Muslims Plant Big Bomb Near Church for Easter

You will see this horror dismissed with a wave of the hand as "extremists," but regular Atlas readers know that this is part of the ongoing jihad against non-Muslims. Christians are being slaughtered in Indonesia and churches burned on an ongoing basis, and the media and political elites yawn. Their thinking is what? Muslims are savages so we expect this relentless slaughter and persecution across the world? That is the message, because this would never be tolerated from any other people.

Big bomb found near Indonesia church; 19 arrested AP hat tip Tycho

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Terror suspects arrested Thursday led police to a 150-kilogram (330-pound) bomb buried beneath a gas pipeline near a church just outside Indonesia's capital, officials said.

Senior security minister Djoko Suyanto said he believed Islamic militants had been plotting an attack ahead of Easter celebrations, and the U.S. embassy urged Americans to be vigilant.

"The army and police are under high alert," he told reporters, adding that troops would be deployed at churches and other strategic locations. "We want to guarantee safety."

Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation, has been battling extremists since 2002 when al-Qaida-linked militants attacked two nightclubs on Bali island, killing 202 people, many of them foreign tourists.

There have been several attacks since then targeting glitzy hotels, restaurants and an embassy, killing another 60. Hundreds of suspects have been arrested, convicted and thrown in jail.

In recent months, small bands of militants hoping to turn the secular nation of 237 million into an Islamic state have shifted their focus to local "enemies."

They've gone after police, members of a minority Islamic sect deemed "deviant," Christians and moderate Muslim leaders.

More deception. It's authentic, not deviant. Read the quran, read Islamic history.

National Police Chief Gen. Timur Pradopo said the 19 suspects were arrested Thursday, including six accused in a series of mail bombs sent last month to liberal Muslim activists and a former anti-terror chief.

Four people were wounded in the parcel bombings, none seriously.

The arrested men eventually led police to the gas pipeline 100 meters (yards) from a Catholic church large enough to hold 3,000 people in Serpong, where they found the massive, high explosive bomb.

Suyanto said he believed the [Muslim] militants had been planning to disrupt Good Friday celebrations.

The U.S. embassy in Jakarta issued a statement urging Americans to be especially cautious over the weekend and to stay clear of demonstrations.

"Even demonstrations intended to be peaceful can turn confrontational and possibly escalate into violence," it said.

Ninety percent of Indonesians are Muslim, though most practice a moderate form of the faith and abhor violence. A small, extremist fringe has become more vocal, and violent, in recent years.

More garbage of this sort -- "small, extremist fringe," all quoting quran, all devout.

Kissing Deserves Eight Lashes under Sharia Law

Jantho, Indonesia. Two people received eight lashes each in Islamic Shariah law-controlled Aceh on Friday after being found engaging in an extramarital kiss.

A crowd of hundreds watched as Anis Saputra, 24, and Kiki Hanafilia, 17, were given eight lashes each at a mosque in Jantho, some 60 kilometers southeast of provincial capital Banda Aceh.
[..]

“The people caught them kissing each other in Aceh Besar district’s forest in October. They were yet to have sexual intercourse when they were caught on Oct. 22,” Deby said, adding that Anis’s wife had been seven months pregnant at the time and had been at her parents’ home in Idi Rayeuk, East Aceh.

He said that initially he had asked for six lashes for each, but the pair were instead sentenced to eight each.

During the caning, Kiki’s head was bowed and she appeared to be attempting to not cry out as the rattan cane struck her back.

Anis, however, broke out in tears as the series of lashes landed on his back.

During the public whipping audience members surrounding the stage called out warnings and insults.

“Now you know what happens when you conduct adultery!” one person said, while another cried out, “You are married but still you wanted to cheat!”

Teungku Samsul, a cleric from Aceh Besar, spoke to the crowd before the lashings began, warning parents that a permissive attitude could lead to casual sex among their children.

“Avoid going on dates because it brings you closer to adulterous acts, which are not allowed by Islam,” Teungku said.

“If two people end up together in a lonely spot, there will surely be a third being — the devil — who will continuously tempt you and get you to stray from Allah’s path,” said Samsul, who is also an officer in the Wilayatul Hisbah, the province’s Shariah Police.

