Indonesian church faces troubled Christmas
Persecution of religious minorities is on the rise in biggest Muslim-majority nation, rights monitor says, as Christians face violence
A Christian community in Indonesia, the world's biggest Muslim-majority nation, is preparing to hold Christmas services on the street as sectarian attacks keep them locked out of their church.
The Filadelfia Batak Christian Protestant Church has since 2009 held Sunday services under the blaring sun as Muslim hardliners and community members physically block them from their property.
The weekly intimidation in Bekasi, on the outskirts of Jakarta, has often erupted in violence - in May a mob of about 300 people hurled bags of urine, rotten eggs and stones at worshippers marking the ascension of Christ.
Such cases of religious intolerance are on the rise in Indonesia, according to the Jakarta-based civil-rights group Setara Institute for Democracy and Peace, which recently released a study recording 308 incidents in the first half of 2012 against religious minorities. Incidents including attacks and forced closure of places of worship have risen steadily since 2009, when 491 cases were reported, rising to 502 in 2010 and 543 in 2011, the group said.
This year has been particularly rough for Christians, who have seen dozens of churches sealed, particularly in the Islamic stronghold of Aceh province, where partial sharia law is enforced.
"Every Sunday I see people in my congregation cry. But we aren't scared - the ones who should be afraid are the intolerant, including the government and the police," Filadelfia leader Reverend Palti Panjaitan said.