U.S. Believers Urged to Intervene in Indonesia's Persecution of Christians
by Allie Martin
November 15, 2005
(AgapePress) - - As violence against Christians continues to escalate in Indonesia, the president of a Christian human-rights group is urging believers to put pressure on authorities there to take action against those who are responsible.Last week two teenage Christian girls were shot in the face near a Pentecostal church in Poso, Indonesia. That attack follows the beheadings of three Christian high school students at the end of October.
Jeff King is president of the Washington, DC-based group International Christian Concern. Christian Americans, he says, can take action on behalf of those being attacked.
"All they have to do is call the [Indonesian] embassy -- and be polite, but be firm -- and say the killing of the Christians [and] the closing of the churches in Indonesia has to stop [and request the government] treat the Christians equally," King says. "If they would just do that, that would make a difference."
Why would such a simple action be effective? "Indonesia is a country that cares about its reputation with the United States. They get a lot of aid [from America]," he explains. "So often these things happen on the local level [and] sometimes the local authorities are involved; but as soon as the national government gets embarrassed, they will jump on it and they will squash things."
King points out there have been more than 40 attacks against the Christian community in Indonesia -- but no arrests or convictions in any of those attacks. "What remains to be seen is if they will catch the people," he laments. "There have been so many assassinations and shootings and killings going back for the last couple of years." King believes the attacks are "obviously Muslim-motivated."
Allie Martin, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is a reporter for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.
