An American, Australian ,Israeli, British "Judeo Christian Friendly " blog.

Quote

Warning to all Muslims the world over seeking asylum and protection from the manifestations of their faith.
Do not under any circumstances come to Australia, for we are a Nation founded upon Judeo Christian Law and principles and as such Australia is an anathema to any follower of the Paedophile Slave Trader Mohammad's cult of Islam.
There is no ideology more hated and despised in Australia than Islam.You simply would not like it here.
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Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities.
Voltaire French author, humanist, rationalist, & satirist (1694 - 1778)
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Those who demand you believe that Islam is a Religion of Peace also demand you believe in Anthropogenic Global Warming.
Aussie News & Views Jan 1 2009
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"But Communism is the god of discontent, and needs no blessing. All it needs is a heart willing to hate, willing to call envy “justice."
Equality then means the violent destruction of all social and cultural distinctions. Freedom means absolute dictatorship over the people."
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Take Hope from the Heart of Man and you make him a Beast of Prey
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“ If you will not fight for right when you can easily win without bloodshed; if you will not fight when your victory will be sure and not too costly; you may come to the moment when you will have to fight with all the odds against you and only a precarious chance of survival.
“There may be even a worse case. You may have to fight when there is no hope of victory, because it is better to perish than live as slaves”
Winston Churchill. Pg.310 “The Hell Makers” John C. Grover ISBN # 0 7316 1918 8
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------If language is not correct, then what is said is not what is meant; if what is said is not what is meant, then what must be done remains undone; if this remains undone, morals and art will deteriorate; if justice goes astray, the people will stand about in helpless confusion. Hence there must be no arbitrariness in what is said.
This matters above everything.
—Confucius
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'a socialist is communist without the courage of conviction to say what he really is'.
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Hontar: We must work in the world, your eminence. The world is thus.
Altamirano: No, Señor Hontar. Thus have we made the world... thus have I made it.
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Voltaire said: “If you want to know who rules over you, just find out who you are not permitted to criticize.”


--------Check this out, what an Bum WOW!!!!




When those sworn to destroy you,Communism, Socialism,"Change you can Believe in" via their rabid salivating Mongrel Dog,Islam,take away your humanity, your God given Sanctity of Life, Created in His Image , If you are lucky this prayer is maybe all you have left, If you believe in God and his Son,Jesus Christ, then you are, despite the evils that may befall you are better off than most.

Lord, I come before You with a heavy heart. I feel so much and yet sometimes I feel nothing at all. I don't know where to turn, who to talk to, or how to deal with the things going on in my life. You see everything, Lord. You know everything, Lord. Yet when I seek you it is so hard to feel You here with me. Lord, help me through this. I don't see any other way to get out of this. There is no light at the end of my tunnel, yet everyone says You can show it to me. Lord, help me find that light. Let it be Your light. Give me someone to help. Let me feel You with me. Lord, let me see what You provide and see an alternative to taking my life. Let me feel Your blessings and comfort. Amen.
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"The chief weapon in the quiver of all Islamist expansionist movements, is the absolute necessity to keep victims largely unaware of the actual theology plotting their demise. To complete this deception, a large body of ‘moderates’ continue to spew such ridiculous claims as “Islam means Peace” thereby keeping non-Muslims from actually reading the Qur’an, the Sira, the Hadith, or actually looking into the past 1400 years of history. Islamists also deny or dismiss the concept of ‘abrogation’, which is the universal intra-Islamic method of replacing slightly more tolerable aspects of the religion in favor of more violent demands for Muslims to slay and subdue infidels"

*DO NOT CLICK ON ANY SENDVID VIDEOS *


Anthropogenic Global Warming SCAM

Showing posts with label Geert Wilders Down Under. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Geert Wilders Down Under. Show all posts

Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Australia 2013 Who would have thought?


Free speech stoned to death

Miranda Devine 
The Sunday Telegraph
February 24, 2013 12:00AM

IF you needed proof that free speech in Australia is on the run, look at what happened when Dutch anti-Islam politician Geert Wilders came to town.

With 10 per cent of the vote in Holland, Wilders is a mainstream politician, leading the third largest political party in one of the most tolerant liberal democracies in the world. Yet in Australia he is treated like a pariah, denied a visa for months, and unable to secure a venue for his speaking tour in Perth.


Geert Wilders: Another Pignoramus from the Seven Network "Interviews" Geert Wilders




Instead of a "welcome to country" before he spoke to audiences in Sydney and Melbourne last week, organisers had to read aloud a statement of Victoria's racial and religious tolerant act.

As much as anything, this curious legal requirement adhered to by the Melbourne-based Q society which hosted Wilders, explains why Australians are open to his message of creeping Islamisation.

That and the enormous security needed to guard him from assassins 24-hours-a-day.

It is shameful that of all the Western democracies Geert Wilders has visited it turns out, Australia is the most repressive.

Not only did more than 30 venues refuse to host him or cancel at the last minute, politicians denounced him and in Melbourne protesters tried to block the entrance of the function hall where he was speaking and pushed at least one attendee to the ground in violent clashes.

This of course is great publicity for Wilders. When you meet him in person, he is much more normal than his image would suggest. The shock of hair isn't quite so yellow and he presents as a tall, well-dressed, quietly spoken, articulate politician with perfect English.

"I have no problem with Muslims," he said reasonably on a balcony in an undisclosed location on Sydney harbour, with yachts clinking nearby, and an armed bodyguard even nearer.

"The majority of them are not extremist. But there is no such thing as moderate Islam."

As proof he spoke of of gays being beaten up by Muslims in Amsterdam "once the most tolerant city in Europe", of high crime statistics for Moroccan youth in Holland, the over-representation of Somalis on welfare, of suburbs looking like Mecca. In Europe he says "it is almost too late, but Australia can learn from the mistakes."

He says although he is not religious, he feels a sense of "mission" which he loves, although he has had to sacrifice his freedom, living with his Hungarian-born wife Krisztina for nine years like a prisoner, surrounded by bodyguards, moving from safe house to safe house.

He is strongest on his attacks on cultural relativism which he calls "the biggest political disease which says that all cultures are equal.

"They are not. I'm proud to say our Judeo Christian humanist culture is much better than the barbaric Islamic culture."

It was a message that struck a chord in Sydney, on Friday night, at speeches hosted by the Q society, which is named after the Melbourne suburb of Kew where its first meeting was held, and is dedicated to "preserving western values and making the discussion of Islam a respectable topic of debate," says member Marshall Ahern, a Lidcombe businessman. Unlike in Melbourne, the unionists and student socialist groups protesting outside the Liverpool function hall on Friday night were fairly quiet.

"I don't think he should be able to come here and say disgusting racist ideas," said Amy Thomas, 26, a UTS arts student.

Inside, Wilders said he just wants the right to state his views without being killed or put on trial as he was in Holland. The threat of an assassin is real. Two weeks ago his friend, Lars Hedegaard, a 70-year-old Danish journalist and a critic of Islam, was shot at.

Wilders invited the audience to "make up your own mind on who I am and what I really stand for."

Then he claimed Sydney was the Australian city "where Islamisation has progressed the worst.

"This city needs to hear the truth about the dangerous ideology of Islam ."

He complained that he had to wait five weeks for a visa to Australia.

But a radical sheik who calls Jews "rats, apes and monkeys or the scum of the human race" and will be visiting Sydney in a few weeks, "gets a visa within a day".

