Tag: Aceh

Indonesian laws thwart new church plans

April 28, 2016 Indonesia Aceh, Churches, Indonesia, Sharia

Protestant church leaders in Aceh, Indonesia are pushing for consistent application of Islamic law in the province, after the destruction of 10 churches in the last nine months, . Last August, a mob burned down the Pakpak Dairi Christian Protestant Church, killing one person and forcing thousands of Christians to . . . Read More

Indonesian churches celebrate Christmas without building – or even tent

December 27, 2015 Indonesia Aceh, Bogor, Java, Papua, Tangerang

Ten churches were destroyed in Aceh in the month of October alone.World Watch Monitor President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo on 23rd Dec promised a safe Christmas celebration throughout Indonesia. It’s the world’s most populous Muslim nation, but only one of its provinces applies sharia. Ten churches were destroyed in this . . . Read More

Church attack routs thousands of Indonesian Christians

October 20, 2015 Indonesia Aceh, Indonesia, Islamic Defenders Front, Papua, Sharia, Sumatra

Authorities in Indonesia’s Aceh region have started to tear down churches following last week’s religious violence that left at least one person dead and forced thousands of Christians to flee. Clashes broke out after Islamic hardliners burned down a church in Aceh Singkil on 13 Oct. According to local church . . . Read More

Indonesian Christians flee violent attacks

October 15, 2015 Indonesia Aceh, Churches, Indonesia

A church has been burnt down and another targeted in Indonesia’s Aceh province. Clashes broke out between Muslims and Christians following the arson on 13 October in the world’s most populous Muslim nation. One person was killed and dozens injured, while thousands of Christians fled the province, reports UCA News. . . . Read More

Indonesian church holds 100th service outside Presidential palace

September 24, 2015 Indonesia Aceh, Bogor, GKI Yasmin, Indonesia, Jakarta, Java, Joko Widodo, Muhammadiyah, Nahdlatul Ulama

At the heart of the world’s most populous Muslim-majority nation, in the megacity of Jakarta, Indonesia, a church this Sunday will hold its 100th open-air Sunday morning service next to a main road – because a city mayor is afraid to insist that a Supreme Court order is carried out. . . . Read More

Death threats for educational church visit

January 8, 2015 Indonesia Aceh, Indonesia, Islamic extremism, Sharia

UCAN, a Catholic news service in Asia, reports that an Indonesian university lecturer, Rosnida Sari, has received death threats after taking Muslim students on a trip to a Christian church. The threats began Jan. 5, after the Australia Plus website published an account by Sari, who teaches at the Islamic . . . Read More

Indonesia’s religious freedom ‘in peril’

February 26, 2014 Indonesia Aceh, Java, Religious freedom, Sumatra, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono

The Batak Protestant Church near Jakarta was torn down in March 2013, just after being built.World Watch Monitor A new report paints a bleak picture of religious freedom in Indonesia. Indonesia: Pluralism in Peril, which was launched at the UK Parliament yesterday (Feb. 25), says that in the world’s most . . . 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

Harsh era looms in Aceh, Indonesia

May 16, 2012 Indonesia Aceh, Bekasi, Churches, Indonesia

The election of a hard-line Islamic governor in Indonesia’s Aceh Province last month appears to have opened the way for a crack-down on the minority Christian community, which saw 17 churches sealed shut in early May. Emboldened by the April 9 election of Zaini Abdullah of the militant Aceh Party . . . Read More

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