Posted on 09/21/2010 5:00:43 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
Indonesia, the country with the world’s largest Muslim population, is engaged in a debate about religious tolerance that might seem familiar to Americans.
Last week, one day after Americans opposed to the construction of an Islamic center in Lower Manhattan pledged to “Stop the Islamization of America,” a group of Islamists rallied in Bekasi, outside the Indonesian capital, to fight the “Christianization” of Indonesia, by blocking the planned construction of a church.
Two leaders of the small congregation of Indonesia Christians in Bekasi were seriously wounded when the rally against their planned church by vigilantes from the Islamic Defenders’ Front, or F.P.I., turned violent. Murhali Barda, who leads Bekasi’s chapter of the Islamist vigilante group, was arrested on suspicion of leading the attacks on a church elder, who was stabbed in the stomach, and a female priest, who was hit in the head with a plank.
In June, the Bekasi F.P.I. leader told The Jakarta Globe, “All Muslims should unite and be on guard because … the Christians are up to something.” He also suggested that it might be necessary for mosques to establish militias and be prepared to fight a “war” to prevent “Christianization.”
As Al Jazeera explained in a video report last week, the small Christian group said that it had obtained all the necessary signatures from local residents who agreed to allow them to build their church, but then the Islamist vigilantes pressed people to withdraw their approval.
F.P.I. vigilantes have attacked a wide range of targets in the past, throwing rocks at members of minority Muslim sects, beating gay people, destroying bars and vowing to track down the editor of Indonesia’s short-lived version of Playboy magazine, Erwin Arnada, who is now in hiding.
(Excerpt) Read more at thelede.blogs.nytimes.com ...
So much for tolerance.
Their is NO SUCH THING AS A MODERATE MUSLIM.
Just Muslims who follow the Koran and those who don’t.
Once Islamist destroy something, they don’t want Christianity making things better.
So, what do we call Muslims who call themselves such but do not strictly follow the Koran?
I don’t know. Nominal Muslims maybe - like nominal Christians.
Very interesting.
what do we call Muslims who call themselves such but do not strictly follow the Koran?
Enablers, Supporters, apostates?
Yeah, and you see how many bombs and murders these Christians are doing, right? Right?
What these Islamist cannot believe is how attractive Christianity is to a lot of Indonesians.
Christian Missionaries (who are not banned in that country, at least not yet) set up schools, medical clinics and a lot of social work in the rural areas to help a lot of poor and indigent Indonesians.
A lot of these poor folks are nominal Muslims who call themselves such because they were “born into” that religion.
Eventually, many convert and churches begin to sprout.
What many don’t know is this — Indonesia has one of the largest Chinese Christian Church in the world — the Reformed Evangelical Church of Indonesia pastored by Evangelist — Rev. Stephen Tong ( considered sort of the Billy Graham of Southeast Asia among Chinese expats ).
A new building for the Reformed Evangelical Church in Jakarta, the Messiah Cathedral (which includes a 4600-capacity auditorium) was finished in 2008. It took 16 years to persuade the Indonesian government to issue a permit to build the church.
THIS is the phenomenon that scares the daylights of the Islamists.
The Islamists are now fighting back -— not with reason, counter-evagelism or persuasion, but by the use of coercion and force (because that’s the only method they know... after all, their founder did the same thing too ).
Religion of peace.
“So, what do we call Muslims who call themselves such but do not strictly follow the Koran?”
Prisoners in bondage, victims.
Mac daddies buddies.
I’m intrigued by the comments, which suggest that even some readers of the New York Times realize how ridiculous this “news” article is. Progress continues to be made.
Did Christians slaughter the Indonesians and then try to build a church on the grave site?
Are there already a hundred churches nearby?
Is Rauf flying off to Jakarta or the emirates to campaign for tolerance?
It's too late. The Christianization of Indonesia has already begun. No power on Earth, in Heaven, or Hell can stop the gospel.
Proof? There is a death penalty for Christianity in North Korea—and it's growing there.
Cafeteria muslims?
moslems burning of 35 churches and a protestant seminary to the ground,
moslems killing and raping nuns
moslems murdering priests, protestant ministers-
moslems bombing the Jakarta Cathedral during Christmas Eve Mass-
moslems dragging women out of cars trying to flee to the airport to get out of the country and raping them-
moslems attacking and burning the Christian stores and houses
Moslems cutting the throats of villagers who refused to become moslems.
This is the REAL face of Moslem Indonesia.
.
Many raped girls ended up in insane asylums there.
A lot of them were my friends and I cried.
Obama?
Like I keep asking, what is the attraction of this gutter lifestyle?
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