He said he wanted to warn Australia about Islam which he claims is "predominantly a totalitarian ideology striving for world dominance.

"I believe Islam and freedom are incompatible.

"The more Islamic a society becomes the less free and tolerant it will be even when the majority of Muslims are tolerant."

He cited suburbs in Holland, France and in Europe which have become no go zones for non-Muslims, where gays are attacked, alcohol confiscated, non-Muslim women forced to cover up, polygamy and female genital mutilation practised and the police dare not enter. Do you want all this to happen in Australia," he asked.

"No" shouted the audience.

He claimed Australia is heading down the same path.

"Your country too is facing stealth Jihad, and Islamic attempts to introduce Sharia law bit by bit.

He pointed to a proposed "Muslim enclave in Riverstone" , a Sydney sheik "who performs female genital mutilation, women walk around in hijabs, banks offer financial services compliant with Sharia law, separate segregated swimming hours for Muslim women, universities cater to Sharia demands for students but at the same time refuse to allow me to speak at their premises."

There was applause when he explained his platform: "No Sharia ... No more mosques. No more immigration from Islamic countries." But he received his loudest applause when he slammed as "most dangerous of all are the attempts of governments all over our Western societies to draft bills that restrict our freedom of speech under the pretext of discrimination or hate speech.

"I say we have to let the law protect us against Islam instead of selling us out to it."

The second loudest applause came when he praised Israel.

Much of what he says about the difficulties of Muslim integration in Europe is true.

But I couldn't help but wonder how it would feel for the decent law-abiding Australian Muslims I know to sit in that room.

What is wrong with a Muslim women wearing a headscarf?

What is wrong with painting an arrow on the floor of a jail cell pointing to Mecca?

What is wrong with Muslims building a mosque to pray in?

And why keep calling Muhammed a paedophile?

Some of what Wilders says is calculated to cause offence, and so if he is snubbed, he can blame himself.

But you don't have to agree with everything he says to acknowledge that he has the right to say it.

And as one audience member on Friday night said: "If he's a far right extremist, he's the first one I've heard who supports Jews and gays."

Sunday, February 24, 2013

Geert Wilders and the Pig Ignorant David Koch of Seven Networks Sunrise program

Below are some references to how "Kochies" new best friends in Indonesia REALLY treat Christians in Indonesia.
I have not included any references to Bali Bombings 1 & 2 because he probably has a very short attention span and probably cannot remember those two events of mass slaughter of Australians and many many other foreign nationals. But hey remember he is in the ENTERTAINMENT Industry where the concepts of  facts, right and wrong and morals simply get in the way of what he thinks passes for ENTERTAINMENT and for the "Beautiful Progressive People" that's all that counts

