Two religious liberty organizations have mounted a campaign to rescue Indonesian Christians in the Maluku Islands from genocide at the hands of Muslim extremists.
International Christian Concern (ICC) and Christian Aid are attempting to raise $1.2 million in order to take 7,000 Indonesian Christians by boat to safer areas. In March, the groups evacuated 235 Christians from an area south of Halmahera, where members of the Muslim majority have burned entire villages and murdered non-Muslims. ICC and Christian Aid are transporting refugees to northern parts of the island, where Christians have managed to form a stronghold. Violence erupted between Christians and Muslims in the Maluku Islands in January 1999. The conflict, which originated on the island of Ambon, is now spreading into more densely populated areas of the Maluku Islands, a province in eastern Indonesia with 1.7 million people on about 1,000 islands.
Between 5,000 and 8,000 Christians and Muslims have died, and more than 500,000 have been forced from their homes. Muslim extremists have incited mob violence and have pledged to purge the area of all Christians. Indonesia is predominantly Muslim, with Christians making up a sizable minority of the nation's 210 million people.
Steven Snyder, president of ICC, says he felt compelled to help Indonesian Christians after visiting the country in February. "We saw entire villages that were destroyed," Snyder said. "We visited with refugees—some with families that had escaped after being forcibly circumcised." Christian refugees also report forced conversions to Islam. Snyder says the groups have currently raised about 25 percent of the funds needed to relocate the 7,000 Indonesians living in make-shift refugee camps. "As soon as money comes in, we're channeling it over there," Snyder says. Costs for the mission ($160 per person) include boats, food, and security. Indonesian Christians, Snyder says, believe that foreign intervention is necessary to resolve the deeply rooted conflict. "Christians are calling for the United Nations to intervene," he said. "They feel [as if] they are never going to regain their homeland without peacekeeping efforts."
Although Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid, a Muslim scholar, has condemned the violence, many Christians suspect that some Indonesian officials have contributed to the clashes. "With the Indonesian government," Snyder said, "there needs to be an effort to pull the reins on their own military, who are aiding these jihads."
While we pray for peace, we need moral clarity about this war.
A Christian reconciliation group in Israel and Palestine warned that war would come. Now the war threatens their relevance.العربيةFrançais
We must always be people of the Word, but we’ll have to reimagine deep engagement with Scripture.
