A Country Divided

Mark Absher
9-2-10
8:00

Early this week the Religious Affairs minister in Indonesia said that the sect Ahmadiya should be disbanded. This particular religious group is an offshoot of Islam, the major difference being that they do not believe Muhammad was not the final prophet. In Indonesia there are somewhere around 200,000 followers of this sect. This is not a new stance taken by the Indonesian government, in fact they have been working in this direction since 2008 when they banned the group from propagating their beliefs. The President, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, has yet to comment on the situation. He seems content to allow the religious violence and oppression to continue.
The issue the government is using as a reason to keep the pressure on the Ahmadiya's is that they did not follow the instruction in 2008 to stop propagating their faith. The Ahmadiya's claim they are being infringed and their human rights impeded and that they should be legally protected. They claim that they were sanctioned way back in 1954.
This is just another example of religious intolerence and oppression. In this area of the world if you are not part of the religious mainstream, violence and depravity are likely results. You would think more reaction from the international community would occur. Hopefully as stories like this continue to penetrate the media more reaction and pressure from the rest of the world will react and intervene.
http://www.voanews.com/english/news/asia/Indonesian-Religion-Minister-Wants-Ahmadiyah-Sect-Disbanded--101918633.html