Indonesia
Bogor City, 60 kilometres south of the Indonesian capital Jakarta, is reported to be one of the world’s most densely populated areas. And, although not an Islamic state, Indonesia is the world's most populous Muslim-majority nation, with 86.1% of ....
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 ....
No arrests have been made since 600 Islamists hurled bags filled with urine and ditchwater at about 100 members of a church last week and threatened to kill its pastor. Police looked on as the mob attacked the Philadelphia Batak Christian ....
Harsh Era Looms in Aceh, Indonesia   Published in 2012
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 ....
In a defeat for the rule of law in Indonesia, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has declined to enforce a Supreme Court ruling that a local government allow a West Java church to worship in its building. The Bogor city government revoked the ....
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 ....
The Bogor mayor’s refusal to obey a Supreme Court order to restore a congregation’s permit casts doubt on the ability of the Indonesian government to enforce the rule of law, according to a leading rights group. Muslim demonstrators and area ....
Members of a church in Bogor, West Java, are determined to continue meeting outside their sealed building each Sunday until they are granted freedom to worship inside it, despite a ban on street meetings issued by the local mayor. “The church will ....
The suicide bombing of a church in Central Java on Sept. 25 pointed not only to a new level of attacks on religious minorities in the world’s largest Muslim-majority country but to a political bent that accommodates Islamist extremism. ....
Indonesian police today identified the suicide bomber who detonated eight pipe bombs outside a church building in Solo, Central Java on Sunday (Sept. 25). The bomber, Ahmad Yosepa Hayat, killed himself and wounded at least 20 church members. “The ....
Suspected Islamists were behind the burning of three homes used as churches on Sumatra Island’s Riau Province this month, though a political motive may also have played a role, Christian leaders said. Muslim mobs burned the meeting places of a ....
A mayor in West Java who disregarded a Supreme Court ruling to reinstate the building permit of a church in Bogor has now dismissed a recommendation by the National Ombudsman Institute to do so. Bogor Mayor Diani Budiarto rejected the ....
On Feb. 6 in Indonesia, Muslim hardliners armed with machetes brutally murdered three members of a “blasphemous” Muslim sect in the village of Cikeusik, West Java. Five other members escaped with severe injuries; police were present but did not ....
A month that saw the Bogor city mayor defying a Supreme Court decision granting a building permit for a church in Bogor, West Java culminated in police turning away those seeking to worship – and church leaders today filing a police complaint on the ....
Human rights and Christian leaders said a West Java court’s light sentence for Islamic extremists who injured a church pastor and an elder will encourage more violence and religious intolerance.   After those involved in the Sept. 12, 2010 ....
Christian leaders faulted Indonesian authorities for security breaches that allowed Islamic extremist mobs this week to attack a defendant convicted of defaming Islam, the judge that sentenced him, two churches and a Christian school.   The ....
Violations of Christians’ religious freedom in Indonesia jumped from 12 incidents in 2009 to 75 last year, according to a report from the Setara Institute for Democracy and Peace. Setara Institute researcher Ismail Hasani said at a press conference ....
Government officials in West Java Province blocked one church from worshipping, and Islamic groups pressured authorities to seize the property of another during the Christmas season.   The Bogor Regency Administrative Leadership Council tried ....
Two and a half years after an Islamic attack on a seminary here left hundreds of students without facilities, they are still in temporary shelters and the government has not compensated the loss of eight buildings. Students from the Arastamar ....
In the wake of several attacks on worship services by Indonesia’s notorious Islamic Defenders Front (FPI), several Jakarta area church leaders rejected the FPI’s offer to help protect them over Christmas.   FPI leader Rizieq Shihab made the ....
About 200 demonstrators from hard-line Islamic organizations in West Java on Sunday (Dec. 12) disrupted the worship of a church in Rancaekek district, Bandung, driving more than 100 worshippers from the building. Members of the Islamic Defenders ....
After closing churches in West Java, South Sulawesi, Sumatra, and other provinces, hard-line Islamic organizations are now attempting to stop Christian worship in or near shopping malls. Dozens of people from Islamic organizations demonstrated in ....
More than 50 people from Islamic groups demonstrated against a church in West Java on Nov. 7, chanting for it to stop worshipping during its Sunday service, according to Muslim online news site Arrahmah.com. The King of Glory church of the ....
A church in Banten Province that has been in conflict with Muslim groups for more than two years was compelled to cease meeting in the pastor’s home last week in a bid to put an end to harassment and threats.   The Sepatan Baptist Christian ....
Islamic organizations have mounted a campaign against the planned construction of Mother Teresa Catholic Church in West Java Province, where Christian leaders report 20 other churches have faced Muslim hostility since 2009.   Muslim leaders ....
A West Java church has agreed to move temporarily to a government-selected site following Islamist harassment that included a Sept. 12 attack on two of its leaders. The Batak Christian Protestant Church (Huria Kristen Batak Protestan, or HKBP) in ....
Following attacks on their church leaders on Sept. 12, a West Java congregation on Sunday (Sept. 19) faced a wall of security officers blocking them from worshipping on their property as authorities tried to coax them to meet at another venue. ....
A year after a church in West Java won a court battle over whether it could erect a worship building, Islamic extremists have blocked construction through attacks and intimidation tactics, church leaders said. A mob of 50 Muslim extremists on Sept. ....
A court in West Java Province has revoked a local decree that forbade Christian activities of a church in Bekasi and has ordered officials to allow the Christians to establish a place of worship.   After months of conflict and legal battles, ....
An elder of a West Java church that Muslim groups attacked last month remains in critical condition after a motorcyclist stabbed him in the heart and stomach on his way to a service on Sunday (Sept. 12), according to Theophilus Bela, president of ....
The Bogor city government in West Java re-sealed the Gereja Kristen Indonesia (GKI) Yasmin Church on Aug. 28, one day after security police had removed the seal and lock.   Under cover of darkness, Bogor security police were ordered to ....
The country that is home to the world’s largest Muslim population celebrated its 65th Independence Day today amid a widespread sense of distrust in the government’s ability to check attacks on churches by Islamist groups. Muslims and Islamic ....
Police and local government officials joined forces with a Muslim mob to close a church in North Sumatra Province on July 30, with church leaders forced to promise never to hold services at the site. The Rev. Leritio Panjaitan of the Binanga HKBP ....
Leaders of a church in West Java, Indonesia demanded justice from police after a fifth attack from Muslim protestors left at least a dozen people injured yesterday. As some 20 members of the Batak Christian Protestant Filadelfia Church (HKBP ....
Around 300 Muslim protestors and 300 police officers surrounded members of the Batak Christian Protestant Church (Huria Kristen Batak Protestan or HKBP) on Sunday (Aug. 1) as they worshiped in an open field in Ciketing, Bekasi, local sources said. ....
Police Demolish Church House   Published in 2010
Public order personnel on Monday (July 19) supported Bogor police officers who demolished a house where a church regularly met in a village in Bogor Regency, West Java.   Clashes broke out with church members and others as police tore down ....
The Gereja Kristen Indonesia (GKI) Taman Yasmin Church in Bogor, West Java has filed a religious discrimination appeal with the United Nations Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief, church leaders said. Since April 11 the congregation ....
Muslim organizations in Bekasi, West Java, on Sunday (June 27) declared their intention to establish paramilitary units in local mosques and a “mission center” to oppose “ongoing attempts to convert people to Christianity,” according to the national ....
