Indonesian Christians fret over religious worship restrictions

Apr 24, 2025

JAKARTA: Christians in some parts of Indonesia have expressed concerns over Muslim hardliners seeking to restrict Christian worship, particularly Easter services, citing non-compliance with regulations.

Security was beefed up as Muslim hardliners protested the Easter Week ceremonies of Catholics at St. John the Apostle Mission Station in Arcamanik sub-district in Bandung City, West Java province.

The Easter Mass was conducted under tight police security inside a Christian-managed community hall, as protesters demonstrated outside it, saying Christians have no permission to use the hall for worship.

Alexander Philiph Sitinjak, who attended Easter Sunday Mass in the hall, said the protesters used loudspeakers, sang patriotic songs and delivered speeches before, during and after Easter service.

“The sound of prayers and liturgical songs was drowned in the roar of the sound system. As doors and windows could not be opened, the inside atmosphere became hot and humid," he said.

Similar protests were also conducted on Ash Wednesday.

Budi Haryono, a protester, said it was a multi-purpose building and not a Church. "We live in the Republic of Indonesia, a country that should follow the rule of law."

Regulations enacted in 2006 in this Muslim-majority nation require signatures of 60 people of other faiths as a sign of their no-objection to get a permit for a religious worship place.

Often, Christians fail to get a no-objection to their new worship places.

Dyah Nur Susanti from the Saint Odilia Catholic Charity Church Association, which manages the building, said they have been waiting for government approval for recognition of the building as a Church.

Susanti said the area has about 1,400 Catholics who need a spacious facility for worship.

Ardi Manto Adiputra, director of the human rights advocacy organization Imparsial, said the state must guarantee the right to equal religious freedom for all citizens."

Meanwhile, in Tangerang, Banten Province, the congregation of the Ecumenical Communion of Thessalonian Christians Church was denied permission to use a community building for Easter services.

The local authorities sealed off the building on April 19, a day before Easter.

The congregation was forced to use another building for Easter Service last year after Muslims' protests prompted the authorities to impose a ban on worship in the building.

Congregation’s spokesman Reverend Michael Siahaan said they wrote to authorities seeking permission to use the building for worship on April 15, but received no response.

"Our own building was sealed," he said, adding that getting permission for a church has become very difficult due to government regulations.

Journalist and religious freedom activist Tantowi Anwari from the Union of Journalists for Religious Affairs said sealing off a building and banning religious worship could be considered “a provocation.”

“It could invite irresponsible, intolerant groups to exploit such sealing as a trigger for doing something [harmful],” he said.

Violation of religious freedom continues to rise in Indonesia, says advocacy group, Setara Institute for Democracy and Peace.

The country recorded 217 incidents of religious freedom violations in 2023 compared to 175 in 2022, the group said in a report.

In the past decade, at least 200 churches were sealed after local communities objected to their use for Christian worship.

Filadelfia Huria Batak Protestant Church in Bekasi of West Java, has failed to get the permit for a church since 2019 due to objections from Muslims.

In 2022, the Lebak district head in Banten province prohibited Christians from holding celebrations in the district, which does not have a church.--ucanews.com