Indonesia, one of the biggest Muslim-majority countries in the world just experienced a terrorist attack targeting Christians. What can we say about this story? It is incredibly sad and horrific that people are killed in their places of worship; that Christians are being persecuted by Islamic extremists like this.
Islamic State-linked extremists killed four people in a remote Christian community on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, authorities said Saturday, with one victim beheaded and another burned to death…..
The group of sword-and-gun wielding attackers ambushed Lembantongoa village in Central Sulawesi province Friday morning, killing several residents and torching half a dozen homes, including one used for regular prayers and services, police said…….
No arrests had yet been made and the motive for the attack was not immediately clear. But authorities pointed the finger at the Sulawesi-based East Indonesia Mujahideen (MIT), one of dozens of radical groups across the Southeast Asian archipelago that have pledged allegiance to IS.
The makeshift church was empty at the time of the early morning attack by around eight militants, he added. “People were just in their homes when it happened,” Priyahutama said.
Lembantongoa village head Rifai, who like many Indonesians goes by one name, said “One victim was beheaded and another was nearly decapitated. One of the other all-male victims was stabbed while a fourth was burned to death in his home”. “Some residents managed to escape, but the victims didn’t make it,” Rifai told AFP.
Indonesia’s Christians have been targeted in the past, including in 2018 when IS-linked group Jamaah Ansharut Daulah staged a wave of suicide bombings at churches in the country’s second-biggest city Surabaya, killing a dozen congregants….
If confirmed to be the work of MIT, Friday’s killings would be its first significant attack since the organization’s leader was killed four years ago by Indonesia’s elite anti-terror squad, according to Jakarta-based terrorism expert Sidney Jones.
“Through the attack… they want to show that police efforts to arrest and kill members of the group did not have any effect on” them, she said.
Time and time again we get these stories. Jihadis, suicide bombers, militia who are causing mayhem and chaos in our world. Where are these terrorists getting these violent ideas from? It is obvious that they are taking these teachings directly from the 7th century manual of the Quran and Sunnah.
Right now we are dealing with a global pandemic, a virus that is killing anywhere from 1-2% of the population (or more, if it overloads the healthcare system). When you look at a death rate of 1%, you think “It cant be that bad. Its just 1%.” But that’s still 10x more than the death rate from the common flu which is 0.1%
When we look at the world jihad rate today, even a rate of 1% is too much. It is enough to cause mayhem and chaos and destruction in our world. Even if 99% of Muslims are not jihadis, and only 1% are, we still have a big problem. Whenever we hear the news of a terrorist attack, everyone’s first thought rushes to Islam. For good reason. On a worldwide basis terrorists are only responsible for 0.05% of global deaths, but even that is too much. Every life that we lose unnecessarily to this is a tragedy.
What can we do? We can continue to fight the ideology that causes this terrorism, that is Islam. We can do so and we should do so while at the same time not falling into bigotry against Muslims. Most Muslims are better than the worst and most violent teachings in their religion that came from their prophet. We must not rest as this global plague will not end and so we must continue to inoculate people from its teachings.
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