Christians pardon rioters and pray for them during service
Christians pardon rioters and pray for them during service
By Ida Indawati Khouw
JAKARTA (JP): Christians are encouraged not to take revenge
against those who damaged and burned churches last week, but to
instead pray for them and forgive them, preachers told
congregations on the first Sunday service held since the mayhem
of Nov. 22.
Congregations were told that churches might be demolished but
that their faith could not be so easily destroyed.
Head of the Indonesian Council of Churches Sularso Sopater
told the gathering at Ketapang Church of Christ in West Jakarta,
the church most badly damaged in the unrest, that nothing on this
earth was eternal.
"Everything can be destroyed... But let wickedness be
resisted by our goodness and hatred by our love," Sopater said.
His words left many of the congregation -- who were standing
in the ruins of their church -- in tears.
A church elder, Yahya Dharmadi, 76, could not hide his sadness
that the house of worship he helped to build 16 years ago had
been destroyed.
"We were too proud of our luxurious church. We should have
realized that whatever we built could be ruined one day. So we
should now rebuild a modest house of prayer," he told the
congregation, which included Asmara Nababan, who is a member of
the National Commission for Human Rights.
Two hundred Christians celebrated the first Advent Sunday, the
first of four Sundays leading up to Christmas, by standing where
once the pews were lined up in their gutted church.
"It is the last chance for them to see the building before
demolition work begins on Monday," Rev. Kumala Setiabrata said.
Twenty two churches were damaged or burned following a bloody
clash between Ambonese security guards from a nearby amusement
center in Ketapang and local residents. At least 14 people died,
most of whom burned to death in buildings set alight by mobs.
Under a tent
Five kilometers away, the congregation from the gutted
Santapan Rohani church on Jl. Taman Sari in West Jakarta held a
service under a tent erected in the ruined remains of their
church.
The congregation had cleared the site of debris and bought new
chairs in an attempt to hold their Sunday service "in a normal
way".
In his sermon, Rev. Ronny Sumantri urged the congregation not
to hate those who burned and killed during the Ketapang riot.
"We should pray for them because they did not know what they
were doing," he said.
Church elder Charles Sudargo, 69, said: "It's better if
Christians are not too emotional".
Separately, the congregation from Central Jakarta's Pniel
church, most of whom come from the country's eastern region,
including Ambon, held a peaceful service, although many feared
renewed attacks by some persons.
Shortly after the service ended, the church gate was hurriedly
closed and parked vehicles removed to safer places after a woman
told church elder Y. Rompas that a mob was marching towards the
church.
The information proved to be false.
At GKI Samanhudi church, which was partly damaged by a mob,
Rev. Rasid Rahman told the congregation to use their faith to
face up to the reality of last Sunday's attack.
"There's no other way to come to terms with what has
happened," he said.
Failure
Human rights activist Asmara Nababan said the Nov. 22 incident
reflected the failure of the government to protect the right to
worship.
"We're now witnessing the abuse of the right to follow one's
own religious beliefs. The government is obliged to protect it,
but they have basically failed," he said.
Nababan said that an apology and expression of regret was
simply not an adequate response from the government and said that
more must be done to help the victims of this most recent
outbreak of violence.
"They should admit their shortcomings. If such violence occurs
again and again, the government will lose the people's trust," he
added.
As reported, the rebuilding of churches burned or damaged
during the Nov. 22 riot is likely to be hindered by problems
stemming from the difficulty of raising funds during the economic
crisis.
Rev. Kumala said on Friday that he could not predict when
restoration work on his church, which was badly damaged by fire,
would begin.
Damage to the Ketapang Church of Christ alone has been valued
at Rp 3.65 billion (US$486,666).
"We want to rebuild the church, but our congregation is very
uncertain about how to proceed, given that we are still in the
depths of the economic crisis," he said.