In a hearing in its lawsuit against a local government, a representative for a church that Bekasi, West Java officials summarily closed earlier this year told an administrative court that the action was unconstitutional. The Huria Kristen Batak ....
Hundreds of people calling themselves the Muslim Community of the Puncak Route last week burned buildings under construction belonging to a Christian organization in West Java Province. Believing that a church or school building was being built, ....
A local government official in Bekasi, West Java last week forbid all worship of the Filadelfia Huria Kristen Batak Protestan Church (HKBP) in Jejalan village. Regent Sa’duddin on April 12 ordered a halt to all activities of the church, including ....
An Islamic mob stopped construction of Santa Maria Immaculata Catholic Church in Citra Garden, West Jakarta earlier this month even as government officials in Yasmin Park, Bogor, West Java halted work on an Indonesian Christian Church (GKI) ....
Efforts by local officials in this city in West Java to close a church met with stiff resistance this month, as a defiant lawyer and weeping women refused to allow it. Women of the Huria Christian Protestant Batak Church (HKBP) cried in protest as ....
A court in West Java has reversed the revocation of a Catholic church’s building permit. The Purwakarta regency government had revoked the building permit for Santa Maria Catholic Church when Islamists threatened local residents and officials into ....
Hundreds of Muslims from outside the area where a 600-member church meets in West Java staged a protest there to call for its closure this month in an attempt to portray local opposition.   Demonstrators from 16 Islamic organizations, ....
Local governments have ordered the closure of two churches on Indonesia’s Java island.   Under pressure from Islamist groups, authorities ordered Christian Baptist Church in Sepatan, Tangerang district, Banten Province to cease services. In ....
Suspected Islamic extremists burned two church buildings under construction in a village in North Sumatra on Jan. 22.   The attackers came from outside the area to burn the partially constructed buildings of the Huria Kristen Batak Protestan ....
A moderate Muslim research institute focusing on interfaith issues in Indonesia reported 35 cases of government violations of religious freedom – including 28 against Christians – and 93 instances of community intolerance of churches in 2009. ....
More than 1,000 people protested the Christmas Eve service of a church meeting in a makeshift facility in Bekasi, West Java. Christians of the Filadelfia Huria Kristen Batak Protestan Church (HKBP) fearfully held their service, including the ....
Hundreds of Muslims celebrated the eve of the Islamic New Year last Thursday (Dec. 17) by attacking a Catholic church building under construction in Bekasi, West Java.   A crowd of approximately 1,000 men, women and children from the Bebalan ....
Some 1,000 seminary students are resisting efforts to evict them from the former municipal building of West Jakarta where they have taken refuge after Muslim protestors drove them from their campus last year.   On Oct. 27 officials began ....
In the past week hundreds of students from Arastamar Evangelical Theological Seminary (SETIA) were evicted from two sites where they had taken refuge after Muslim protestors drove them from their campus last year.   With about 700 students ....
The regent of Purwakarta regency, West Java has revoked his decision to permit construction of a Catholic worship building in Cinanka village after Islamists threatened residents into withdrawing their approval of the project. Dedi Mulyadi on Oct. ....
Approximately 700 students from Arastamar Evangelical Theological Seminary (SETIA) are facing eviction at the end of the month from a campground where Muslim protestors drove them last year. Education will end for students who have been living in ....
Two churches in the greater Jakarta area have received bomb threats. In East Jakarta, the pastor of a Batak Protestant Christian Church (Huria Kristen Batak Protestan, or HKBP) on Bogor Street received a threatening phone call before Sunday services ....
Several Islamic organizations have pressed officials in a sub-district near Indonesia’s capital city to forbid Jakarta Christian Baptist Church to worship in a house, resulting in an order to cease services. The Islamic Defenders Front (FPI), ....
Christians have won a court battle restoring the right to worship in their building in Depok City, West Java.Depok Mayor Nur Mahmudi Ismail on March 27 had revoked the building permit for a multipurpose building and house of worship for Gereja Huria ....
The Indonesian Council of Churches (PGI) has called for the rejection of two bills inspired by sharia (Islamic law).  The Halal Product Guarantee Bill and the Zakat Obligatory Alms Management Bill, both under consideration in the Indonesian ....
JAKARTA, August 19 (Compass Direct News) – The Indonesian Council of Churches (PGI) has called for the rejection of two bills inspired by sharia (Islamic law). The Halal Product Guarantee Bill and the Zakat Obligatory Alms Management Bill, both ....
Members of several Muslim organizations joined a demonstration on June 27 to protest construction of a Huria Kristen Batak Protestant (HKBP) church building in Plaju, outside of Palembang, capital of South Sumatra Province.  The South Sumatra ....
Muslims Order Halt to Church Building   Published in 2009
JAKARTA, July 15 (Compass Direct News) – Members of several Muslim organizations joined a demonstration on June 27 to protest construction of a Huria Kristen Batak Protestant (HKBP) church building in Plaju, outside of Palembang, capital of South ....
Christians have stood up for their rights in two key cases the last few weeks in heavily Muslim Indonesia. Members of the Huria Kristen Batak Protestan Church (HKBP) in Cinere village, Depok, West Java appeared in court on June 29 to contest ....
JAKARTA, July 7 (Compass Direct News) – Christians have stood up for their rights in two key cases the last few weeks in heavily Muslim Indonesia. Members of the Huria Kristen Batak Protestan Church (HKBP) in Cinere village, Depok, West Java ....
An Islamic group in West Sumatra province, Indonesia, has issued threats against Dominikus Supriyanto, the only Catholic to win a seat in the district legislature in recent general elections, warning him that he should convert to Islam if he wants ....
JAKARTA, May 18 (Compass Direct News) – An Islamic group in West Sumatra province, Indonesia, has issued threats against Dominikus Supriyanto, the only Catholic to win a seat in the district legislature in recent general elections, warning him that ....
JAKARTA, May 11 (Compass Direct News) – Officials of the Arastamar School of Theology (SETIA) in Jakarta are considering the purchase of a new campus site after violent protests last July led to the eviction of 1,400 students and staff members. ....
Officials of the Arastamar School of Theology (SETIA) in Jakarta are considering the purchase of a new campus site after violent protests last July led to the eviction of 1,400 students and staff members. Indonesian officials on May 1 inspected land ....
Mayor Revokes Church Permit   Published in 2009
JAKARTA, Indonesia, May 5 (Compass Direct News) – Church members in Depok city, West Java, are unable to use their church building after the mayor, citing protests from area Muslims, revoked a permit issued in 1998. Under a Joint Ministerial Decree ....
Mayor Revokes Church Permit   Published in 2009
Church members in Depok city, West Java, are unable to use their church building after the mayor, citing protests from area Muslims, revoked a permit issued in 1998. Under a Joint Ministerial Decree (SKB) issued in 1969 and revised in 2006, all ....
As candidates hit the campaign trail in preparation for Indonesia’s presidential election in July, rights groups have voiced strong opposition to an increasing number of sharia-inspired laws introduced by local governments. They say the laws ....
DUBLIN, February 2 (Compass Direct News) – As candidates hit the campaign trail in preparation for Indonesia’s presidential election in July, rights groups have voiced strong opposition to an increasing number of sharia-inspired laws introduced by ....
Destroyed building in LetwaruAMBON, Indonesia, December 17 (Compass Direct News) – Government officials in Central Maluku, Indonesia, yesterday promised to reconstruct before Christmas two church buildings and a number of houses set ablaze last week ....
JAKARTA, October 27 (Compass Direct News) – Over 1,000 students forced from the Arastamar Evangelical School of Theology (SETIA) in East Jakarta have now moved into an abandoned mayor’s office in Jakarta after management at the Bumi Perkemahan ....
Syaiful Hamzah and wife Tiolida SihotangJAKARTA, September 25 (Compass Direct News) – Residents in North Jakarta have ordered the pastor of a small congregation to cease holding services in his home, despite a letter of permission issued by the ....
Pastor Assaulted, Threatened   Published in 2008
