Indonesia. The Government recognizes only five major religions. Persons of other faiths frequently experienced official discrimination, often in the context of civil registration of marriages and births, and the issuance of identity cards. Security forces occasionally tolerated discrimination against and abuse of religious groups by private actors, and the Government at times failed to punish perpetrators. Sectarian clashes claimed at least 46 lives in Central Sulawesi and at least 47 in the Malukus. The Government took steps to halt the surge in violence in the Malukus and Central Sulawesi. Nevertheless, some members of the Christian and Muslim communities in these conflict zones alleged that members of the military and police forces either carried out or supported some attacks.
Nigeria. While the Federal government generally respects religious freedom, there were some instances in which limits were placed on religious activity in order to address security and public safety concerns. Inter-religious tension between Christians and Muslims remained high in some areas of the country, and there were several violent economic-ethnic conflicts that took on religious overtones. Hundreds of people were killed in these clashes. Christians have alleged that Islam has been adopted as the de facto state religion in several northern states. The extension of Shari’a law to cover criminal offenses in many northern states generated a national debate on whether Shari’a punishments, such as amputation, stoning and caning, were considered "torture or inhuman or degrading treatment" under the Constitution. Many states prohibited open-air religious services held away from places of worship due to fears that these religious services would heighten inter-religious tensions or lead to violence. Several northern state governments continued to ban public proselytizing to avoid ethno-religious violence.
Sri Lanka. There was an overall deterioration of religious freedom due to the actions of extremists. In late 2003 and early 2004, Buddhist extremists destroyed Christian churches and harassed and abused pastors and congregants. There were over 100 accounts of attacks on Christian church buildings and members, several dozen of which were confirmed by diplomatic observers. NGOs have reported that in the majority of cases the police failed to protect churches and citizens from attack. In May an MP of the Jathika Hela Urumaya party presented a draft anti-conversion bill to Parliament. In June the Minister of Buddhist Affairs presented a separate draft anti-conversion bill to the Cabinet. It was not formally approved; however, it was sent to the Attorney General for a review that was ongoing at the end of the period covered by this report. There has been considerable public discussion of the bills, and many government officials expressed their concern about such legislation.
Article comments
1 - Jim Carruthers
Lemme see, uhm, working to bring back Cthulhu from the city of R'lyeh, and trying to organize an anarcho-syndicalist soccer league. And then there's the grow-op, but we don't talk about that. As for child-care, those thieving street urchins are almost as much bother as the revenue they bring in, so I'd have to call that a break-even.
2 - Eric Olsen
Say, do you know a guy named "Artful Dodger"?
3 - Jim Carruthers
But I do know about food, glorious food. But, yah, I might have seen him. Who wants to know?
4 - Eric Olsen
his mum misses him