September 19, 2010 on Al-Jazeera English
Dozens of Christians have defied police and threats of attack from Muslim groups to hold prayers inside their boarded-up church near the Indonesian capital.
The group held their Sunday service surrounded by hundreds of police and security guards, saying they had as much right as any Indonesian to worship in the Muslim-majority country.
Local officials had put the ban in place after two church leaders were attacked and seriously wounded by suspected Muslim hardliners last week.
Religulous countries. It isn't wonderful?
ReplyDeleteI've been to Indonesia and it's a beautyful place - in part because it's so culturally diverse. Even if it has the largest muslim population of all countries in the world it has an extraordinary mix of people, architecture, languages, food, and - so far - religions. It's a terrible shame if they are trying to wipe out the cultural rainbow and make Islam the supreme ruler of the intellectual and cultural space. Some parts of Indonesia (like Ache, in northern Sumatra) are truly fundamentalist places, and I'd hate to see that spread to become the norm. :/
ReplyDeleteThe only Christian argument that ever sounds the least bit convincing to me is when they claim that they're at least non-violent towards other faiths (now at least) and that it's more important to work together to stop Islam which is violent to the core. Again, not saying I'm convinced by it, but it's the only argument that ever gives me pause.
ReplyDeleteFirst there's the Christian uproar about the Islamic cultural center near Ground Zero, now this... such tribalist nonsense!
ReplyDeleteHitchens is right... religion does poison everything.
So basically the officer is saying "I'm not denying your rights because people here don't want you to pray either?"
ReplyDeleteThat's pretty fucked up.