By Eveline Danubrata
JAKARTA (Reuters) – Thousands of Indonesians are expected to rally on Saturday against what they see as growing racial and religious intolerance in the world’s largest Muslim-majority country.
Religious leaders, human right groups and other organizations will join the parade in central Jakarta, spokeswoman Umi Azalea said by telephone.
The movement was not political but aimed at “celebrating Indonesia’s diversity”, Azalea said.
“Indonesia has so many religions, cultures and ethnicities. Yet now we are seeing some groups that are forcing their own will, and that is very worrying.”
Indonesian police said on Wednesday they would investigate a complaint by Muslim groups that the Christian governor of Jakarta, Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, had insulted Islam.
The decision has stoked concerns about rising hardline Islamic sentiment in the country of 250 million people and is also seen by some analysts as a blow to democracy.
More than 100,000 Muslims protested against Purnama earlier this month. Police fired tear gas and water cannon to quell the protest.
There are also signs of rising religious tension elsewhere in Indonesia. Last Sunday, police arrested a suspected militant who threw an explosive device at a church in the eastern island of Borneo.
(Reporting by Eveline Danubrata; Editing by Nick Macfie)
“Christians should not cower to the new intolerance.”
These were the words of Mary Eberstadt, senior fellow for the Ethics and Public Policy Center, as she addressed a Washington, D.C. audience.
Eberstadt said that the new intolerance “is not an intellectual or philosophical force. In fact, it’s hardly about ideas at all. It is instead something very specific, taken from playbooks that nobody should be proud of studying. It’s about using intimidation, humiliation, censorship, and self-censorship to punish those who think differently.”
Eberstadt said the new intolerance is a serious threat to the church and is already causing divisions because it focuses on the desire to be loved and also to avoid being criticized for the choices made in life.
The end goal of the new intolerance is to get Christians to self-censor, Eberstadt said. This keeps Christians from speaking the truth of Christ’s teachings because someone might feel badly and “not loved” if they choose to do something that opposes Christ.
A Newton, Massachusetts family whose Christmas display included a nativity scene received a scathing, anonymous letter from a neighbor demanding the display be taken down.
The letter, signed “your neighbors”, said that the family should keep their decorations inside because “not everybody in the neighborhood is Christian.” The letter went on to call the display “cheap, tacky and kitschy.”
The letter took issue with the Baby Jesus and other Christian symbols being shown in public.
The Hunter family has set up a Christmas display outside their home for 37 years.
“It’s Christmas,” Kristen Hunter told Fox News. “You can’t take the Christ out of Christmas!”
While the letter was allegedly from the Hunter’s “neighbors”, hundreds of neighbors came to their home to rally by singing Christmas carols on the front lawn.