By Paul R. Kopenkoskey, An estimated 275 Christian leaders are meeting in Indonesia this week (Oct. 4-7) to plot an ecumenical future in what one veteran of the ecumenical movement called a watershed gathering. Leaders of the fledgling Global Christian Forum will gather evangelical, Pentecostal, mainline Protestant, Roman Catholic and […]
Opinion: Religious liberty is the proverbial canary in the mine,” according to Doug Bandouw, a senior fellow at the Cato Institute. Canaries are often used by miners as an early-warning signal for poisonous gases. When the small birds stop singing and suffocate, miners know toxic gases have polluted the area […]
A close friend introduced me to the idea that practicing martial arts has the potential to assist a Muslim in achieving a higher spiritual connection with God. Since I had always associated martial arts with Asian culture and Eastern religions such as Zen Buddhism, the connection with Islam did not […]
(AP) JAKARTA, Indonesia — The chanting crowd at the radical Muslim protest in Indonesia stood out for its normalcy: smartly dressed businessmen, engineers, lawyers, smiling mothers, scampering children. At a time when al-Qaida seems to be faltering, the recruitment of such an educated, somewhat mainstream following is raising fears that […]
Is Indonesia headed for another round of deadly sectarian violence? Following the suicide bomb attack in Solo which has so far claimed two lives and injured more than 20 worshippers in a church, the country’s political elite has a lot of questions to answer, and we need a firm and […]
The mother of a passenger aboard a plane that crashed in a remote area of Indonesia says her daughter has called her, raising hopes of finding survivors as rescuers struggled to reach the site. Search and rescue teams had been unable to reach the accident site in a mountainous area […]
Indonesia’s biggest Muslim organization is calling on the government to block international radical Islamist sites. Nahdatul Ulama says extreme teachings are fueling racial violence across Indonesia. It is understood a suicide bomber who attacked a church in Central Java last week accessed radical Islamist websites. The government has already passed […]
ndonesia has a national motto which reads in Bahasa Indonesia – Bhinneka Tunggal Ika; translated to English it means Unity in Diversity. For anyone in Indonesia this is familiar but for those less familiar with this country it is an interesting insight into the aspirations of the nation. The word […]
Source: Asiatimes on line. BALI – Indonesia was shocked and shamed on Sunday when a suicide bomber struck a Christian church in Solo, killing at least one congregant and injuring at least 27 others. But the reaction from President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has been even more shameful. On Sunday morning, […]
Indonesian authorities suspect a suicide bomber who attacked a church on Sunday may have been involved in a previous bombing at a mosque in April. Police Monday were awaiting the results of DNA testing on the remains of the bomber, who injured 27 people, many critically, at a church in […]
Solo, Indonesia — At least one person was killed Sunday when a suicide bomber attacked an Indonesian church, officials said, the latest sectarian incident to hit the world’s most populous Muslim-majority nation. “I can confirm that there was a suicide bomb attack in Church Bethel Injil at 10:55,” Central Java […]
An Australian human rights researcher detained by Indonesian authorities on Monday remains in detention awaiting what is likely to be her imminent deportation. The researcher and Human Rights Watch activist Andreas Harsono were taken into custody by police in Sampang, East Java, as they attempted to investigate the local Shia […]
Jakarta Globe: The country’s military commander warned on Sunday against anyone going to Ambon to wage jihad, echoing a call by the country’s highest Islamic authority following deadly clashes there last week. Speaking in Jakarta at an event to mark the 66th anniversary of the Indonesian Military (TNI), Adm. Agus […]
House of Representatives Speaker Marzuki Alie said on Friday that cabinet members practicing polygamy should not be replaced by the president just because of their personal lives. “Please don’t reshuffle the cabinet just because [a minister] has two wives. ” Marzuki said. “As long as it does not violate Shariah […]
Toll in Indonesia sectarian clash rises to seven Hundreds of police have brought calm to Indonesia’s eastern Maluku province following Sunday’s violent Muslim-Christian clashes that left three dead and more than 80 injured. The incident, apparently sparked by a simple traffic accident, called attention to a region still recovering from […]
The Jakarta Post For the past decade the people of Ambon and the entire province of Maluku have been licking their wounds from a bloody sectarian conflict that sociologists said was a test of the country’s pluralism. So when riots erupted anew in this peaceful town on Sunday, claiming three […]
Hundreds of police officers were deployed from Makassar to Ambon to help quell a riot that erupted over the death of a man, a police spokesman said on Sunday. National Police spokesman Insp. Gen. Anton Bachrul Alam said police in Ambon were overwhelmed by the scale of the clash that left at least three dead and […]
Source/Credit: Leicester Mercury By Ibrahim Bonsu Once again the Indonesian government have shown that members of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community in Indonesia are not entitled to be accorded the same justice enjoyed by other citizens. On February 6, three members of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community in Pandeglang, Banten Province, were […]
Bagus BT Saragih, The Jakarta Post, Most Indonesians insist on rejecting any form of religiously motivated violence and are worried that recent violent incidents against certain minority religious groups threaten Indonesia’s reputation as a tolerant nation, a survey concluded. Setara chairman Hendardi said that 47.9 percent of the survey respondents […]
Indonesia sect fears more attacks Three members of the Ahmadiyah, a minority sect, were slain by Islamic hard-liners in February. Ahmadis fear the attackers’ light sentences signal tacit government acceptance of religious violence. Nurhayati, a member of the Ahmadiyah, a minority Islamic sect, and her child are among those seeking […]