Tag: Banten

Indonesia: Three churches closed in permits dispute

October 3, 2018 Indonesia Banten, Churches, Indonesia, Islamic Defenders Front, Java, Minorities, Sumatra

Officials close and seal the doors of the Assemblies of God church in West Kenali village, Sumatra, who have been meeting since 2004. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

Three churches were closed in an Indonesian village last week amidst rumours Muslims were planning to protest against the churches’ presence because they did not have the required permits. But a pastor from one of the affected churches in West Kenali village, Alam Barajo district, in Sumatra’s central Jambi province, . . . Read More

Indonesia’s religious minorities protest against closure of worship places

August 1, 2018 Indonesia Banten, Bekasi, Bogor, Catholics, Churches, GKI Yasmin, HKBP Filadelfia, Indonesia, Java, Minorities, Tangerang

Indonesian Christians and Ahmadiyya Muslims gathered together in West Java over the weekend to protest against the closure of several of their places of worship, Catholic news agency UCAN reports. Over 100 people took part in a range of events, including the sharing of personal stories of discrimination. The participants . . . Read More

Four-year sentence for Indonesian pastor who evangelised a taxi driver

May 10, 2018 Indonesia Banten, Blasphemy, Indonesia, Muhammadiyah, Proselytism, Protestants, Quran, Religious freedom, Tangerang

A Protestant pastor has been sentenced to four years in prison for religious defamation after discussing Christianity with a Muslim taxi driver in Indonesia, the Jakarta Post reports. The Tangerang District Court in Banten also ordered that Rev. Abraham Ben Moses, 52, pay a fine of 50 million Rupiah (US$3,565) . . . Read More

Indonesia: ‘Saudi influence behind rise in Islamic extremism’, as churches continue to be closed

September 19, 2017 Indonesia Banten, Bekasi, Bogor, Churches, Indonesia, Islamic extremism, Java, Nahdlatul Ulama, Pentecostals, Santa Clara, Saudi Arabia, Tangerang, Wahhabism

Thousands of Muslims from across Indonesia joined the Islamic-hardliners in Jakarta to protest against Jakarta’s (former) Governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama ('Ahok') on 4 November 2016 for allegedly insulting Islam when citing a Quranic verse. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

“The election and trial of Jakarta’s former governor ‘Ahok’ have exposed increasing radicalization in Indonesia, especially among the young … and it has led to a more aggressive campaign to confront Islamist radicalism,” writes Paul Marshall. In his article for the Lausanne Movement, the Wilson Professor of Religious Freedom at . . . Read More

Another thumbs-down for SBY ‘statesman’ award

May 14, 2013 Indonesia Banten, Indonesia, Jakarta, Java, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono

Add another human-rights watchdog group to the list disapproving of the decision by the Appeal of Conscience Foundation to bestow its 2013 “World Statesman Award” to Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, widely known as SBY. The East Timor and Indonesia Action Network, or ETAN, has launched an online petition urging the . . . Read More

Indonesian clerics dispute president’s ‘world statesman’ award

May 10, 2013 Indonesia Aceh, Banten, Bekasi, Bogor, GKI Yasmin, HKBP Filadelfia, Jakarta, Java, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono

According to the Appeal of Conscience Foundation, Indonesia President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is a world statesman who promotes religious tolerance. According to the Clergy Forum of Jakarta, Banten and West Java in Indonesia, Yudhoyono turns a blind eye to oppression of minority religions in his own country. The forum on . . . Read More

Uptick in church closures, attacks in Indonesia

June 5, 2012 Indonesia Aceh, Banten, Bekasi, Churches, Indonesia, Jakarta, Java, Pentecostals, Southeast Asia, Sumatra, Tangerang

The number of violations of Christians’ religious rights in Indonesia reached 40 in the first five months of the year, nearly two-thirds the amount of anti-Christian actions in all of last year, according to the Jakarta Christian Communication Forum. The Christian minority in Indonesia faced 64 cases of violations of . . . Read More

Indonesia: anti-Christian incidents nearly doubled in 2011

January 4, 2012 Indonesia Banten, Bogor, Churches, GKI Yasmin, Indonesia, Jakarta, Java, Nahdlatul Ulama, Pentecostals, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono

Acts of violence and intolerance against Christians in Indonesia almost doubled in 2011, with an Islamist campaign to close down churches symbolizing the plight of the religious minority. The Indonesian Protestant Church Union, locally known as PGI, counted 54 acts of violence and other violations against Christians in 2011, up . . . Read More

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