VOA标准英语2010年-Tensions Test Indonesia's Moderate Mus

Ahmadiyah woman followers¹ walk outside An-Nur Mosque² after prayers at Manislor village in Kuningan, West Java, Indonesia, 30 Jul 2010. The minority Islamic sect³ told followers Friday to prepare for war after rock-throwing mobs attacked one of their mosques⁴.

Tensions between Muslims and Christians⁶ and other religious sects⁷ have resulted in incidents of sectarian conflict, which some rights activists⁸ say threaten Indonesia's moderate Muslim image.

 

A Sunday morning service of the Batak Christian⁵ Protestant Church in an open field in the Jakarta suburb of Bekasi turns into a near riot.  Hundreds of enraged⁹ Muslim men surround the small group, made up mostly of women. Riot police form a line around the Christians. Bekasi police commander Imam Sugianto says they are there to prevent the protest from becoming violent.  He says both sides already informed the police of their activities so their job today is to protect both sides.

The Batak Christians purchased the land and want to build a church on this site. The Muslim majority in the neighborhood opposes the plan and the local government refused to approve the necessary building permit.

 

Murhali Barda, leader of the hardline Islamic Defenders¹⁰ Front group in Bekasi, says the church's insistence¹¹ on worshipping on this land is a provocation¹².  He says all Muslims feel insulted because of the Christians' occupation of this area, and also by other insults from the Christians.

Barda says those include the case of a 16-year-old Christian boy on trial in Bekasi for allegedly defacing a copy of the Koran.  And most insulting, Bardi says, is a recent report on the Internet that a Christian charity group, the Mahanaim Foundation, attempted to conduct mass baptisms in the area.  He says it is everybody's right to do good deeds, but when this group does them to convert Muslims away of their religion, then that is a criminal activity.

More than 90 percent of Indonesia's population of 220 million is Muslim, although the country has a secular¹³ government and its constitution protects minority rights. But over the past decade, there have been a number of clashes between religious groups.

Bonar Tigor Naipospos is with Setara, a human rights organization that tracks incidents of religious intolerance and discrimination in Indonesia. He says unsubstantiated rumors¹⁴ about Christians using deceptive¹⁵ practices to convert Muslims fuel the anger in Bekasi.

"They think now the Christian is very active, aggressive and push the people to convert their beliefs," said Naipospos. "And they said the Christians use money, use food, or use other enjoyment¹⁶ to change, to convert the people and became the Christians.

Thousands were killed a decade ago in sectarian violence between Christians and Muslims in the Moluccas islands in Indonesia. Today, Naipospos says, incidents of religious violence in the country have greatly declined, though religious tension is on the rise.

Among recent incidents, there have been attacks on a Christian center in the city of Bogor, and the government essentially¹⁷ has banned the Ahmadiyah - a sect that many Muslims consider to be deviant.

The Muslim protests at Batak Church services have been going on for four weeks and have become more intense and threatening.  At one point Sunday, protesters nearly broke through the police line, knocking some people to the ground.

Police allow in the Islamic Defenders Front leader Barda to urge the Christians to end their service before things turn violent.  But church leaders, including Luspida Simanjunta, refuse, saying it is a matter of freedom of religion.  She says this conflict happened because the Muslims refuse to recognize the church's existence here.  The church's presence is a disturbance¹⁸ to them.

The church has filed a court appeal against the government's decision to reject its building permit.  Protesters, Simanjunta says, already have forced the church to relocate from the center of Bekasi to its present site.  The government has asked the church to move its services to the city hall building, but church leaders refuse to move again.

The situation in Bekasi remains¹⁹ tense as leaders try to find a way to both protect minority rights and satisfy the concerns of the majority.

