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Death Toll Rises Above 30 As Unholy War Continues in Indonesia

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Plus: Toledo priest accused of killing nun, Britain’s new religious education guidelines, looking for Noah’s ark, and other stories from online sources around the world.

Christianity Today April 1, 2004

Maluku Islands again a violent center of Christian-Muslim warsLess than a month ago, journalists were reporting peace in Indonesia’s Maluku Islands. “A peace deal signed in 2002 appears to be holding and on the region’s main island Ambon, the first tentative steps towards reconciliation are now being taken,” reported the BBC’s Rachel Harvey.

About a year ago, Christianity Today‘s Jeff M. Sellers reported the tragic reason for the “peace”—after more than 5,000 people were killed in two years of religious warfare, Muslim extremists had completed their mission. “They’re done with religious cleansing there,” Freedom House’s Paul Marshall said. “There are refugees who have fled, and there are refugees who have been driven out of their villages but are starting to move back.”

Last weekend, the religious violence moved back, too. Trouble reportedly began at a parade of some local separatists.

“Police arrested people trying to raise the banned flag of a little known and mostly Christian rebel group, the South Maluku Republic Movement, on the anniversary of a failed independence bid 54 years ago,” Reuters said.

Violence broke out with six people killed and dozens more injured. Retaliation escalated, and by Tuesday afternoon the official death toll was 31, with 145 injured.

“In a particularly telling incident one man, likely a Christian according to local people, was stabbed to death at the Yos Sudarso port in Ambon, as he was trying to escape from a Muslim area,” The Jakarta Post reports.

The paper says that clashes “finally began to tail off” yesterday: “Ambon was a ghost town as night fell, as the hundreds of police paramilitary reinforcements were deployed to the troubled city to prevent the conflict from escalating.”

United Nations employee Olin Tutamahu told the AFP news agency, “We seem to have gone instantly back to the same conditions as at the beginning of the conflict in 1999. The Christians remain in their sector and the Muslims remain in theirs.”

“It’s still tense in some spots, but less so than yesterday,” police spokesman Endro Prasetyo told Reuters. “We can hear gunfire but it’s not often.”

Still, the paramilitaries’ presence does not mean peace has returned to the area. Australian media are reporting that hardline Muslim leaders in Jakarta have promised to send “7,000 Islamic warriors” to move the clash into the next phase.

“The clash in Ambon that erupted last Sunday has the potential to be used by certain groups to provoke the people of Ambon into becoming involved in a prolonged conflict like that in 1999,” Natan Setiabudi, chairman of the Indonesian Communion of Churches, told The Jakarta Post. He also said that Christians in Ambon don’t support the South Maluku Republic Movement. Unfortunately, the Muslim extremists who torched local Christians homes and schools (including the Indonesian Christian university) don’t seem to care.

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Priest arrested for nun’s 1980 death:

Priest jailed for major embezzlement:

Stealing Christian music:

  • Praise God and pass the music files | Like other niche genres, Christian music is “disproportionately popular” on file-sharing services, said Eric Garland, chief executive of BigChampagne, because fans want to collect every song, and because they can’t always find them at the mall (The New York Times)
  • Gospel pirates | Illegal downloading as a faith-based enterprise (Editorial, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)

U.K. issues religious education guidelines:

United Methodist General Conference previews:

Gay marriage in Massachusetts:

  • Romney: gay outsiders can’t marry in Mass. | The state will prohibit gay couples who live outside of Massachsetts from marrying here when gay marriage becomes legal next month, a senior aide to Governor Mitt Romney said yesterday (The Boston Globe)
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  • Marriage restriction debated | Under Romney plan, couples face checks (The Boston Globe)
  • Mass. seeks compliance on gay weddings | Gov. Mitt Romney’s top legal counsel told the state’s justices of the peace Sunday to resign if they are unwilling to preside over same-sex marriages beginning next month (Associated Press)
  • After May 17, marriage is no cake walk, gays are told | Gay couples will have the right to get married May 17 in Massachusetts, but many may find that the questions over marriage benefits may have only begun, a panel of lawyers and probate judge said yesterday (The Boston Globe)
  • Lawmakers insist SJC overstepped | Claiming the state’s highest court does not have jurisdiction over marriage, a Washington, D.C.-based public interest law firm will file a lawsuit on behalf of a group of legislators in an effort to prevent same-sex marriages from taking place (The Herald News, Fall River, Ma.)
  • Mass. Gov. to ban gay marriage for out-of-state couples | Gay rights groups criticized Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney on Monday for his decision to forbid gay couples from other states from marrying in his jurisdiction and called the move unconstitutional (Reuters)

Dublin’s Catholic archbishop replaced:

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  • Archbishop Martin disagrees with Vatican over Eucharist | The new Archbishop of Dublin, the Most Rev Diarmuid Martin, yesterday disagreed with the Vatican that priests should refuse Communion to politicians who adopt a pro-choice stance on abortion (The Irish Times)

Lutheran abuse judgment:

  • Lutherans dealing with sex abuse scandal | Lutherans who filled church pews Sunday were determined not to let a sexual abuse scandal that led to millions in court awards and legal settlements lessen their faith in their leaders (Associated Press)
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Searching for Noah’s ark:

  • Entrepreneur to fund Ark search | A Roman Catholic entrepreneur from Honolulu is funding a $900,000 expedition to find Noah’s Ark this summer, after a record heat wave last year revealed what could be a large man-made object on the northeastern slopes of Turkey’s Mount Ararat (The Washington Times)
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