A group of Muslims disrupts church service in Indonesia
A video has surfaced in Indonesia showing Muslims disrupting a church service. The footage, which was released on 21 July, shows a group of male Muslims disrupting the gathering of the Thessalonica Church in the province of Banten. According to a police chief, it concerns an incident that took place three months ago.
The video is being shared widely in Indonesia. The footage shows the group of Muslims interrupting the gathering. The group shouts through the church service and says that a Christian gathering has no place in an Islamic area. “Everyone is Muslim here,” shouts one of the intruders, to which the group of Muslims shouts ‘Allahu Akbar’, ‘Allah is great’. A churchgoer tries to engage in conversation but is laughed at and mocked.
According to police chief Wahyu Hidayat from Teluk Nega, he is surprised that the footage has suddenly come out. “This is an old incident from three months ago,” he told national news channel Medcom.
Local authorities report that the church has now been assigned a temporary location. The location where they first met did not have a building permit. Organizing a service in a house was therefore illegal, they make clear. However, human rights activists argue that such a permit is only required for permanent places of worship and not when temporarily organizing services in a house.
The complicated law regarding building permits for churches is regularly abused by Muslims in Indonesia to attack or close down churches. In 2006, a new law was passed that makes it almost impossible to obtain a building permit for a church.
Indonesia is ranked 42nd on the Open Doors World Watch List. In recent years, society in the country has adopted an increasingly conservative Islamic attitude, making the situation more difficult for Christians.
Source: cvandaag.nl