GMKI Chairman Charles HutahaeanJAKARTA, September 18 (Compass Direct News) – A Public Order official’s colleagues kicked Charles Hutahaean, chairman of the Indonesian Christian Students’ Movement (GMKI) in Jakarta, in the stomach last week and ....
JAKARTA, September 3 (Compass Direct News) – A land dispute led to two attacks on the headquarters of the Indonesian Christian Students’ Movement (GMKI) and its parent ministry, the Alliance of Indonesian Churches (PGI), last week (August 26 and ....
Students worship at campgroundJAKARTA, August 28 (Compass Direct News) –The manager of a campground in East Jakarta this week asked staff members and 600 female students from a theological college who had taken refuge there to leave and pay stiff ....
Protest banners on churchJAKARTA, August 19 (Compass Direct News) – On Sunday (August 17) a Muslim mob stormed a church service in Cipayung, East Jakarta, forcing Christians to flee and then erecting banners in the street declaring a ban on ....
Attacked Student Marthen LaloJAKARTA, July 31 (Compass Direct News) – For a second consecutive night some 580 students from the Arastamar Evangelical School of Theology (SETIA) in East Jakarta slept in the lobby of Indonesia’s parliament yesterday ....
JAKARTA, July 24 (Compass Direct News) – Officials in Cipayung district, East Jakarta, have ordered Pastor Chris Ambessa of the Protestant Church of Indonesia to dismantle the newly constructed second floor of his home and to cease all religious ....
Religious Tensions Rise in West Papua   Published in 2008
DUBLIN, July 14 (Compass Direct News) – Authorities in West Papua, Indonesia, must move fast to prevent tension between Christian and Muslim communities escalating into a Malukan-style conflict, according to a recent report by the International ....
Church in West Java Bulldozed   Published in 2008
Bulldozed Cirebeum village churchJAKARTA, July 8 (Compass Direct News) – Public Order officials on June 26 demolished a church building in Cimahi regency of Bandung district, West Java, to make way for a new shopping mall and bus terminal after ....
JAKARTA, June 24 (Compass Direct News) – Local authorities accompanied by an Islamist mob attempted to demolish two buildings in a church compound used by three congregations in Jatimulya village, West Java province on June 14. The initial ....
JAKARTA, June 5 (Compass Direct News) – Members of the Islamic Defenders’ Front (FPI) in Tangerang, Banten province, confronted and threatened to kill church leader Bedali Hulu yesterday as he visited his elderly mother-in-law in a rented home ....
Police protecting churchJAKARTA, May 6 (Compass Direct News) – Muslim extremists and local government authorities last week threatened to tear down a church building under construction in North Sumatra even though church leaders met requirements of ....
110 Churches Closed in Three Years   Published in 2008
JAKARTA, April 2 (Compass Direct News) – Islamic extremist groups and local governments in Indonesia closed 110 churches from 2004 to 2007, according to religious and human rights organizations. The Wahid Institute, a moderate Muslim ....
JAKARTA, March 10 (Compass Direct News) – Islamic protestors have halted worship at a church on Sumatra island and at another church on Java island, even as several other churches remain closed after suffering attacks last year. The congregation of ....
DUBLIN, February 27 (Compass Direct News) – Almost eight months have passed since Dr. Rebekka Zakaria, Eti Pangesti and Ratna Bangun walked free from a prison in Indramayu, West Java, having served two years of a three-year sentence for allegedly ....
Prospects for Peace Increase in Poso   Published in 2008
DUBLIN, February 18 (Compass Direct News) – Early on the morning of October 29, 2005, extremists waylaid four teenage girls in Poso, Indonesia. They beheaded Theresia Morangke, Alfita Poliwo and Yarni Sambue, while Noviana Malewa, the only survivor, ....
LOS ANGELES, December 4 (Compass Direct News) – Three Islamic extremists were sentenced yesterday to 19, 14 and 10 years in prison respectively for beheading three Christian teenage girls and shooting two others non-fatally in 2005. A South Jakarta ....
GKBJ Sepatan church membersJAKARTA, December 3 (Compass Direct News) – Attacking the house of a Baptist pastor and protesting the presence of a Catholic temple, radical Muslim groups got authorities to close down two churches in the past two weeks. ....
JAKARTA, June 21 (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 ....
The teachers with their release papers. DUBLIN, June 8 (Compass Direct News) – A small crowd gathered to welcome Dr. Rebekka Zakaria, Eti Pangesti and Ratna Bangun as they walked free from the Indramayu district prison in West Java, ....
BANGKOK, April 4 (Compass Direct News) – Justice dispensed in Indonesia’s religious conflicts seems to favor Muslims over Christians following relatively light sentences given to three Muslim extremists who beheaded three Christian high school girls ....
JAKARTA, January 19 (Compass Direct News) – An Islamic extremist on Wednesday (January 17) admitted to taking part in the killing of three Christian high school girls in Poso in 2005. He also confessed to shooting the Rev. Susianty Tinulele to death ....
JAKARTA, January 16 (Compass Direct News) – Police in Central Sulawesi last Thursday (January 11) raided the home of one of 29 Islamic terrorists suspected of carrying out violent attacks on Christians. A suspect was killed in the raid – as was an ....
JAKARTA, January 10 (Compass Direct News) – A 200-strong mob prevented a church here from holding a Christmas Eve service in what was an otherwise peaceful holiday season in Indonesia. Some Muslim groups even provided protection for churches ....
November 22 (Compass Direct News) – One of three Muslim extremists on trial for beheading three Christian teenagers in Poso, Indonesia, in October 2005 has admitted his role in the attacks. A group of machete-wielding men ambushed Theresia Morangke, ....
November 16 (Compass Direct News) – Muslim extremists in West Java attempted to murder a Christian lecturer in mid-October for converting from Islam three years ago. The lecturer at various theological schools, whose name was withheld for security ....
Angry Mob Attacks Church in Aceh,   Published in 2006
September 8 (Compass Direct News) – A pastor and his wife living in Aceh province, Indonesia, have gone into hiding after a Muslim mob set fire to a church building following a revival service on September 1. Several weeks ago, Pastor Luther Saragih ....
May 12 (Compass Direct) – Police in Indonesia announced Wednesday (May 10) that suspected Islamic terrorists have confessed to beheading three Indonesian schoolgirls in Poso, on the island of Sulawesi, in October 2005. Five of the suspected ....
Radical Muslims Stop Church Services   Published in 2006
May 2 (Compass Direct) – Radical Muslims in mid-April forced three churches to cease services in North Jakarta and the provinces of West Java and Tangerang, claiming the meetings were disturbing Islamic communities. On April 17, a group of ....
Sarah Fifi and husbandApril 25 (Compass Direct) – A Muslim community group called Majlis Taklim on April 9 entered the premises of a Christian social institution in West Java, Indonesia, demanding its closure for the fifth time this year. The ....
March 27 (Compass) – A mob of some 200 Muslim vigilantes forced Christians in Bogor, West Java, to abandon their church service on Sunday, The Jakarta Post reported today. Police were present but failed to stop the mob, composed of residents from ....
March 21 (Compass) – A local council in West Java has warned several congregations in the Rancaekek Kencana housing complex in Bandung to abandon their “nomadic” cell group system, which allows limited numbers of Christians to meet together in ....
January 24 (Compass) – Judges at Indonesia’s Constitutional Court on January 17 ruled that the Child Protection Act is in line with the constitution and should not be amended. The Rev. Ruyandi Hutasoit of the Prosperous Peace Party had challenged ....
January 19 (Compass) – Local government officials in Bandung, West Java, have ordered eight house churches in the Rancaekek Kencana housing complex to cease meeting in private homes starting last Sunday (January 15). Each church received the order ....
January 6 (Compass) – The Indonesian government has established a new Security Operation Command, or kopskam, to investigate violence in Central Sulawesi following a New Year’s Eve bomb explosion in Palu that killed eight people. The bomb, which ....
Eti Pangesti, Ratna Bangun and Rebekka Zakaria December 21 (Compass) – Dr. Rebekka Zakaria, one of three women imprisoned for breaching Indonesia’s Child Protection Law, had secretly prayed to be home for Christmas. Zakaria conveyed this wish ....
December 16 (Compass) – Following the closure of scores of churches in the past two years, the Indonesian government is revising a controversial law that regulates places of worship. But Christian leaders fear the changes would do little to keep ....