“Today’s lashings are a reminder for all Acehnese not to violate Shariah law,” Deby said. “The lashing is not to torture you, it is to get you to feel shame, as a violator of the Shariah law.”

He added that the pair were guilty of violating the 2003 qanun (Islamic bylaw) on khalwat , or close proximity, which bars Muslims from being alone with a member of the opposite sex they are not married or related to.

Kiki’s uncle, Darwin, who watched his niece’s punishment, said that when his niece and Anis had been caught, Anis had been badly beaten by a group of locals before being rescued by village leaders and the police.

Darwin said he believed the pair’s punishment fit the crime.

“I do not regret that my niece is being lashed up there because what she did was humiliating and spoiled the name of the family and our village. If I had been given the chance to lash the both of them, I would have done much worse,” he said.

“If possible these lashings should not just be done just around the capital city, but in every district and subdistrict, so that people see this and will not dare to break Shariah law.”

Shariah law was first implemented in Aceh in August 2003 after an order by then-president Megawati Sukarnoputri granted the province partial autonomy as part of an attempt to ease separatist tensions.

NYTimes Likens 70% of Americans to Muslim Murderers

In an incomprehensible moral equivocation, The NY Times is equating our rally against the 15-story mega mosque to be built on the site of a building that was partially destroyed in the attacks on September 11 in the name of Islam, with the slaughter and persecution of Christians and the church in Indonesia.

Insane? Yes. Moral rot? Yes. Regular Atlas readers are painfully aware of the merciless attacks on Christians in the largest Muslim country in the world, Indonesia. Go here for more.

In another bloody, savage attack, Muslims seriously injured two leaders of a small congregation of Indonesian Christians. A church elder was stabbed in the stomach, and a female priest was hit in the head with a plank.

Here is how the NY Slimes framed it:

Last week, one day after Americans opposed to the construction of an Islamic center in Lower Manhattan pledged to “Stop the Islamization of America,” a group of Islamists rallied in Bekasi, outside the Indonesian capital, to fight the “Christianization” of Indonesia, by blocking the planned construction of a church.

The Times is literally equating us with them. Yes, according to the NY Times, SIOA is just like these murderers in Indonesia against the church.

Tens of thousands joined Robert and me in appealing to the extreme Imam Rauf to be sensitive and tolerant and human, something Islamic supremacists are incapable of. The NY Times is comparing the 70% of Americans opposed to the Ground Zero mega mosque with bloody murdering jihadists. NY Times reporters were trained by Rauf, so this is hardly surprising.

The hatred of the good for being the good -- Ayn Rand.

Indonesian Islamists Fear ‘Christianization’ by ROBERT MACKEY
Romeo Gacad/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images Members of Indonesia’s Islamic Defenders’ Front, or F.P.I., at a rally in Jakarta in January.

Indonesia, the country with the world’s largest Muslim population, is engaged in a debate about religious tolerance that might seem familiar to Americans.

Last week, one day after Americans opposed to the construction of an Islamic center in Lower Manhattan pledged to “Stop the Islamization of America,” a group of Islamists rallied in Bekasi, outside the Indonesian capital, to fight the “Christianization” of Indonesia, by blocking the planned construction of a church.

Two leaders of the small congregation of Indonesia Christians in Bekasi were seriously wounded when the rally against their planned church by vigilantes from the Islamic Defenders’ Front, or F.P.I., turned violent. Murhali Barda, who leads Bekasi’s chapter of the Islamist vigilante group, was arrested on suspicion of leading the attacks on a church elder, who was stabbed in the stomach, and a female priest, who was hit in the head with a plank.

In June, the Bekasi F.P.I. leader told The Jakarta Globe, “All Muslims should unite and be on guard because … the Christians are up to something.” He also suggested that it might be necessary for mosques to establish militias and be prepared to fight a “war” to prevent “Christianization.”

As Al Jazeera explained in a video report last week, the small Christian group said that it had obtained all the necessary signatures from local residents who agreed to allow them to build their church, but then the Islamist vigilantes pressed people to withdraw their approval.

F.P.I. vigilantes have attacked a wide range of targets in the past, throwing rocks at members of minority Muslim sects, beating gay people, destroying bars and vowing to track down the editor of Indonesia’s short-lived version of Playboy magazine, Erwin Arnada, who is now in hiding.

