November 15, 2011 | UCANEWS

(Indonesia) - A religious tolerance bill drafted by the house of representatives threatens inter-religious harmony and must be scrapped, a top Church official said today.

“The bill has the potential to destroy inter-religious harmony since it places petty regulations on basic things, such as religious feasts, sermons, burial and building places of worship,” Father Antonius Benny Susetyo said.

According to the bill, people have the right to organize religious celebrations based on their own religious teachings and they should only be celebrated by them.

“It means good relationships between people from different religious backgrounds can’t be built because people from other faith won’t be able to participate or interact,” the executive secretary of the Indonesian Bishops’ Conference’sCommission for Ecumenical and Inter-religious Affairs said.

Fr. Susetyo, who is also secretary of the Setara Institute for Democracy and Peace, said the bill goes against what the nation and the state stand for.

Read More: http://www.ucanews.com/2011/11/15/religious-tolerance-bill-threatens-harmony/