Catholic World News News Feature
Islamic pressure closing churches in Indonesia December 20, 2007
The Indonesian Catholic bishops have called public attention to rising Islamic pressure against Christian churches, Vatican Radio reports.
Bishop Martinus Situmorang of Padang, the president of the country's episcopal conference, is the co-author of a new report on the campaign by Muslim activists to close down Christian churches. The report shows that from 2004 through 2007, 108 churches have been closed because of Islamic pressure.
The report notes that Indonesia's constitution guarantees freedom of religion and challenged the government to honor that promise, protecting the Christian minority from Muslim extremists.
Catholics constitute just 3% of the population in Indonesia. About 85% of the country's 220 million people are Muslims, giving Indonesia the world's largest Muslim population.
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