As Reuters explained in June when the vigilantes attacked a group of Indonesian legislators, the F.P.I. “attracts limited support in moderate, majority Muslim Indonesia, but fear of being seen as defending vice means politicians and police often turn a blind eye to their attacks on targets, such as transvestites, which are deemed un-Islamic.”

Indonesians who want to ban the group have launched a Facebook campaign to do so. Others have taken to mocking the vigilantes through posts to a fake Twitter account set up in the group’s name.

The same month, Yenny Wahid, of Jakarta’s Wahid Institute — which “is committed to the exchange and dissemination of progressive Muslim thought to promote tolerance and understanding” — told The Jakarta Globe, “Anarchism on behalf of religion is increasing, and the government seems to fear any group that uses Islam.” She added, “We do not want to be like Afghanistan under the Taliban.”

Indonesia's Aceh - modernization or return to 7th century Islamic sharia...

Indonesia ..........the country where Obama was raised and where he spent his childhood. Hat tip Caroline G

Since the tsunami in December 2004, in Aceh in northern Sumatra, the Islamic police have come out in force. Following the tragedy that hit the region, hundreds of Islamic police were deployed to track down "un-Islamic behaviour". Canings, fines and even stoning to death are the punishments that now await those who break the Koran's rules... http://www.france24.com/en/20100820-r...

The Indonesian province of Aceh was one of the hardest-hit areas when the Asian tsunami struck in December 2004. Since then, international donors have provided about 7 billion dollars in aid to the region. Now most of Aceh is back on its feet, and observers are highlighting its reconstruction as a rare success story. Al Jazeera's Step Vaessen reports from Aceh.....

Future of Sharia law uncertain in Aceh http://www.cathnewsasia.com/2010/06/2...

Anti-terror raid Police arrest two more suspects in Aceh - Aceh Islam Defenders Front (FPI) leader Yusuf Al Qardawi affirmed that Muslim had never been involved in the terrorist group, but did not deny that Muktar had links to the Aceh terrorist group after Muktar confessed the weapons found in his house were entrusted to him by Maulana, a suspect who escaped during a raid in Lamkabeu, Aceh Besar.... http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/20...

Indonesia's Religious Police on Hemline Frontline - BANDA ACEH, KOMPAS.com - She wears a helmet and drives her scooter slowly through the capital of Indonesia's Aceh province, but Yuli is still stopped by the sharia police. Her crime: wearing tight jeans and a blouse deemed "un-Islamic". The 20-year-old lowers her eyes and doesn't argue with the khaki-clad male officers who summon her to the side of the road.

"I promise to buy a more Muslim outfit," she says, showing enough contrition for the police to wave her on her way. In one hour, 18 women are pulled over because the guardians of morality decide their slacks are too tight or their shirts reveal too much of their feminine curves.

Only three men receive the same treatment, for wearing shorts. "We have to respect sharia (Islamic) law, which has been adopted by the provincial government and which stipulates that women can only show their faces and their hands," sharia police commander Hali Marzuki told AFP.....

But this game of cat-and-mouse could take an ugly turn if a new regulations allowing the stoning to death of adulterers and the flogging of homosexuals is signed into law by the provincial government. The law was enacted by the outgoing Aceh Legislative Council on September 14, but it has been under review by the newly elected assembly and has not been signed into effect by Governor Irwandi Yusuf. Lawmakers in Jakarta have expressed their opposition to such draconian punishments, which could be declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court and re-open old wounds about Aceh's hard-won autonomy.

"We have to be very careful in the face of such radical pressures," said Khairani Arifin, an activist for Acehnese women's rights. "Aceh could look like Pakistan one day," she warned. http://cempaka-tourist.blogspot.com/2...

http://blogs.reuters.com/faithworld/2...

Islamic Defenders' Front: Who Are These Guys? http://jakartica.com/2010/islamic-def...

Aceh drops a sharia gauntlet http://article.wn.com/view/2009/09/23... (VIDEO link)

Aceh moves to tighten sharia law http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/conn...

Rights Groups Condemn Aceh Stoning Law http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/home/r...

Aceh's Sharia Law Still Controversial in Indonesia http://www1.voanews.com/english/news/...