 

1 followers   

追随者( follower的名词复数 )； 用户； 契据的附面； 从动件

参考例句：

• the followers of Mahatma Gandhi 圣雄甘地的拥护者
• The reformer soon gathered a band of followers round him. 改革者很快就获得一群追随者支持他。

2 mosque   

n.清真寺

参考例句：

• The mosque is a activity site and culture center of Muslim religion.清真寺为穆斯林宗教活动场所和文化中心。
• Some years ago the clock in the tower of the mosque got out of order.几年前，清真寺钟楼里的大钟失灵了。

3 sect   

n.派别，宗教，学派，派系

参考例句：

• When he was sixteen he joined a religious sect.他16岁的时候加入了一个宗教教派。
• Each religious sect in the town had its own church.该城每一个宗教教派都有自己的教堂。

4 mosques   

清真寺； 伊斯兰教寺院，清真寺； 清真寺，伊斯兰教寺院( mosque的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Why make us believe that this tunnel runs underneath the mosques? 为什么要让我们相信这条隧洞是在清真寺下？
• The city's three biggest mosques, long fallen into disrepair, have been renovated. 城里最大的三座清真寺，过去年久失修，现在已经修复。

5 Christian   

adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒

参考例句：

• They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
• His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。

6 Christians   

n.基督教徒( Christian的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Christians of all denominations attended the conference. 基督教所有教派的人都出席了这次会议。
• His novel about Jesus caused a furore among Christians. 他关于耶稣的小说激起了基督教徒的公愤。

7 sects   

n.宗派，教派( sect的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Members of these sects are ruthlessly persecuted and suppressed. 这些教派的成员遭到了残酷的迫害和镇压。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He had subdued the religious sects, cleaned up Saigon. 他压服了宗教派别，刷新了西贡的面貌。 来自辞典例句

8 activists   

n.（政治活动的）积极分子，活动家( activist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His research work was attacked by animal rights activists . 他的研究受到了动物权益维护者的抨击。
• Party activists with lower middle class pedigrees are numerous. 党的激进分子中有很多出身于中产阶级下层。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 enraged   

使暴怒( enrage的过去式和过去分词 )； 歜； 激愤

参考例句：

• I was enraged to find they had disobeyed my orders. 发现他们违抗了我的命令，我极为恼火。
• The judge was enraged and stroke the table for several times. 大法官被气得连连拍案。

10 defenders   

n.防御者( defender的名词复数 )；守卫者；保护者；辩护者

参考例句：

• The defenders were outnumbered and had to give in. 抵抗者寡不敌众，只能投降。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• After hard fighting,the defenders were still masters of the city. 守军经过奋战仍然控制着城市。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 insistence   

n.坚持；强调；坚决主张

参考例句：

• They were united in their insistence that she should go to college.他们一致坚持她应上大学。
• His insistence upon strict obedience is correct.他坚持绝对服从是对的。

12 provocation   

n.激怒，刺激，挑拨，挑衅的事物，激怒的原因

参考例句：

• He's got a fiery temper and flares up at the slightest provocation.他是火爆性子，一点就着。
• They did not react to this provocation.他们对这一挑衅未作反应。

13 secular   

n.牧师，凡人；adj.世俗的，现世的，不朽的

参考例句：

• We live in an increasingly secular society.我们生活在一个日益非宗教的社会。
• Britain is a plural society in which the secular predominates.英国是个世俗主导的多元社会。

14 rumors   

n.传闻( rumor的名词复数 )；[古]名誉；咕哝；[古]喧嚷v.传闻( rumor的第三人称单数 )；[古]名誉；咕哝；[古]喧嚷

参考例句：

• Rumors have it that the school was burned down. 有谣言说学校给烧掉了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Rumors of a revolt were afloat. 叛变的谣言四起。 来自《简明英汉词典》

15 deceptive   

adj.骗人的，造成假象的，靠不住的

参考例句：

• His appearance was deceptive.他的外表带有欺骗性。
• The storyline is deceptively simple.故事情节看似简单，其实不然。

16 enjoyment   

n.乐趣；享有；享用

参考例句：

• Your company adds to the enjoyment of our visit. 有您的陪同，我们这次访问更加愉快了。
• After each joke the old man cackled his enjoyment.每逢讲完一个笑话，这老人就呵呵笑着表示他的高兴。

17 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

18 disturbance   

n.动乱，骚动；打扰，干扰；(身心)失调

参考例句：

• He is suffering an emotional disturbance.他的情绪受到了困扰。
• You can work in here without any disturbance.在这儿你可不受任何干扰地工作。

19 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。