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.