In Aceh Indonesia, Islamic police take to the streets http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Asia-P...

It is thought to have been in Aceh where Islam was first established in Southeast Asia. In the early seventeenth century the Sultanate of Aceh was the most wealthy, powerful and cultivated state in the Malacca Straits region. Aceh has a history of political independence and fierce resistance to control by outsiders, including the former Dutch colonists and the Indonesian government..... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aceh

Posted by Pamela Geller

Indonesian Reaction to Qur'an Burning

More love from the religion of peace and tolerance. Sorry, fellas, here in America we have free speech. Nobody said boo when Piss Christ was an art exhibit or Comedy Central had Jesus snorting coke or when the steady stream of Jew hating cartoons and TV shows in the Muslim world came out, so the prophet moe and his followers are going to have to grow up.

Muslims must learn to get along with others and live side by side with their fellow man. :)

The 911 quran burning in Florida is a dumb idea. I don't support such acts. Book burnings are always a bad idea. But Muslims have nothing to fear from those Christians. It is insensitive for that church to burn the quran, but it is still a free country, is it not? Islamic supremacists can't whine about "insensitivity" while planning to erect a 15-story mega mosque on Ground Zero. Meanwhile, Muslims across the world are going nuts of the book burning, "death to America."

Indonesians protest U.S. church's plan to burn Quran

Jakarta, Indonesia - Thousands of Indonesians gathered Sunday outside the U.S. Embassy in Jakarta to protest a Florida church's plan to burn copies of the Quran.

The Dove World Outreach Center in Gainsville, Florida, plans to mark the ninth anniversary of the September 11 attacks by burning copies of the Muslim holy text. The center describes itself as a "New Testament church based on the Bible." It made headlines last year when it distributed a T-shirt that said, "Islam is the devil."

Protesters in Jakarta carried signs saying, "Jihad to protect Koran" and "You burn qu'ran you burn in hell." The protesters included members of the hard-line Muslim group Hizb ut-Tahrir Indonesia and the pluralism care movement, a multi-faith group.

And then there is this:

Afghans chant "death to America," claim Obama behind Florida Qur'an-burning Jihadwatch

Once again: This church's plan to burn the Qur'an on September 11 is stupid; I disapprove of it and of many other things about the pastor, the church, and the church's approach to the jihad threat. I don't support the burning of books; it's tactically stupid, as it will make the mainstream media portray the church as a bunch of Nazis, and it's wrong in principle: the antidote to bad speech is not censorship or book-burning, but more speech. Open discussion. Give-and-take. And the truth will out. There is no justification for burning books.

Marisol's comments here are apposite: "'International Burn a Koran Day' does a grave disservice to the cause of spreading awareness about Islamic teachings and the threat that Sharia poses to our way of life. It is a gift to Islamic groups who would so dearly love to portray all of us who criticize and question Islamic teachings (and triumphalist mosques) as frothing reactionaries."

If Americans are free and not under Sharia, then the church can do this if it wants, and their freedom and rights should be protected.

Blaming Obama for this is conspiracy paranoia at its finest.

"Afghans protest US church's plans to burn Quran," by Rahim Faiez for AP, September 6:

KABUL, Afghanistan -- Hundreds of Afghans railed against the United States and called for President Barack Obama's death at a rally in the capital Monday to denounce an American church's plans to burn the Islamic holy book on 9/11.

The crowd in Kabul, numbering as many as 500, chanted "Long live Islam" and "Death to America" as they listened to fiery speeches from members of parliament, provincial council deputies, and Islamic clerics who criticized the U.S. and demanded the withdrawal of foreign troops from the country. Some threw rocks when a U.S. military convoy passed, but speakers shouted at them to stop and told police to arrest anyone who disobeyed.

The Gainesville, Florida-based Dove World Outreach Center announced plans to burn copies of the Quran on church grounds to mark the ninth anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, but has been denied a permit to set a bonfire. The church, which made headlines last year after distributing T-shirts that said "Islam is of the Devil," has vowed to proceed with the burning.

"We know this is not just the decision of a church. It is the decision of the president and the entire United States," said Abdul Shakoor, an 18-year-old high school student who said he joined the protest after hearing neighborhood gossip about the Quran burning.

