 PDT
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Muslim Radicals in Indonesia
Threaten House Churches
Demonstration in West Java calls for
closures; two congregations attackedJune 21,
2007
JAKARTA (Compass Direct News) - Muslim extremists demonstrating on June
14 in West Java threatened to close down churches operating in private
homes, and a pastor on Sunday (June 17) received an anonymous letter
promising to destroy his home if it is "still functioning as a
church."
The protest and threats followed two attacks on churches in West Java in
early June.
Some 150 protestors from the Mosque Movement Front (FPM) and the
Anti-Apostasy Alliance joined the mid-June march, The Jakarta Post
reported on June 15.
By law, Indonesian church groups must have a worship permit - but strict
terms of a Joint Ministerial Decree (SKB) revised last year make it
virtually impossible to obtain one.
A church now requires proof of at least 90 existing members, the approval
of 60 neighbors from different faith backgrounds, and approval from local
authorities before a church permit is granted. A separate building permit
is also required.
For this reason, most churches worship without the requisite permit in
private homes or rented facilities.
After marching from the al-Ikhlash Mosque to the Katapang district office
in Bandung, FPM head Suryana Nur Fatwa warned officials that if they
failed to close down illegal churches, FPM would take matters into its
own hands: "Every violator must stop their activities or the FPM
will be forced to close them down."
Fatwa presented a list of 26 private homes being used as churches in
Bandung regency. He claimed 17 of them had stopped operating "of
their own free will," but that nine others were still meeting for
worship.
Katapang district chief Nina Setiyana said she did not wish to take sides
but wanted all houses of worship in her area to be authorized, The
Jakarta Post reported.
"It would surely be better if they all had permits and did not break
the regulation ... so no one could make a problem out of it,"
Setiyana added.
The Rev. Simon Timorason, head of the West Java Christian Communication
Forum, said that according to an article in the SKB, local government
officials were legally required to facilitate the acquisition of places
of worship for minority religious groups.
Timorason, who often acts as a negotiator between Christian and Muslim
leaders, has recorded at least 70 disputes over the use of private homes
as worship facilities since January 2004.
Attacks in TalegongPrior to the
demonstration, Muslims mobs attacked two churches in early June.
On June 9, a mob attacked the Assembly of God (GSJA) church in Talegong
with stones and wooden clubs, smashing doors, roofs, windows and kitchen
furniture. They also took away a Bible and ownership deeds for the church
land and threatened the pastor's wife with a machete.
A government official arrived just in time to prevent further violence,
and nobody was hurt in the attack. On the following day, however, a
larger crowd of 300 people gathered and demanded that church members move
away from the area.
"Witnesses said the mob was looking for Pastor Tata Budiman, who was
away at the time," local Christian mission leader Gideon Eddy
reported. "It's a good thing they didn't find him."
Budiman began his ministry in Talegong in 2003 and soon had a
congregation of 40 people, all from Muslim backgrounds.
"Locals were aware of this, but never protested, since the believers
were still identified as Muslims on their ID cards," Eddy
said.
On June 7, however, two days before the attack, police contacted local
administrators and asked them to help GSJA members change the religious
status on their ID cards.
Some local Muslims perceived this as an official acknowledgement of
Christianity in their community; the news spread quickly, leading to the
attack on June 9.
With tensions soaring, Budiman and his family, along with a dozen other
church members, have taken shelter in a nearby city and will not return
home for at least two months.
"I submit everything to the Lord," Budiman told Compass.
"I'm just thankful that none of my church members reconverted to
Islam."
Attack in SoreangA week earlier, on
June 3, 56 members of the Anti-Apostasy Alliance Movement broke into a
GSJA house church in Soreang, West Java, disturbing a Sunday school
class. The mob demanded that the church be shut down and that all
Christian activities cease in the area.
"I was away when they came, but my wife Lidia was home, along with
several Sunday school teachers and children," the Rev. Robby Elisa
told Compass. "The mob entered my bedroom by force and threw my
books around. My wife was hit twice on the head - first with a Bible, and
then with a bare hand - when she tried to stop them."
Lidia Elisa told Reuters news agency on June 4 that "the men forced
a teenage student to spit on the Bible and deny Christ. When he refused,
they kicked him in the gut."
Mobs attacked four other churches in Soreang in 2005, forcing them to
close. Elisa, however, refused to shut down his church or move it to
another location.
"If we Christians did something wrong, please let us know - but
without violence," he told Compass. "We have equal rights in
front of the law. We need the government to acknowledge our rights to
worship as fellow citizens."
Police are reviewing the case, and meantime the church has applied for a
building permit. Several Christian organizations, including the Advocacy
Body of Human Rights (Elham), are providing legal assistance.
"Elham countered the Muslims' claims that we gave false charges
regarding the physical attacks on my wife," Elisa explained.
"They also filed a report to the National Human Rights Commission
for Children, since our Sunday school children were heavily traumatized
by the incident."
But threats continue. On Sunday (June 17), Elisa received an anonymous
letter that stated in part, "If your house is still functioning as a
church, we will destroy it."
Source:
http://www.opendoorsusa.org/content/view/142/
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"Remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them; and them
which suffer adversity, as being yourselves also in the body."
(Hebrews 13:3)
"Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for
theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are ye, when men shall
revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against
you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great
is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were
before you." (Matthew 5:10-12)
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