Bogor, Indonesia - His faith in justice has persuaded a charismatic pentecostal minister to go to court over the shutting down of his church on Sunday.
Fekky Daniel Yeremia Tatulus says he is entitled to have used his house in the Griya Bukit Jaya housing complex, Gunung Putri subdistrict, Bogor, as a place of worship since 1998.
"There is no regulation prohibiting the use of a private house as a place of worship. This country has a decree of the Religious Affairs Ministry that allows people to engage in religious activities in their homes as long as they do not disturb order," he told The Jakarta Post, referring to a decree issued on Aug. 27, 1975.
Some 200 residents and subdistrict officials forced him to halt his Sunday services and placed his church under siege.
The subdistrict administration last week ordered Fekky to stop holding services in the house amid rumors that the church was being used as a base for proselytizing.
The order signed by subdistrict head Diding Wahyudin was made based on a gubernatorial decree issued in 1990 that prohibits the conversion of private residences into place of worship.
"No one ever made a complaint about our presence here until last month when a Muslim woman from this neighborhood was possessed by a spirit. Her son came to me and asked for help because some said the spirit was a Christian. I and some members of our congregation went to her house and prayed. She regained consciousness immediately."
He said that the church services would be suspended until a final court decision had been handed down.
The church has 190 members, many of whom are children.
Christian scholar Nathan Setiabudi supported Fekky's effort to bring the case to the court.
"Permits or licenses for places of worship are legal matters, so any problem about them should be solved in court. The thing is, we have to avoid violence. But stopping people from engaging in religious activities is a violation of the Constitution," said the former secretary-general to the Indonesian Communion of Churches.