The U.S. Embassy in Kabul issued a statement condemning Dove World Outreach Center's plans, saying Washington was "deeply concerned about deliberate attempts to offend members of religious or ethnic groups."

Protesters, who gathered in front of western Kabul's Milad ul-Nabi mosque, raised placards and flags emblazoned with slogans calling for the death of Obama, while police looked on. They also held up a cardboard effigy of Dove World Outreach Center's pastor Terry Jones....

Pamela Geller, Atlas Shrugs

Muslim Clerics Call for Jihad in Egypt, Thailand and Indonesia

This is jihad. What is being done within Islam to expunge Islamic teachings and the Koran of the violent texts that inspire the slaughter and brutal oppression of non-Muslims? And when are the chattering classes in the West and the media elite going to start reporting on this in a responsible, accurate manner?

Enough already.

While Obama simultaneously extols Islam for "advancing justice, progress, tolerance & dignity of all human beings".....................

Muslim Cleric Calls for Jihad, Coptic Christians Attacked in Egypt

Assyrian International News Agency

(AINA) -- On August 13 Sheikh Tobah, Imam of the village of Shimi 170 KM south of Giza, called during Muslim Friday prayers for Jihad against Christians living there. As a result the Christian Copts living in the village were assaulted over two consecutive days. Eleven Copts were hospitalized and many Coptic youths were arrested.

The assaults begain a couple of hours after the Sheikhs incitement. An argument between Copt Maher Amin, who was washing his taxi, and Mohamed Ali Almstaui, a Muslim extremist from the village, escalated into violence as Mohamad assaulted Maher. The altercation was stopped by bystanders. However, after the evening break of Ramadan fast, Ahmad, the brother of the perpetrator Mohamad, who is reported to belong to an extremist organization, together with twenty other men, went to Maher's family home, breaking down the door and assaulting him and his family with batons, including his old mother and his paralyzed sister, injuring them and breaking their furniture.

Security forces came and took away the Christian victims and kept them at the station in spite of their wounds, to pressuree them into accepting "reconciliation" with their attackers. None of the Muslims were arrested.

Saad Gamal, Egyptian MP for Elsaff, phoned from Gaza, where he is on a visit, and gave orders to the police to force reconciliation on the Coptic parties.

"I was against reconciliation, because I know that the culprits know that they can assault Copts, and in the end it will boil down to Copts giving up all their rights with the reconciliation sessions," said Reverend Ezra Nageh of St. George's Church in Elsaff.

"I was told by the security authorities that for the sake of the Holy month of Ramadan, everyone ought to make peace."

The next day, after the compulsory reconciliation between the Amin family and Almstaui family, a large number of Muslims were gathered by the Almstauis and attacked again the houses of the Copts, beaten the inhabitants, and went to the fields and assaulted the Copts there also.

"Why should they not do that, when they are told that the MP will defend them," said Rev. Ezra, adding the police have yet to issue a report about the incidents, because they were afraid of the MP. "So to whom should we go for help? MP Saad Gamal hates Christians, and President Mubarak pretends that he is not present or unaware of our plight."

Ghali Tawfik, one of the Coptic victims, said "We are forced into reconciliation and in less than 24 hours, we are assaulted again."

In an aired audio interview with activist Wagih Yacoub, Maher Amin said "they have humiliated us. We were beaten and we could not do anything about it. We are weak and helpless and have to accept reconciliation. They will next come to our homes and rape our women, and we will not be able to do anything about it."

Karam Bebawy, another Coptic victim, said the arrival of strangers to the village two weeks ago "with long beards and wearing short dresses like the Islamists" have a hand in poisoning the atmosphere in their village and inciting the Muslims against the Copts. He said that his Muslim neighbors have turned against him without reason since then.

Police today released the assaulted Copts who were detained on Friday and arrested three new Coptic youths in their twenties on charges of having some old cases against them. They were transferred to State Security. However, Rev. Ezra said that State Security is using the same old trick, which is detaining innocent Copts and fabricating crimes against them, to twist the arm of the church into accepting a forced reconciliation.

The village mayor, Sheikh Saad contacted Rev. Ezra on August 14, regarding a second reconciliation, but he flatly refused.

