Reuters AlertNet Lite - Hardline Muslims attack Indonesia Christians -teacher

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Hardline Muslims attack Indonesia Christians -teacher

04 Jun 2007 10:44:05 GMT
Source: Reuters

JAKARTA, June 4 (Reuters) - Around 100 Muslim hardliners barged into a Christian reverend's house in Indonesia's Java island, beating his wife and a teenager during Sunday school, a teacher said.

The attackers, who were dressed in black and said they were part of the Alliance of Anti-Apostasy Movements, said the house was illegally being used as a place of worship.

Lidia, a Sunday school teacher in the small West Java town of Soreang, said the men smashed stained glass images of Jesus Christ and demanded the school be shut down.

"We were convening quietly when suddenly these men barged in and accused us of disturbing the neighbourhood," Lidia, who uses one name like many Indonesians, told Reuters by telephone.

"The men forced a teenage student to spit on the Bible and deny Christ. But when he refused they kicked him in the gut... They sent the kids outside screaming and crying."

Police declined to comment and the Alliance of Anti-Apostasy Movements, a group formed in 2005 with the purpose of countering missionary activities, could not be reached immediately.

The reverend's wife said three teachers and 15 children were in the class when the group forced its way in, shattering stained glass images and destroying a number of Bibles.

Under local laws, a house of worship for any religion requires 60 signatures from surrounding residents and should have a congregation of at least 90.

The head of the local office of the Indonesian Christian Church Association, Reverend Maladi Dani, said it is difficult to meet the requirements in remote places and areas with overwhelmingly Muslim populations.

Indonesia is the world's most populous Muslim country. The vast majority of Muslims in the country of 220 million are moderate, but there is an increasingly active militant minority.

About 10 percent of Indonesia's population is Christian and religious tensions are usually restricted to small pockets in the huge archipelago of 17,000 islands.

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Last updated:Mon Jun 4 10:46:53 2007