Indonesia deploys 150,000 police to protect churches for Christmas

Concerned about the threat of Islamic terrorism, Indonesian authorities dispatched 150,000 police officers to protect churches in North Sumatra province during the Christmas season.

Authorities in the majority-Muslim country worry about growing support for ISIS among Indonesia’s Muslim extremists. According to The Wall Street Journal, entire families have joined ISIS in Syria and Iraq.

Commissioner Hamam Wahyudi of the Medan Police said Dec. 11, that protection for every church was already in place due to the heightened risk for an attack, according to Today Online. Medan is the capital of North Sumatra.

“We’re also coordinating with the Mobile Brigade [riot police],” Wahudi said.

Christmas bombings have happened before. The Islamic terrorist network Jemaah Islamiyah is suspected in a series of Christmas Eve church bombings that killed 18 people in 2000. The National Counterterrorism Center says the group formed in the 1990s with the goal of creating an Islamic state from Thailand to the Philippines, encompassing several countries.

Even without an ISIS-style attack, Muslim persecution of the Christian minority takes place in many parts of Indonesia. The government also made it harder to form churches in 2006.

Muslims have burned down churches or lobbied the government to demolish them since the 2006 Joint Decree on Houses of Worship took effect. The law was supposed to produce “religious harmony,” but led to persecution. It requires non-Muslims to get 60 signatures from people of other religions and get official permission from the government before building any church. More than 1,000 Indonesian churches were shut down since the law passed, according to Evangelical Focus. Countless others weren’t built.

The government can tear down any church that lacks proper permits, although Christians claim authorities ignore many unregistered mosques, according to Raymond Ibrahim. Ibrahim is an author and speaker about Islam.

In Aceh province, which borders North Sumatra, a mob of radical Muslims burned down a church in October 2015 after demanding authorities remove unregistered churches. Writing for Gatestone Institute, Ibrahim reported the mob torched a church even after local officials agreed to tear down 10 unregistered churches within two weeks. The church that was set on fire wasn’t on the list. When the mob tried to set fire to a second church, violence broke out between Muslims and Christians and at least one person died from a gunshot wound. Thousands of Christians fled the region.

An Islamic leader in Aceh said, “We will not stop haunting Christians and burning churches. Christians are Allah’s enemies,” according to Ibrahim.

Days after the mob violence in Aceh, North Sumatran officials decided to close several churches in their province, Russia Today reported. In West Java, the government closed all the Christian churches in one city, even registered ones, according to CBN.

In spite of the persecution, pastors in Indonesia say Christianity is growing. After being arrested for preaching at an illegal service, Pastor Bernard Maukar told CBN he preached to Christians and Muslims in prison. Another pastor, Kaleb Manurung said the population of Christians is growing.

This article and its headline have been edited to reflect that Indonesian authorities have dispatched 150,000 police officers to protect churches in the country.