"They attack us today and force reconciliation on us. Are they waiting for us to be killed tomorrow and then they would think about the rule of law?" asked Reverend Ezra.

Also: Thailand: Jihad against rubber plantation workers Jihad Watch

And policemen. "Three shot dead in Thai restive south," from Reuters, August 14 (thanks to all who sent this in): YALA Thailand (Reuters) - Three people, among them a policeman, were killed in Thailand's troubled southern region Saturday in attacks blamed on Muslim separatists, police said. A man and his...read more

Indonesia: Muslim mob, police, government officials force closure of church

Muslim authorities collude with the mob out of fear and/or conviction. Islamic Tolerance Alert from modern, moderate Indonesia: "Mob Threats Lead to Closure of Church Building in Indonesia," from Compass Direct, August 13: JAKARTA, Indonesia, August 13 (CDN) -- Police and local government officials joined forces with a Muslim mob...read more

Christians Expelled from Indonesia

How many times are we force-fed the line by our enlightened betters that there are moderate, secular Muslim countries, even if the facts belie that very premise?

Indonesia, where our mysterious president grew up, is always held up as a shining example of such plurality, interfaith gobbledygook, and tolerance.

Look, it's not so bad; at least these Christians escaped with their limbs and head intact.

American Christians expelled from sharia-ruled Indonesian province Creeping

Apparently she has not opposed the implementation of sharia law there.

BANDA ACEH, Indonesia — Three Americans were expelled from Indonesia’s devoutly Islamic province of Aceh on Wednesday after locals accused them of trying to convert Muslims to Christianity, a local government spokesman said.

Immigration officials, however, said no decision has been made on whether Robin Kay Jordan, his wife Kelly and their daughter Claire would be deported. Proselytizing is illegal in Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim nation.

The Jordans, charity workers from California, were forced from their rented house in West Aceh district and transferred to the immigration office in the neighboring province of North Sumatra, said Mulyagus, district spokesman.

“They allegedly have a mission to spread Christianity,” said Mulyagus, who uses only one name, like many Indonesians. “Therefore we expelled and banned them from entering West Aceh.”

He added that they were kicked out for their own safety following rumors that the family converted three Muslims in the district to Christianity.

Read it all.

Related: Churches burned to the ground.

Atlas Shrugs

Indonesian Film Tells of Obama's Childhood

Indonesian Muslims Target Christians for Death

Death penalty for Andreas Dusly Sanau , ...

In this Tuesday, June 29, 2010 photo, an Indonesian Muslim woman reads a banner with a picture of a young, bespectacled Christian man and the words: 'Death penalty for Andreas Dusly Sanau ... ,' in front of a mosque at Bekasi on the outskirts of Jakarta

The relentless torture, persectuion and slaughter of Christians by Muslims escalates. This story comes to us from Indonesia, the country Obama grew up in. Remember that.

He just promised them another 160 million and no, it was not to fight jihad.

Look at how the AP writes the headline "eyes the Christians," an incredible inversion of a call for mass murder by "conservative" Muslims- more of the mainstream media's Orwellian honor killing of the English language

Indonesian Islamists eye proselytizing Christians AP

BEKASI, Indonesia – A banner with a picture of a young, bespectacled Christian man is draped in front of a mosque, a fiery noose around his neck and the words, "This man deserves the death penalty!"

Churches are shut down. And an Islamic youth militia held its first day of training.

Though the events all occurred less than nine miles (15 kilometers) from Indonesia's bustling capital, making headlines in local papers and dominating chats on social networking sites such as Facebook, they've sparked little public debate in the halls of power.

"I really see this as a threat to democracy," said Arbi Sanit, a political analyst, noting leaders never like to say anything that can be perceived as "un-Islamic," because they depend heavily on the support of Muslim parties in parliament.

"Being popular is more important to them than punishing those who are clearly breaking the law," Sanit said.

[....]

Now, they are targeting Christians in the fast-growing industrial city of Bekasi.

Outsiders have steadily poured into the Jakarta suburb in search of work, bringing with them their own religions, traditions and values. That has made conservative Islamic clerics nervous. Some have used sermons to warn their flock to be on the lookout for signs of proselytization.

