Muslims stop church services in Indonesia

JAKARTA, Indonesia — Radical Muslims in mid-April forced three Indonesian churches to cease services in North Jakarta and the provinces of West Java and Tangerang, claiming the meetings were disturbing Islamic communities. On April 17, a group of 150 people bullied Pastor Yoshua Sugiharto into ceasing worship activities of his Shining Christian Church in West Semper, North Jakarta. In West Java province, police asked the St. Clara Catholic Church in North Bekasi district not to hold a Good Friday worship service April 14 after Muslim groups threatened to disrupt it. And a mob of some 500 Muslims forced the Ciledug Catholic Church, meeting in a residential building in the Regensi Bintaro Ciledug housing complex in Tangerang province, to cease services.