November 21 (Compass) – Indonesian Christians are in shock today as details emerge of two vicious attacks over the weekend on a Christian couple and three teenagers in the town of Palu, Central Sulawesi. Motorbike riders shot a man and woman at ....
November 16 (Compass) – Denied permits and ordered not to worship in public or at home, churches in East Bekasi, West Java, have taken temporary refuge in a Social Affairs Agency office. Trouble for the churches began in September, when local ....
November 9 (Compass) – Unidentified assailants yesterday shot two senior high school students in Indonesia’s Poso district, Central Sulawesi, just 10 days after the beheading of three Christian teenage girls. Ivon, so far identified only by her ....
Radical Muslims Halt Church Building   Published in 2005
October 28 (Compass) – At a site in the West Java town of Cikarang Baru where a Christian church was under construction, there used to be a banner that read, “This property is sealed off by Muslims.”The banner may be gone, but in its place local ....
Eti Pangesti, Ratna Bangun and Rebekka ZakariaSeptember 23 (Compass) – Three women accused of “Christianization” have appealed the conviction handed down by an Indonesian court on September 1. Rebekka Zakaria, Eti Pangesti and Ratna Bangun were ....
Eti Pangesti, Ratna Bangun and Rebekka ZakariaSeptember 1 (Compass) -- Indonesian judges today sentenced three women to three years in prison for allowing Muslim children to attend a Christian Sunday school program. Rebekka Zakaria, Eti ....
Eti Pangesti, Ratna Bangun and Rebekka Zakaria August 30 (Compass) -- A verdict is expected on September 1 for three Christian women in Indonesia accused of attempting to convert Muslim children. Eti Pangesti, Ratna Bangun and Rebekka Zakaria were ....
Eti Pangesti, Ratna Bangun, and Rebekka Zakaria August 2 (Compass) -- Hostile spectators filled a courtroom in West Java, Indonesia on July 28 as the fifth hearing in a controversial trial against three Christian women began. The women were ....
July 29 (Compass) -- An angry mob has twice attacked a boarding house at a theological school in Pulo village, Makasar district, east Jakarta, causing more than $10,000 in damage. The Arastamar Theological School boarding house, still under ....
Three Women Arrested, Charged   Published in 2005
Dr. Rebekka Zakaria, Eti Pangesti and Ratna Bangun June 23 (Compass) -- A Muslim council has accused three Indonesian women of attempting to convert Muslim children. Dr. Rebekka Zakaria, Eti Pangesti and Ratna Bangun were arrested on May 13 and ....
Muslim Leaders Push for Islamic Law   Published in 2005
June 9 (Compass) — In the wake of the May 28 bombing in Tentena, both Muslim and Christian leaders have expressed concern about corruption and violence in Indonesia. Some Muslim leaders say the bombing is yet another reason why Indonesia should ....
Rev. Rinaldy DamanikJune 6 (Compass) — The Rev. Rinaldy Damanik chaired an interfaith dialogue on May 29, a day after two bombs exploded in the predominantly Christian refugee town of Tentena, in Poso district, Central Sulawesi, Indonesia. The ....
Two Bombs Kill Christians in Tentena   Published in 2005
May 31 (Compass) — Two bombs, timed to inflict the greatest possible damage, exploded in a refugee village for Christians in Tentena, Indonesia, on Saturday morning, killing 21 people and injuring 49. The first bomb exploded at around 8:15 a.m., May ....
Pastor Still Missing   Published in 2005
April 4 (Compass) -- The family of the Rev. Jokran Ratu, kidnapped four months ago on a remote Indonesian island, still does not know whether he is dead or alive. No ransom demand has been received and police have not apprehended the kidnappers. ....
January 11 (Compass) -- More than 30 churches in West Java, Indonesia are still searching for approved worship facilities after objections from Muslim neighbors forced them to close in 2004. Recently, the Huria Kristen Batak Protestan Betania ....
December 22 (Compass) — Police in Indonesia pledged today to provide tighter security for churches during Christmas and New Year celebrations, after one of their own was arrested in connection with the murder of a Christian village chief on the ....
December 14 (Compass) -- Assailants simultaneously attacked two churches in the town of Palu, Central Sulawesi, during church services on Sunday night, injuring at least three people. A bomb exploded at Emanuel church in downtown Palu in the early ....
Pastor Kidnapped, Still Missing   Published in 2004
December 13 (Compass) — Villagers on a small Indonesian island who recently joined a search for their missing pastor found only a red T-shirt with three bullet holes in it, lying on the beach near his home.At press time, Rev. Jarok Ratu, 35, of ....
Pastor Kidnapped, Still Missing   Published in 2004
December 13 (Compass) -- Rev. Jarok Ratu, 35, is still missing 10 days after a group of unidentified men kidnapped him in the early hours of December 3. National media reports suggested the kidnappers were looking for funds recently donated for the ....
Church Closing Sparks Public Debate   Published in 2004
November 18 (Compass) -- Members of a Protestant church in Indonesia are still waiting for resolution on an incident with Muslim neighbors, who attacked the church on October 24. The church was then closed down by authorities. According to Komintra ....
November 10 (Compass) -- Rev. Rinaldy Damanik walked free from his cell at the Maesa Detention Center in Palu, Sulawesi, on November 9 after authorities granted him an early release. A smiling Damanik greeted the small crowd of friends and reporters ....
Rev. Damanik leaves prisonNovember 10 (Compass) — Rev. Rinaldy Damanik walked free from his cell at the Maesa Detention Center in Palu, Sulawesi, on November 9 after authorities granted him an early release. A smiling Damanik greeted the small crowd ....
November 1 (Compass) -- Heated disputes over a Catholic school in Tangerang, Indonesia, have yet to be fully resolved despite a meeting between government ministers and local residents on October 27. A district official had allowed Catholic ....
October 29 (Compass) -- More than 1,000 people remained in temporary accommodations this week, afraid to go home after conflict erupted between Christians and Muslims living in Mamasa regency, Sulawesi, Indonesia. The dispute arose over a law that ....
Man Shot in Church   Published in 2004
October 27 (Compass) -- Unidentified snipers shot and injured Hans Sanipi, a 25-year-old Christian, in Sulawesi, Indonesia, on October 21. Residents of Sulawesi and neighboring Ambon island also found caches of homemade bombs in the third week of ....
Five Die as Sulawesi Turns Violent   Published in 2004
October 20 (Compass) -- Gunmen killed a 25-year-old Hindu woman and injured two Christian men in an attack in Central Sulawesi on October 13. Police said they believed the attack in Poso Pesisir district was committed by the same group who shot ....
Early Release for Pastor   Published in 2004
September 29 (Compass) — On Saturday, September 25, imprisoned pastor Rinaldy Damanik celebrated his 45th birthday. However on Monday, September 27, he had far greater cause for celebration when police announced he would be released in November 2004 ....
GSK church in Bekasi attacked August 29September 29 (Compass) — Local authorities recently ordered 12 churches in the sub-district of Rancaekek, Bandung, Indonesia, to close their doors. The order came after Muslim clerics protested that the ....
September 29 (Compass) — Local authorities recently ordered 12 churches in Rancaekek to close their doors. The order came after Muslim leaders protested that the churches were meeting illegally. The congregations had applied as early as 1993 for ....
Early Release for Indonesian Pastor   Published in 2004
Rev. Damanik on July 29, 2004September 29 (Compass) — On Saturday, September 25, Rev. Damanik — an Indonesian pastor imprisoned under what many believe were false charges — celebrated his 45th birthday.But on Monday, September 27, he had far greater ....
August 11 (Compass) — Police are still searching for the killers of Rev. Susianty Tinulele, a 26-year-old pastor shot on July 18 at Efatah church in Palu, Central Sulawesi, Indonesia. President Megawati Sukarnoputri has ordered an all-out manhunt ....
August 11 (Compass) — Police are still searching for the killers of Rev. Susianty Tinulele, a 26-year-old pastor shot on July 18 at Efatah church in Palu, Central Sulawesi, Indonesia. President Megawati Sukarnoputri has ordered an all-out manhunt ....
Death Toll Rises in Sulawesi   Published in 2004
July 22 (Compass) — Indonesians are mourning the deaths of the Rev. Susianty Tinulele, 26, and Desrianti Tengkede, 17, killed by unidentified gunmen during worship services at the Central Sulawesi Christian Church (GKST) in Efatah on July 18. ....
Death Toll Rises in Sulawesi   Published in 2004
July 22 (Compass) — Christians from many church backgrounds in Palu, Indonesia, attended a funeral on July 20 for Rev. Susianty Tinulele, age 26, and Desrianti Tengkede, 17. Both were victims of a drive-by shooting that occurred at their church on ....
