Overtaken by fundamentalists

I woke early in order to use shared transport to get to my next accommodation on the same island. The other guests are off back to the mainland.

I had planned this move so that I could be on a nicer beach (Sumur Tiga) now that I’ve gotten all the diving (at Gapang beach) out of the way.

Having breakfast at the new place were several Texans of various ages (including children). Then I noticed some Indonesians wearing these “Shine” t-shirts in common with the Texans. I concluded that they were on a Christian retreat.

I mentioned to the Swedish couple that I was sitting with, that Christians in Indonesia love eating dogs. As they had just been to Sulawesi, they agreed on this and then we talked about Torajan funerals and how Christians can keep their dead for a long time. Both are priviliges enjoyed by Christians as Muslims can’t do neither of those!

My conclusion about the Texans and Indonesians with “Shine” t-shirts were soon proven right by their singing of praises and prayers. I thought Aceh wasn’t the most appropriate place for the retreat as it is a province that had fought fiercely for independence and an Islamic state … only to agree on semi-autonomous status with Syariah law in order to secure assistance from the Indonesian government.

Anyway, my Swiss travel companion from a couple of weeks ago lived in Makassar for a year and was invited to local churches a few times. He found that the American missionaries were not preaching the love of God but, rather sadly, fueling hatred and intolerance.  Somewhat mirror-imaging the small number of Muslim missionaries that preach intolerance and big problems.

I hope these Texans today are not the same brand of fundamentalist Christians as they could land themselves in hot water easily.