Indonesia Pledges To Facilitate Church After Outcry

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.

Indonesia: Government authorities continue to shut down churches

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. 

Indonesia: Church allowed to reopen after local Muslims shut it down

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.

India: Pastor and his wife arrested/imprisoned under Uttar Pradesh anti-conversion laws

A pastor and his wife in India’s Uttar Pradesh state have been criminally charged and imprisoned under harsh local anti-conversion laws for allegedly luring Hindus into becoming Christians, Scroll reports. Ruled by the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party since 2014, India ranks 11th on the US Open Doors World Watch List 2023 of the top 50 countries where Christians are persecuted.

India Police Stop Church Burning

Police in central India have detained three suspected Hindu militants to end the burning of several church buildings in the region, Christians said Thursday.

Afghan Christian families seeking refuge in hostile Pakistan

The International Christian Concern (ICC) aid organization has found 60 Christian families that escaped Afghanistan to seek refuge in next-door Pakistan, even though Pakistan has a notoriously bad record on its treatment of Christians. Indeed, ICC found at least three of these families have returned to Taliban-ruled Afghanistan after suffering the dreadful conditions for refugees in Pakistan.

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