June 7 (Compass) -- Mobs armed with sticks attacked four churches in Banten province, Indonesia, on Sunday June 6, doing minor damage to church furniture and windows. Attackers punched one pastor in the head, although he was not seriously injured. ....
June 1 (Compass) -- Open Doors reported today that Rev. Rinaldy Damanik, an Indonesian pastor imprisoned since September 2002 under what many believe are false charges, has had a “miraculous” recovery from serious kidney problems. Damanik’s transfer ....
May 4 (Compass) — Rev. Rinaldy Damanik, a pastor who many believe was framed on false charges of “illegal weapons possession,” has finally received permission to travel to Jakarta for urgent medical treatment. Damanik has been in and out of the ....
Violence Flares Again in Ambon   Published in 2004
May 4 (Compass) — Sectarian violence has erupted again in Ambon, on the South Moluccan islands of Indonesia. The flashpoint came on Sunday, April 25, when the independence party FKM-RMS celebrated their 54th anniversary by hoisting banned flags. The ....
More Churches Forced to Close   Published in 2004
February 24 (Compass) — Several churches in Banten province, Indonesia, were closed on January 25 following protests by local residents. The churches met in rented facilities at the Makhota Mas shopping center in Tangerang city. The same day, a ....
Protestant Churches Sustain Attacks   Published in 2004
January 26 (Compass) — Muslim protestors have attacked at least four churches over the past three weeks in the regions of East Java, West Java and North Sumatra, Indonesia. A crowd of approximately 100 people attacked the Gereja Protestan Indonesia ....
(Compass) -- Yanuardi Koto, the second of Indonesia’s “Padang Six” to be released in 2003, will celebrate this Christmas and New Year with family and friends. Sources in Indonesia believe the Padang Six were victims of an elaborate Muslim sting ....
(Compass) — On November 13, Indonesia’s House of Representatives endorsed the move to divide the territory now known as Papua into three separate provinces, despite strong opposition. Sources in Indonesia say this move has the potential of crowding ....
Deaths Mark Renewed Violence In Poso   Published in 2003
(Compass) — Fifty-eight-year-old Oranje Tadjodja, Treasurer of the Synod of the Protestant Church in Central Sulawesi, Indonesia, was found battered to death on November 16, along with his nephew Yohannes Tadjodja, 26, whose throat was cut. The ....
(Compass) — Indonesian Christians in Old Beteleme (Bethlehem), Central Sulawesi, suffered a night-time attack that left two people dead, six missing and 38 homes destroyed. Shortly after midnight on October 11, villagers heard white-clad assailants ....
(Compass) — Villagers in Central Sulawesi are fleeing for their lives in reaction to recent attacks on four villages. Following the October 11 attack on the village of Old Beteleme, a further assault was launched in the early hours of October 12 on ....
Indonesian Christians who have lived in the village of Old Beteleme (Bethlehem), Central Sulawesi, since being displaced by a three-year wave of religious violence suffered a night-time attack Friday that left two people dead, six missing and 38 ....
(Compass) — Christians in Indonesia have issued an urgent call for prayer for the release of Rev. Rinaldy Damanik, whose prison detention in Palu, Central Sulawesi, should have ended on September 15, according to Indonesian law. That day, Damanik’s ....
(Compass) — In recent weeks, anonymous assailants have targeted Christian churches in Indonesia with attempted bombings and bomb threats. The latest attempt occurred on Sunday, September 28, at the Gereja Kristen Sulawesi Tengah (GKST) church, Tojo ....
(Compass) — Because of ongoing threats from Muslim activists, the Jakarta Baptist Church in Kali Jaya, Tangerang province, has been unable to worship in its sanctuary since mid May. Several hundred villagers led by Muslim clergyman Sanusi Syafei ....
Duma Emerges from Tragedy   Published in 2003
(Compass) — The village of Duma on the island of Halmahera, Indonesia, is one of many communities in the Maluku Islands (also known as the Moluccas) to take tentative steps toward recovery from a violent Muslim-Christian conflict that has claimed a ....
(Compass) — In a new twist on Indonesia’s controversial education bill, the Department of Religion has asked a Christian Bible school to provide training for teachers who will work in state-run schools. The new National Education System Bill, passed ....
(Compass) — The bombing of the Marriott Hotel in Jakarta on August 5 has contributed to fears of a rising wave of terrorism in Indonesia. The Christian community is a particular target. Members of the Al-Qaeda-linked terrorist group Jemaah Islamiyah ....
Bali Bombing Unites Churches   Published in 2003
(Compass) — Following last October’s bombing of a Bali nightclub, Christians have made an effort to unite in their response to the tragedy. “This has brought a spirit of shame over a large section of the Bali community, with a subsequent opening to ....
(Compass) — The Central Sulawesi High Court upheld the guilty verdict reached in June in the trial of Rev. Rinaldy Damanik. The Indonesian pastor and his lawyers are still awaiting a formal confirmation of the verdict from the High Court judges ....
Hopes of Peace in Poso Marred   Published in 2003
(Compass) — Violent incidents reported in July in the Poso region of Central Sulawesi have again marred hopes of peace. On the afternoon of July 10, Julius Ledo Pamini, a 32-year-old Torajan Christian, was shot dead while working on his plantation. ....
Churches Destroyed, Pastor Murdered   Published in 2003
(Compass) — Violence has continued against Christians in Indonesia in recent weeks, with attacks on churches and the murder of a pastor. The situation in the Bekasi region has been tense since Muslim militants threatened to destroy unregistered ....
(Compass) — Leaders of religious groups have called for an independent investigation into the recent crackdown by the Indonesian military in Wamena, a district in the Central Highlands of Papua. The Baptist World Alliance reported that the ....
Pastor to Appeal Prison Sentence   Published in 2003
(Compass) — Indonesian pastor Rinaldy Damanik, charged with illegal weapons possession, plans to appeal a three-year sentence imposed on him June 16. Supporters met with Damanik and agreed to mount an appeal to free him because they are convinced he ....
(Compass) — Around 15,000 Protestants and Catholics marched through the streets of Jakarta on June 5 in protest of a new education bill endorsed by the government on June 11. Under article 13 of the proposed law, a Christian school with 10 or more ....
Civil War Adds to Religious Tension   Published in 2003
(Compass) — Christians in the province of Aceh in northern Indonesia have faced huge challenges since the adoption of sharia law on March 4. When the law was first introduced last March, Muslim clerics declared that sharia would only affect the ....
(Compass) — An Indonesian court is preparing to pass sentence on Rev. Rinaldy Damanik on charges of illegal weapons possession. According to sources closely monitoring the case, prosecutors are expected to ask for a five-year prison term for the ....
(Compass) — Politicians in Indonesia have postponed endorsement of a controversial new education bill. Legislators hoped to endorse the bill on May 8 to mark celebrations of National Education Day. However, protests from teachers and religious ....
Muslim Radicals Harass Churches   Published in 2003
(Compass) — Churches in Bekasi, West Java, are facing renewed threats. Radical Muslim groups such as the Front Hizbullah, supported by the local government, are destroying unlicensed church buildings and ordering Christians to cease their religious ....
(Compass) — Rev. Robert Marthinus, an Indonesian pastor jailed in July 1999 in Padang, West Sumatra, was released from prison on April 22. He served more than three years and nine months for allegedly proselytizing a Muslim girl, what Indonesian ....
Damanik Trial Reveals Irregularities   Published in 2003
(Compass) — The selection of witnesses in the trial of Christian peacemaker Rev. Rinaldy Damanik is now underway in Palu, Central Sulawesi. According to a fact-finding team from Jubilee Campaign, Damanik’s lawyers closely questioned three policemen ....
(Compass) -- On February 26, the trial of Rev. Rinaldi Damanik was adjourned because the defendant had been admitted to a hospital with suspected hepatitis. Damanik, the general secretary of the Central Sulawesi Protestant Church Synod, faces ....
Islamic Court Opens For Business   Published in 2003
(Compass) -- Indonesia’s first Islamic court opened in the troubled northwest province of Aceh on March 3 as thousands celebrated. The Aceh legislature recently instituted sharia, the Islamic legal system based on the teachings of the Quran. The new ....
Christian Peacemaker Faces Trial   Published in 2003
