Indonesia: Churches close, but Christianity grows
By Joseph DeCaro, Worthy News Correspondent
(Worthy News) – Official church closures have not stopped the growth of Christianity in Indonesia.
According to Evangelical Focus, minority faiths have seen an increase in persecution by Indonesia’s Muslim majority since the implementation of a law that was supposed to promote religious harmony almost a decade ago.
The new law requires believers to obtain 60 signatures from neighbors of different faiths as well as the permission of the local authority before any place of worship could be built. And if a church doesn’t have the proper building permits, it can be torn down.
Since the law was passed, more than 1,000 Indonesian Christian churches have closed while others have been prevented form being built.
Many Christian leaders have complained that even after they had fulfilled all the necessary requirements, the government still denied them building permits. But according to World Watch Monitor’s 2013 report, 80 percent of all houses of worship, including mosques, lack these permits.
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