Indonesian mayor resists building of church
Despite losing all legal battles, mayor says he cannot allow a church to be built on a street with an Islamic name.
Christian worshipers have been forced to pray in the open air in a town in Indonesia’s West Java province after the town’s majority Muslim population opposed the building of a church.
After losing all legal battles, including a verdict from country’s highest court, the mayor says he cannot allow a church to be built on a street with an Islamic name.
The national ombudsman has given the mayor two more weeks to implement the supreme court’s decision and let the congregation build its church.
The standoff is being seen as a national test case of religious tolerance, with recent research showing a growing number of Muslims are against the presence of a church in their neighbourhood.
Al Jazeera’s Step Vaessen reports from Bogor, in West Java.