wfn.org | Threats to Christians in Indonesia and Pakistan

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Note #6076 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

GA00126
June 29, 2000

Threats to Christians in Indonesia and Pakistan prompt Assembly
 to call for U.S. action

	by Edmund Doogue

LONG BEACH, June 29–The 212th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church
(U.S.A.) Thursday expressed deep concern about the mass violation of the
rights of Christians in Indonesia and Pakistan. The church's officials will
urge the Clinton administration to put pressure on leaders in both
countries.

	The concerns were expressed as the Assembly considered recommendations by
the Assembly Committee on Global Mission and International Issues.

	The most urgent matter examined by the committee this week was the
escalating crisis on Ambon, the main island in the Molukkus in the east of
Indonesia where violence is continuing between Jihad (extremist Muslims)
warriors and the large Christian community. Churches have repeatedly accused
Indonesian military forces of involvement in anti-Christian violence.

	Will Browne, associate director of the PC(USA)'s Worldwide Ministries
Division, told the Assembly that his office had just received word from the
church's partners in Ambon that "one more push by the Jihad will force
Christians to give up Ambon," which is one of the most strongly Christian
areas of Indonesia. Browne said that the crisis was "potentially far worse
than East Timor" because bigger numbers of people were involved.

	The Assembly approved actions recommended by Browne's division to:

	  call for an immediate investigation of human rights violations in Ambon
	  urge the U.N. to send in observers and peacekeepers 
	  urge the U.S. government to put pressure on the Indonesian government to
resolve the crisis and to suspend U.S. military assistance to Indonesia
	  call on U.S. corporations not to invest in Indonesia until the crisis is
resolved and the human rights of all are guaranteed

	Browne said that a senior official at the U.N. had said that the
organization could not take action on Ambon unless it was told to do so by
member states.

	PC(USA) leaders will also write, following a request from the Assembly to
President Bill Clinton and Secretary of State Madeleine Albright asking them
to "actively encourage the government of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan to
repeal all laws that violate the human rights of minorities."

	Senior church officials in Pakistan have complained in recent years of the
risk to their members because of the nation's blasphemy laws, which impose
the death penalty for insulting the Islamic faith. One clergy commissioner
told the Assembly that he had a Pakistani family in his U.S. congregation.
In Pakistan, a woman member of the family had been murdered, but police had
not investigated the death. He added that some Islamic governments were
taking away the rights of women and minorities. "We have to stop thinking
everything's nice, because everything is not nice," he said.
		
	The Assembly also criticized U.S. military strategy, in particular U.S.
plans "to militarize space" and urged the U.S. government to respect all
existing treaties and arms reduction agreements.

	The continuing crisis in Iraq was another cause for concern for the
Assembly, which approved a committee overture protesting the economic
sanctions on Iraq.

	Following expressions of concern by some church members about the
operations in Sudan of a Canadian company, Talisman Oil, which operates in
partnership with the Sudanese government,  the church is to ask the company
to withdraw from Sudan because of the government's oppression of the
Christian community in the south of the country. The PC(USA) is a major
shareholder in Talisman, and the church may consider drastically reducing
its holding.
	
	The Assembly also expressed its support for the recent thawing of relations
between South and North Korea. The PC(USA) has many Korean members, and, as
of this week, a Korean-American moderator. In South Korea the biggest
churches are Presbyterian churches.

	The Assembly also called on the U.S. government to clean up toxic waste
left behind at its former U.S. bases.

	In a major effort to officially redefine the basis of mission and aid work,
the Assembly instituted a process to draw up a statement to enable "a common
and disciplined" approach to partnership which will emphasis "mutual
respect, not paternalism". (The PC(USA) is involved in numerous aid,
education and relief partnership with churches and agencies overseas.)

	Elder Sydney H. Nordt of Salem, Virginia, who assists in a partnership
between her presbytery and a Central American agency, told the Assembly that
the statement would help "delineate the evolution of missiology" which must
now be a matter of "50-50 give and take" and not a matter of one side
deciding "what {the other] people need".
 

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