So, when 14 busloads of villagers arrived on June 30 at the home of Henry Sutanto, who heads the Christian-run Mahanaim Foundation, rumors quickly spread that he and Andreas Sanau, the condemned man whose face appeared on the mosque banner, were planning a mass baptism.

A spokeswoman for the group, Marya Irawan, insisted the crowds were invited as part of efforts to reach out to the poor.

The FPI was not convinced. Video footage provided by the hard-line group shows hundreds of people getting off buses and entering the residential complex, many of them women in headscarves holding babies in slings, and milling about the pool. When a questioner thrust the camera in their faces, demanding to know why they came, most just looked bewildered.

"Someone asked if I wanted to come," one woman said with a shrug. Others accepted a ride into the city because they were bored, and thought they would at least get a free lunch out of it.

When the questioner found Sanau, who had one ear to a phone, he asked if baptisms would be taking place. The 29-year-old Christian's brow furrowed. He shook his head, "No, no." Asked if he had an ID card, Sanau flashed it at the interviewer, who zoomed in on his home address. The house has since been abandoned.

"He should be executed!" said Murhali Barda, who heads the Bekasi chapter of the FPI. "He tried to carry out mass baptisms!"

Atlas Shrugs

Death to Christians in Indonesia

The global jihad rages on.

Religion of peaceniks. I guess it all depends on what your definition of peace is. Perhaps Obama can help explain the definition. After all, this is the country of his youth. He did grow up on the streets of Jakarta, Indonesia. I wonder whose side he's on in this jihad .......... let's ask the Nepalese.

Indonesia: Nine groups of Misunderstanders of Islam threaten war over "Christianization" Jihad Watch

Enraged over rumors that Muslims have been baptized, a new coalition of nine Muslim groups is trying to mobilize every mosque in Bekasi -- numbering in the hundreds -- to go to war against the Christians. But surely the Vast Majority of Peaceful Muslims in those mosques will put a stop to this, won't they? Won't they? "Muslim Groups Talk War Over 'Christianization,'" by Ulma Haryanto in the Jakarta Globe, June 28 (thanks to Nicolei):

In a move that could add to already simmering religious tensions in Bekasi, a new group calling itself the Bekasi Islamic Presidium is planning a roadshow aimed at persuading every mosque in the city to prepare for the possibility of "war" against "Christianization."

The group, consisting of nine members representing different Islamic organizations in the city, was formed on Sunday, the last day of the Bekasi Islamic Congress at Al Azhar Mosque that was convened to address the so-called Christianization problem.

Among its recommendations is the formation of Islamic militant groups, or laskar, within each mosque and the drafting of Shariah-based policies by the Bekasi administration.

"All Muslims should unite and be on guard because ... the Christians are up to something," Mur­hali Barda, head of the Bekasi chapter of the hard-line Islamic Defenders Front (FPI), told the Jakarta Globe.

"Apparently they want to test our patience. We are planning to invite them for a dialogue to determine what they really want. If talks fail, this might mean war," he warned.

Murhali claimed that a certain Christian foundation had been relentlessly baptizing groups of people in the city, which has seen a number of religious conflicts in recent months.

"The last one was on Wednesday. A number of buses were seen dropping off people, some wearing jilbabs, at a house in Kemang Pratama district in Bekasi. When our people interrogated the security guard, he said they came from Jakarta and were there to be baptized," he said.

UPDATE: Obama is giving them 160 million for ........ climate change and "schools."

Atlas Shrugs

Indonesia Blocks YouTube

Indonesia Blocks YouTube Over “Fitna” the Movie
Sami Ben Gharbia, Global Voices

The Indonesian government has ordered the country’s internet service providers to block YouTube for publishing the 15-minute anti-Muslim film “Fitna”, made by Dutch MP Geert Wilders, leader of the anti-immigration Freedom Party (PVV). Some of the country’s ISPs followed the block order, but “Fitna” could still be viewed through other providers.
“A letter was sent to Internet providers asking them to block any site or blog posting the film Fitna (…) Not only YouTube has uploaded the film, so it is up to the ISPs’ discretion to block these sites,” a Communications and Information Ministry Official is quoted as saying.
Earlier this week, Indonesia had threatened to block YouTube unless the video-sharing web site removed the aforementioned movie.