Bogor authorities have banned all public activities or celebrations associated with Christmas, including Christmas Mass, at Saint John the Baptist Catholic Church in Parung, Tulang Kuning, Bogor Regency (West Java Province). The official ban was issued in a letter that restated the usual reasons, namely the lack of a building permit for a place of worship (Izin Mendirikan Bangunan in Indonesian). Without it, even praying on Church-owned land is prohibited.
In Indonesia, permits are required for any type of building, but when it comes to Christian places of worship, they are issued only after 60 residents living near the would-be church have agreed in writing to the project and the local Inter-faith Dialogue Group has given its approval.
http://www.asianews.it/news-en/Catholic ... 20302.html
Of course, world leaders quickly condemned this overt display of Christianophobia, with even conservative clerics calling the ban on Christmas and the repressive laws in Indonesia as 'backward' and 'Christiano-phobic'.
For their part, the OIC has issued an official statement saying this "latest escalation by local authorities brings the world that much closer to chaos and anarchy" and has scheduled an emergency session with members to discuss what can be done to ease tensions between Muslims and Christians.
One OIC member, who asked for anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the press, said it was no surprise that Christians are turning to the radicals but went on to say that the vast majority of Christians adhere to the peaceful teachings of Christianity and that 'crusade' means to struggle for something good, not holy war.
Christians are planning protests around the world and, unfortunately, there have been calls for holy war from the Vatican and there was a particularly hateful demonstration in Brazil, where effigies of the Indonesian prime minister were burned and protesters called for the beheading of Indonesians and the supremacy of Christianity over Islam.
Then I woke up.