(Compass) -- The Rev. Rinaldi Damanik, General Secretary of the Synod of the Protestant Church of Central Sulawesi, went on trial in a Palu court February 3, accused of carrying weapons while traveling between Christian villages under attack in ....
Minister Held Without Charges   Published in 2003
(Compass) — Church leader and peace advocate Rev. Rinaldy Damanik spent the holiday season in prison, even though Indonesian authorities cannot make a case for accusations against him. Christian leaders fear for his safety. Since June 2000, Muslim ....
(Compass) -- Scores of Christians blocked streets and prevented a police helicopter from landing in the city of Tentena on September 3, thus foiling an attempt to arrest the Rev. Rinaldy Damanik, secretary-general of the Synod of the Christian ....
Ambon Peace Process Barely Intact   Published in 2002
(Compass) — The precarious peace between Muslims and Christians on the island of Ambon continued to hold, despite extremists detonating bombs in the predominantly Christian area of Mardika on July 27. The blast area included a polytechnic school, ....
(Compass) - Maluku church leaders appealed to the United Nations secretary-general on Sunday, April 28, as “their only hope” to protect them from Muslim extremism and official government discrimination. The appeal follows a difficult week on eastern ....
(Compass) - Indonesia’s major religious leaders planned to visit Ambon in mid April to lend moral support to local leaders who are standing up for peace in this strife-torn area of eastern Indonesia. The visit will take place in the tense aftermath ....
(Compass) - Muslim groups are trying to prevent Christians from rebuilding their homes, says Mona Saroinsong, coordinator of the protestant church Crisis Centre in North and Central Sulawesi. Following last November’s violence in Central Sulawesi, ....
(Compass) - On February 12, a second peace accord in the space of three months between Christians and Muslims in one of Indonesia’s trouble spots got off to a rocky start. The eleven-point peace accord was barely signed in war-torn Ambon, when Mr. ....
Christians under Threat   Published in 2001
(Compass) - Over 2,000 fighters from the extremist Muslim Laskar Jihad were foiled in their attempt to attack Christians of Tentena who have fled recent fighting in the Poso region of Central Sulawesi. After a five-day campaign that saw the jihad ....
(Compass) - A three-day period of mourning beginning November 20 was observed by Ambon’s Christian community, which saw thousands attend churches and pray for peace. The vigil was to mourn the nearly three years of violence in northern and southern ....
Two More Christians Killed   Published in 2001
(Compass) - A force of 1,700 Muslim extremists attacked the Christian village of Waimulang on Buru Island in eastern Indonesia’s Maluku province on November 1, killing two Christians and forcing over a thousand to flee into the jungle. A force of 13 ....
(Compass) - A \"second Ambon\" is brewing in Indonesia as a 3,000-strong Muslim jihad force closes in on 28,000 Christians in Tentena, Central Sulawesi. Ambon refers to an area in eastern Indonesia where thousands have died in Muslim-Christian ....
(Compass) - Mobs attacked five East Java churches, and six Ambon Christians were hacked to death in May in a sudden escalation of religious violence being played out against a backdrop of increasing political instability. The worst anti-Christian ....
(Compass) - Indonesia’s most infamous \"persecution\" case reached the desk of President Abdurrahman Wahid in March. Three Christian couples from Padang, West Sumatra, were tried and convicted of abducting, raping and forcibly converting a teenage ....
(Compass) - A \"fragile calm\" prevailed during February in the conflict between Christians and Muslims in the Maluku islands of eastern Indonesia. The focus shifted to Washington, D.C., where Muslim and Christian representatives from the area gave ....
Ambon Simmers while Wahid Struggles   Published in 2001
(Compass) - As Indonesia’s ailing President Abdurrahman Wahid endured a humiliating vote of censure from Parliament on corruption charges on February 1, a church was razed in Maluku province by Muslim jihad fighters. On the morning of January 24, ....
Church Bombings Meant to Provoke War   Published in 2001
(Compass) - Indonesia’s Christian and political leaders are convinced that the widespread Christmas Eve church bombings were meant to provoke all-out war between the Muslim and Christian communities in the country. Seventeen people were killed and ....
Maluku Leaders Ask for Help   Published in 2001
(Compass) - Alarmed by mounting evidence from evacuees that perhaps as many as a thousand Protestant and Catholic Christians on the islands of Kesui and Teor were forcibly converted to Islam, often involving painful circumcisions, leaders of the ....
Chiapas Governor Faces Uphill Battle   Published in 2000
(Compass) - After decades of persecution at the hands of traditionalist Catholics, Chiapas’ evangelicals are hailing the election of Pablo Salazar - a lawyer who has defended the persecuted church in Mexico’s embattled southernmost state - as ....
(Compass) - A smouldering civil unrest that has troubled the eastern Indonesian province of Irian Jaya for years threatens once again to harm Christians and others caught in the war between a growing independence movement and the Jakarta government. ....
Massacres Continue   Published in 2000
(Compass) - Maluku’s head of police admitted that authorities cannot dislodge the hundreds of Muslim jihad fighters scattered throughout eastern Indonesia’s Maluku province and who have escalated the inter-religious conflict as Christmas approaches. ....
(Compass) - \"There are no Christians left in Ternate,\" said George Saselah, who had left his farm there to join his wife and newborn daughter in a refugee camp in Manado, on Indonesia’s North Sulawesi island. Other refugees confirmed Saselah’s ....
(Compass) - \"It is disappointing that the suffering of the Christians due to the conflict in the Malukus has been insufficiently exposed in various reports on a national and international level,\" stated the U.S. Consul General Robert Pollard. ....
Another Attack on Maluku Christians   Published in 2000
(Compass) - As Protestants and Catholics began a nine-day period of mourning on September 26 to reflect and pray over the terrible war ravaging eastern Indonesia’s Maluku Islands, another Christian village was shelled and destroyed by the Muslim ....
Pastor Attacked   Published in 2000
(Compass) - A Sunday morning attack on Indonesian pastor Dr. Benjamin Munthe left his assistant dead and family members shaken. The September 17 attack came from two men on a motorcycle as Munthe and his assistant, Kaleb Situmorang, and family ....
The Final Siege?   Published in 2000
(Compass) - Militant Muslim forces known as Laskar Jihad are now aiming to take control of the Ambon airport at Laha and are moving to besiege the Christian enclave at Paso where more than 100,000 Christian refugees are housed on the island of Ambon ....
Ambon Christians Call for U.N. Help   Published in 2000
(Compass) - Indonesia’s President Wahid was rebuffed by Christian leaders on Ambon when they refused his invitation to September 2 Muslim-Christian reconciliation talks. The leaders demanded, as a precondition to talks, concrete action by the ....
Threatened Genocide Averted - For Now   Published in 2000
(Compass) - Threats from Muslim extremist fighters to exterminate all Christians remaining in Ambon city by July 31 caused 90 percent of the Ambonese Christians to flee to the mountains. The army managed to prevent the threatened ethnic cleansing ....
(Compass) - Religious tensions in eastern Indonesia’s Maluku province spun out of control as the 18-month-long civil war between Muslims and Christians reached a critical new phase. A force of 3,000 Muslim fighters with heavy artillery began ....
Christians Tense and Waiting   Published in 2000
(Compass) - Christians in the central Java town of Solo are still tense after a Muslim rally on March 3 ended in a call to \"burn all Christian churches.\" A Christian priest was forced to flee his home in Solo after the rally’s speakers began to ....
Maluku Islands Unrest Spreads   Published in 2000
(Compass) - Violence broke out between Christians and Muslims on the Maluku Islands in eastern Indonesia on January 19, 1999, and has left thousands dead and hundreds of churches and mosques destroyed. The conflict was mainly confined to southern ....
(Compass) - With the exception of the violence in Ambon, 1999 was an encouraging year for the church in Indonesia, which gained more freedom even as Islam revived, reported Dr. Iman Santoso, a Christian scholar in Jakarta who heads a national prayer ....
(Compass) - Open warfare between Muslims and Christians in Indonesia’s Maluku province has left over 3000 dead since mid December. Over 50 churches have been destroyed. Before December 1999, the conflict between the two religious communities had a ....

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