And in an earlier incident, “extremists attacked and set fire to a Christian centre in Bogor on the ground that Christians wanted to build a house of prayer.” Islamic law forbids dhimmi populations to build new houses of worship. How inconvenient for those who claim that dhimmitude is a relic of history — Muslims persist in misunderstanding Islam in this way!
Islamic Tolerance Alert from modern, moderate Indonesia: “West Java: Islamic authorities shut down church, Christians celebrate in the street,” by Mathias Hariyadi for AsiaNews, May 24 (thanks to C. Cantoni):
Jakarta (AsiaNews) – Bogor authorities (West Java province) ordered the closure of a local church building that belongs to Gereja Kristen Indonesia (GKI), a Christian group also known as Gereja Kristen Yasmin Bogor. This has outraged hundreds of faithful and induced the Indonesian Human Rights Commission (Komnas HAM) to file an official protest.
In an official statement, GKI followers called the decision to ban their religious and social meetings unlawful. They note, “The mayor of Bogor granted the IMB (building permit) back on 13 May 2006.”
The closure had initially been ordered by Bogor’s City and Gardening authority in February 2008, but was overturned because the matter falls under the mayor’s jurisdiction.
After a series of protests by local extremist Islamic groups, the city decided to close the church and suspend the GKI despite the fact that the Christian group had all the necessary permits to build its church and practice its faith.
For some time, local Islamic groups had been protesting publicly and violently against Christians, accusing them of “proselytising”. They are certainly opposed to Christians having any building, even if the latter did not have a religious purpose.
At the end of April, extremists attacked and set fire to a Christian centre in Bogor on the ground that Christians wanted to build a house of prayer disguised as an educational facility. Instead of stopping the rioters, the authorities banned Christians from engaging in any activities.…