Tag: Java

Indonesia sees reduction in religious freedom violations

January 24, 2018 Indonesia Ahok, Churches, Indonesia, Indonesian Ulema Council, Islamic Defenders Front, Jakarta, Java, Pentecostals, Religious freedom

In 2010, Bogor’s GKI Yasmin church was sealed and padlocked by order of the mayor and city government. They still hold Sunday services outside the church, and stage monthly services outside Indonesia’s Presidential Palace.. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

Indonesia saw fewer violations of religious freedom in 2017 than the year before, a national human rights group said this week, although it said it remained concerned about “the politicisation of religious and social differences”. In its ‘2017 Report on Religious Freedom and Religious Minorities in Indonesia’, the Setara Institute . . . Read More

Indonesia church leader charged with blasphemy

December 14, 2017 Indonesia Ahok, Blasphemy, Education, Human rights, Indonesia, Islamic extremism, Java, Joko Widodo, Muhammadiyah, Religious freedom, Southeast Asia, Tangerang, Youth

Inside a church in Indonesia. Villagers in Central Java requested the top of a burial cross to be cut before a Catholic was to be buried in what is a public cemetery but is regarded by Muslim groups as 'their' graveyard. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

An Indonesian church leader has been charged with blasphemy – the first case of its kind in the country – and could face five years in prison. Rev. Abraham Ben Moses, 52, was arrested and detained last week in his home town of Tangerang, Java, 25 km west of the capital, . . . Read More

Indonesia: Ahok’s accuser found guilty of hate speech

November 23, 2017 Indonesia Ahok, Blasphemy, Indonesia, Islamic extremism, Java, Muhammadiyah

Jakarta's governor arrives in court for his verdict and sentence in his blasphemy trial. Photo: Getty Images

A key figure behind the jailing of the Christian former Governor of Jakarta for blasphemy has been sentenced to one and a half years in jail for hate speech. However, a West Java court ruled on Tuesday (14 November) that the defendant, Buni Yani, should not be detained immediately. A . . . Read More

Indonesia: Christians cancel event Muslims say would have been ‘arena of apostasy’

October 25, 2017 Indonesia Apostasy, Indonesia, Indonesian Ulema Council, Islamic extremism, Java, Yogyakarta

Indonesian Christians planning to celebrate the 500th anniversary of Protestant Christianity were forced to abandon a stadium event following threats from Muslim hardliners. “For the sake of interreligious harmony … and to avoid acts of intolerance, the committee decided to call off the national prayer service to mark 500 years . . . 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

International Youth Day: Young Christians want to build peace

August 11, 2017 Global News -- No Particular Country Aleppo, Arauca, Asia-Pacific, Bangui, Blasphemy, Central African Republic, Colombia, Damascus, ELN, FARC, Indonesia, Iran, Jakarta, Java, Syria, UN, Venezuela, Yogyakarta, Youth

After years of war Colombia's young men and women want peace. (Photo: Open Doors International)

Ahead of the UN’s International Youth Day on 12 August, which this year has “Youth Building Peace” as its theme, World Watch Monitor takes a look at some of the challenges facing young Christians around the world and how they try to contribute to building peaceful societies. Many of the world’s . . . Read More

Indonesia: religious minorities ‘fearful’ of growing intolerance, says report

August 1, 2017 Indonesia Ahok, Bandung, Indonesia, Jakarta, Java, Yogyakarta

The sentencing of Jakarta's Christian Governor to prison on blasphemy charges, focuses the spotlight again on Indonesia's controversial Blasphemy Law.

A new report into religious freedom in Indonesia finds religious minorities are fearful that their country’s reputation as a “tolerant Muslim-majority nation” is being undermined by radical Islam’s growing influence on politics and society. The report by Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) highlights the case of Jakarta’s Christian former governor, Basuki . . . Read More

Indonesia’s social and political fabric stretched as bombs hit Jakarta

May 25, 2017 Indonesia Ahok, Bekasi, Blasphemy, Hizb ut-Tahrir, Indonesia, Indonesian Ulema Council, Jakarta, Java, Santa Clara

Churches in Jakarta are on high alert after Indonesia’s capital was the target yesterday (24 May) for two suicide bombers. The attacks killed three policemen based at a bus terminal ahead of policing for a pre-Ramadan parade. Yohanes Bao Keraf, head of security at St Joseph’s church, which is a . . . Read More

Concerns about tolerant Indonesia: 3 more churches closed

March 22, 2017 Indonesia Ahok, Bandung, Bekasi, Bogor, Churches, GKI Yasmin, Indonesia, Islamic extremism, JAD, Java, Joko Widodo, Santa Clara, Saudi Arabia

Church members of the Indonesian Christian Church (GKI) of Yasmin Bogor and the Batak Christian Church (HKBP) of Filadelfia Bekasi, along with inter-faith human rights activists and students of the Jakarta Art Institute, held the 100th open-air Sunday Service in front of State Palace in September 2015 after their church buildings were sealed in 2010. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

Indonesian authorities in Bogor, West Java, have banned three churches from holding religious activities. According to UCANews the Methodist Church Indonesia, Huria Batak Protestant Church and a house used by Catholics for catechism classes were ordered to close their doors. Local authorities said they could not guarantee the safety of the . . . Read More

Injured Indonesian boy, 4, ‘ashamed’ by wounds after 17th operation since November church attack

March 14, 2017 Indonesia Aceh, Bogor, Islamic State, Java, Joko Widodo, Kalimantan, Samarinda, Sumatra

Just over four months ago, on 13 November 2016, a two-year-old girl died after suffering 75% burns during a bomb attack on a church in Indonesia. Three other young children were also injured – Anita (also two), Trinity (three) and Alvaro (four) – during the attack on Oikumene Church in . . . Read More

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