Indonesian Muslims threaten to protest over Catholic church construction

Muslims living in Indonesia have threatened to hold protests in response to the construction of a Catholic church in West Java province.

Indonesia is the world's most populous Muslim-majority country with 282 million people, of whom 11 percent are Christians. Many evangelical leaders believe the actual number of Christians may be higher because in recent years, more Indonesians have converted to Christianity, leading to tensions between Christians and Muslims.

The construction of churches and places of worship for Christians in West Java province has faced many restrictions in the past, and Christians in this province, which has many radical and extremist Islamists, bear the majority of the pressure. In addition to West Java province, Aceh province, which is governed according to Sharia law, also puts a lot of pressure on Christians, which is unprecedented.

In the past few months, Christians have repeatedly denied any irregularities in obtaining permits, saying it is almost impossible and very difficult to obtain permits to build new churches, especially in cities like Bandung. According to them, opponents of the church building do not consider the site a place to preach Islam.

Now that Christians are planning to build a church in the center of West Java province, they have faced widespread reactions from Muslims, who have expressed their dissatisfaction with the issue and threatened to hold demonstrations in protest. A law firm that Muslim leaders are pursuing in the case has also warned in a statement that it will take legal action to prevent the construction of this Catholic church in the center of Java province. The lawyers claimed that the Christians have not received the necessary permits to build the church.

Threats of demonstrations and Muslim dissatisfaction with the construction of a church by Christians, while Pope Francis, during his visit to this country a few months ago, called for religious dialogue and the creation of a friendly atmosphere between Muslims and Christians.

According to the annual reports of the Christian organization "Open Doors", which ranked Indonesia 42nd among the 50 most anti-Christian countries, it is stated that the situation of Indonesian Christians has deteriorated in recent years and Indonesian society has been increasingly influenced by extremist interpretations of Islam.

According to reports from this Christian organization, people who convert to Christianity face a lot of pressure from family and relatives, but leaders of the Christian community in Indonesia believe that despite this pressure, the church in the country is still growing, and this is a matter of hope for them.