Dozens of churches in Indonesia come under attack every year, and the country’s president is failing to take action to stop it, according to a leading Catholic peace activist. Since 2006 more than 200 attacks on churches have been recorded by the Indonesian Committee on Religion and Peace, said Theophilus Bela, president of the Jakarta Christian community forum. Bela said that in the first five months of this year there were 14 attacks on churches and 46 in 2010 as a whole. Bela blamed Indonesia’s President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and his government for not doing enough to tackle Islamist anti-Christian violence. Bela said that although attacks on churches have declined somewhat in 2011, Indonesia’s 28.5 million Christian community remains the most persecuted religious group in the country.
Churches Unprotected in Indonesia
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