An official on western Indonesia’s Sumatra Island has been criminally charged with “intrusion” after he entered a church service and illegally ordered the worship to cease, Morning Star News (MSN) reports.
After 13 years of legal proceedings, a church in Indonesia has finally been granted a permit and allowed to reopen after being shut down by government authorities in 2010, International Christian Concern (ICC) reports.
Indonesia’s government says it will facilitate a place of worship for Protestant Christians in West Java after the forced closure of their church by authorities provoked an international outcry.
Amid an ongoing spate of government-sponsored church closures in Indonesia, the Purwakarta Simalungun Protestant Christian Church (GKPS) was forced to give up worshiping and building a sanctuary in Cigelam Village because the Purwakarta Regency Government in West Java refused to issue the requisite permit and de facto shut the church down, International Christian Concern (ICC) reports.
Despite their constitutional right to freedom of religion, Christians in Muslim-majority Indonesia face an uphill struggle in obtaining the required permits to build churches: both the government and local Muslims oppose them.
In a remarkable piece of good news for persecuted Indonesian Christians, a church in Bandar Lampung has been allowed to reopen after local Muslim village authorities and residents interrupted a worship service and forced it to close down last month, International Christian Concern (ICC) reports. The Kemah Daud Christian Church had been in the middle of a Sunday service on February 19 when the disruption and subsequent closure occurred.
Authorities in Indonesia prohibited a building-less congregation from holding their 2022 Christmas services in a local shop as Christians continue to face uphill struggles in obtaining permits for church buildings, International Christian Concern (ICC) reports.
A group of Indonesian Christian churches and organizations rushed to assist their countrymen in the wake of a powerful and deadly earthquake that hit Indonesia’s Java island last week, Christianity Today (CT) reports.
In an apparent violation of Indonesia’s constitutional protection of religious freedom, two local officials in Java Island joined forces with Islamist organizations to block the construction of a Christian church building, the Christian Post (CP) reports.
Authorities in Indonesia’s province of Banten have denied the Protestant Batak Society Christian Church (HKBP) a permit to build a church, in a move described as going against the country’s 1945 constitution guaranteeing religious freedom, the Union of Catholic Asian News (UCA) reports.
A Christian pastor was among ten people murdered by separatist gunmen in Indonesia’s Papua province on July 16, the Christian Post (CP) reports. The West Papua National Liberation Army, or TPNPB, the military wing of Papua’s main separatist group, claimed responsibility for the killings.
Christians urged prayers Wednesday after a Muslim-background Christian was sentenced to ten years in prison for “blasphemy” and hate speech in Indonesia’s West Java Province.
A Christian in Indonesia has been sentenced to 10 years imprisonment for uploading Youtube videos that were critical of Islam, his former faith, Christian Today (CT) reports.
Churches in Muslim-majority Indonesia face continual opposition and, on March 23, Islamist protestors refused to allow the Huria Kristen Batak Protestant to hold a planned worship service at its shophouse in Bandung, West Java, International Christian Concern (ICC) reports.
A pastor in Indonesia who was previously imprisoned for posting a video of himself sharing the Gospel with a Muslim is again under police investigation for actions the government considers are insulting to Islam, International Christian Concern (ICC) reports.
Christian convert who has been in prison in Bali, Indonesia since August last year is facing a possible 10-year jail term for uploading a YouTube video that allegedly insults the Islamic faith, International Christian Concern (ICC) reports.
Advocacy and aid organization International Christian Concern (ICC) has shared that it has begun supporting a local specialty nurse in Indonesia who shares the Gospel with the patients she cares for in their homes.
A Christian politician in Indonesia is in custody after being arrested for a January 4 Twitter post that was deemed offensive to Islam, International Christian Concern (ICC) reports. Ferdinand Hutahaean, a Democrat Party politician, could face up to 10 years in prison if convicted of hate speech.
It was only recently reported that Islamic radicals in East Java, Indonesia, attacked and extensively damaged the home of a Protestant Christian man at the end of last month, apparently believing the house to be a church, International Christian Concern (ICC) reports. Indonesia’s Ministry of Religious Affairs has reportedly launched an investigation into the attack.
The latest data released by the government of Indonesia suggest that the number of Christians in the Muslim-majority archipelago has slightly increased, a U.S.-based group has noted.