Indonesia has received a lot of bad press in recent years: for bombings in Bali and at the J.W. Marriott Hotel in the capital, Jakarta ”” both the work of al-Qaida-linked militants ”” and for numerous attacks on Christian churches. But Indonesia overall is a far more tolerant place than these acts suggest, and it appears to be getting even more accepting.
Indonesia is home to more Muslims than any other nation. But in Jakarta, a $27 million Christian church that seats more than 4,500 people opened its doors last month. The Reformed Millennium Cathedral is the work of preacher Stephen Tong, a sprightly 67-year-old who waited 16 years to get permission to build his church.
There is an interesting discussion about this on Abu Daoud’s blog, [url=http://islamdom.blogspot.com/2008/09/mega-churches-in-indonesia.html]which you can see (and join in on) here[/url].
Non related…
Does anyone know what has happened with the Midwest Conservative Journal site?
#2, MCJ has a new site here.
http://themcj.com/
Apologies for so many outdated links in the sidebar. This elf has so little time for blogging these days. If anyone wants to go through the sidebar and let us know what links are broken / obsolete, that would be helpful to us. Right now the task is overwhelming given our limited blogging time. e-mail us: T19elves@yahoo.com
–elfgirl
Elves – it looks as though Christopher Johson let the domain name expire – can you get him word? There’s only an expired page now!
Branford, I’m getting into the site using the link I posted in #3 just fine. The site’s current as of yesterday (Oct. 19th). The RSS feed is showing up fine too in Stand Firm’s “Around the Web” page
http://www.standfirminfaith.com/index.php/site/around_the_web
(Note: “Around the web” at Stand Firm is a good place to check if you find that one of our Anglican links in the sidebar is broken. The StandFirm links are all current.)
Weird – I tried your link in #3 and got a Network Solutions domain name page saying that as of 10/13 the name has expired – that’s the same page I got from my own bookmarks. I’ll try it again – don’t know what’s happening.
[i]how odd! if you need to email CJ here’s his address: websterglobe [at] juno [dot] com[/i]
And from the Stand Firm web links, I’m getting the same Network Solutions page!! Oh well, I’ll give it some time and try again.
“Megachurch Symbolizes Indonesia’s Tolerance”
Good for Indonesia!
For the time being MCJ is dead.
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[i]All, there’s nothing this elf can do to help with tech problems at MCJ. See my comment above with Chris’ e-mail address and write Chris Johnson directly and let him know of your problems. Make sure to let him know what browser you are using. That could explain why some of us can see it and others can’t.[/i]
Thanks, elves!
Thanks. You did what you could.
Indonesia has a very different history than other Muslim countries. Unlike Pakistan, the only disallowed “religion” is atheism. It is a moderate sort of Islam in which freedom of religion is guaranteed by the constitution.
Except Atheism, which is punishable.
Glad to hear that JW. No persicution I assume.
John, #12, that seems a remarkably rosy picture you paint.
For those who want more details, try the State Departments’ 2008 Freedom of Religion report for Indonesia
http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/irf/2008/108407.htm
Some excerpts:
[blockquote]n 2003 the Government passed the National Education Law, which mandates religious instruction in any one of the six official religions when requested by a student. On October 5, 2007, the President signed the regulation.
The Government bans proselytizing, arguing that such activity, especially in religiously diverse areas, could prove disruptive.
Religious speeches are permissible if they are delivered to members of the same religious group and are not intended to convert persons of other religious groups.
[…]
No restrictions exist on the publication of religious materials or the use of religious symbols; however, the Government bans dissemination of these materials to persons of other religious groups.
Religious groups and social organizations must obtain permits to hold religious concerts or other public events. The Government usually granted permits in an unbiased manner unless a concern existed that the activity could anger members of another religious group in the area. […]
According to confirmed reports, extremist groups used violence and intimidation to close at least 12 churches during the reporting period. Groups also delayed and in some cases blocked petitions for churches to complete renovations. Small churches in West Java were under the most pressure, including in areas of Bandung, Tangerang, and Bekasih. At least 5 of the 12 churches known to have closed during the reporting period did so due to pressure from nonresident hardline religious groups, while the remaining 7 closed due to pressure from the local community. In at least two cases, the local government urged churches to close as a result of pressure from the local community, although it was unknown in these cases whether the pressure originated with nonresident hardline groups or local ulama. While often present, police rarely acted to prevent forced church closings and in the past had sometimes assisted militant groups in the closure.[/blockquote]
What’s going on with me is that domain transfers are a bear and I’m still working on it. Hopefully, things will be back to normal in a day or two but in the meantime, I’ll be posting at my back-up site here:
http://mcjbackup.blogspot.com